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RachelC
Googler
Googler

Hey everyone, 

Earlier last week, our newest camera and doorbell went on sale and we’ve seen the insightful feedback and thoughtful questions you’ve shared so far. We appreciate you taking the time to always share your experiences so we can continue improving the products you love. We understand there’s a lot changing (and that change can be frustrating) so we’ll be sharing more about our newest cameras and doorbell and how to get the most help from the Google Home app.

The new Nest camera experience is exclusively available in the Google Home App

The Google Nest Doorbell (battery), Google Nest Cam (battery), Google Nest Cam with floodlight, Google Nest Cam (wired) are exclusive to the Home app (and will not work in the Nest app). We built the Google Home app so these new cameras are optimized for versatility (event based and continuous based recording) and intelligence across the whole home. The Google Home app is also where you control your other compatible smart home devices, including your speakers, smart displays, Wifi, lights, locks, Chromecasts, thermostats, and more. Below you can find some of our new camera features available in the Home app today:

View all of your Nest cameras and doorbell in one place. You can tap on the camera icon in the home view of the Google Home app. Here, you’ll see all existing Nest cameras, including Nest Doorbell (battery), Nest Cam (battery), Nest Cam with floodlight and Google Nest Cam (wired). You can also watch live video in the Home app.

rchambers_8-1630623938465.png rchambers_1-1630623300484.png

With your new cameras, view your history for a specific camera (Sightline 2.0). The new sightline experience lets you easily scroll through time and review both your event based recording and continuous video recording (only with a wired Nest Cam and Nest Aware subscription) while keeping the full field of view of your camera visible. You can also view recorded clips for any Nest Cam in the full Home History. We’re working on making this available for our previous generation cameras. Learn more about video history in the Home app.

rchambers_2-1630623300403.png

 

When viewing the camera feed live, you can quickly access additional controls from the ‘More’ tab — like turning your camera on or off, selecting one of your doorbell’s quick responses, setting up quiet time, or contacting emergency services (requires a Nest Aware subscription). Check out these articles for more details: Learn about how to turn camera on/off, learn more about Doorbell chime settings and learn more about Emergency calling.

 

View the recent priority events that have happened across your cameras - like a package has been delivered or when an unfamiliar face was detected (requires a Nest Aware subscription). Learn about the Home app Feed. rchambers_3-1630623300347.png
Exclusive to the Google Home app, you can use full Home History to quickly understand what happened in the day across all your Nest devices. You can filter events by camera and by what the cameras have detected (person, package, animal etc.) Learn about Home History.

 

home history.png

 

Adjust your camera settings - You can personalize your camera experience with the many camera settings available. You can do things like selecting the types of notifications you want to receive and even change the default settings so you can further optimize battery life, event frequency and more. Check these resources out for more detailed information: Nest camera and doorbell settings and How to use sound detection settings on Nest Cams and Doorbell (video). cropped camera settings 2.png
Get smart notifications right at your fingertips. Be in control of what notifications you or any member in your household  receives in Camera Settings. Your new camera can alert you when a person, animal or vehicle has been detected. In addition, your Nest Doorbell (battery) can alert you when a package has been detected. We know it’s important to receive notifications across all your cameras from one app and we’re working on bringing that functionality to the Google Home app. Learn about smart notifications

**the notifications image previewed here is currently only available on Android and will be coming soon to iOS users

 

notification.png

 

Activity Zones help your cameras focus on the areas you care the most about with tailored alerts. Setting up your Activity Zones is  a good way to optimize the battery life of your Nest Cam (battery) and  Nest Doorbell (battery) by focusing on the key areas of the scene.  Check these resources out for more detailed information: How to set up and use Activity Zones and How to set up Activity Zones on your Nest Cam and Doorbell (video).

rchambers_7-1630623300411.png

 

Camera Experiences to Look Forward to

There are a few things we’ve been working on (and will continue to) as we know there’s much more you’d like to see and do in the Home app. Our team is actively working on a plan to bring other Nest devices into the Home app and we’ll share more later. Some of our upcoming features are:

  • A new home on the web. This has been an important feature request, so we’re developing a new Google Home on Web for the new Nest cameras and doorbell allowing users to view their cameras on the Web. This will be coming in 2022. 
  • Improved Video Seeking. We are continuing to improve sightline 2.0 so we can help you quickly review and discover events your cameras recorded. This will be coming later this year. 
  • Holiday Ringtones. Holiday ringtones continue to be one of our most beloved and most requested features and we’re excited to bring them to the Google Home app for Nest Doorbell (battery). This will be coming later this year. 

 

As long time Nest customers, we understand the transition from the Nest app to the Google Home app has been a bit confusing and frustrating, and we’re committed to providing a seamless Home app experience for our customers. These are only some of the things you can currently do in the Home app and what’s to come. 

We’ll be listening and we want to ensure you’re having a great experience with your new Nest cameras and doorbells, so we’d love to hear more from you. Feel free to continue sharing your feedback and additional thoughts. 

Thanks, 

Rachel

267 Comments
Ron4
Community Member

I should have went with my instincts and went with Arlo. Google is Nolan to pillow projects if they have issues for example Google Home Security. So far we have learned that Google nest does not care one bit about their customers concerns. So now it's going to cost me hundreds to replace 3 Google cameras including the horrible battery camera and a nest doorbell because again Google Nest does not care about its customers concerns. I have been waiting for a whole year so that they could address the horrible home app and the new battery cameras I don't think I can wait any longer. 

BryanC
Community Member

@RachelC just wanted to follow up here and let you know that someone did reach out and the warranty is still an issue. Not sure why I expected anything else, clearly others continue to have the same issue to no avail but thought your message flagging the outreach would have changed the outcome. The costs of Google replacing all these doorbells is clearly prohibitive... Unfortunately it's really awful advertising for Google with all these damaged doorbells in use lol. 

megabarker
Community Member

I am very disappointed that the Google Nest Cam wired does not work in the Nest app. I expected it to when I purchased.

I will be returning it and buying a different camera that works in the Nest app.

BryanC
Community Member

@RachelC just wanted to follow up here and let you know that someone did reach out and the warranty is still an issue. Not sure why I expected anything else, clearly others continue to have the same issue to no avail but thought your message flagging the outreach would have changed the outcome. The costs of Google replacing all these doorbells is clearly prohibitive... Unfortunately it's really awful advertising for Google with all these damaged doorbells in use smh. 

Getting_half
Community Member

This all sounds great.

Why did the marketing department decide to release an unfinished product before development was completed?  I like many others didnt expect this kind of backward development when we purchase new equipment to compliment our current set ups.

Especially since we month monthly to get half the experience.

Campdiabloca
Community Member

I just purchased the New Nest Cameras to use with my existing Nest App and camera ecosystem.  Oops, who would think that when you buy a Nest camera it won’t work with the nest app?  Google is really screwing up on user interface.  The Home App is TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!  Why would you end NEST UI?  Unfortunately, shame on me for thinking that NEST cameras would work.  Why call them NEST camera if it wont work with NEST.  Call it Google Camera (That doesn’t work with NEST).  Need to return them now.

urlybird
Community Member

My Nest Outdoor IQ Camera is now showing up in that crappy Home app and it stop giving me any notifications. I am so fed up with this Google crap.

My Nest IQ Camera will be up for sale as soon as I get replacement installed.

Enough !

S3bryan
Community Member
  • It’s all marketing hype.  An app drawn in crayon with little substance of usability.  Nest products pre google dropped from support and integration.  App updates solely focused on chromecrap, and now BIRTHDAY WISHES. Not one post on here has ever been written about ooo my hub needs to wish me happy birthday.  Yet here is the newest update with it. Total marketing attempt at making a poorly thought out app seem wonderful.  
maccampb
Community Member

Rachel,

I had just ordered some of the new Nest Battery Cameras to try out. They had been discounted in the Google Store, likely because they were not selling well with all the issues.

After reading about all the issues with the Cameras, the integration challenges, the lack of access via the original Nest App and requirement for the new App, I have just cancelled the order and will be looking to see if I can obtain any of the older models. It is very disappointing as a consumer to see that Google, after laying out a suitable roadmap, can't meet it and damages the great Nest Brand.

I'm googling alternates to nest cams and will be replacing my existing ones as they fail.

Too bad it had to end this way...

honore14
Community Member

Does anyone have a recommended alternative to the Nest/google home portfolio? I purchased some additional "nest cameras" and other products to outfit new home and add to my existing camera and thermostat inventory. I was perplexed to find out I can't use Nest app for Nest products anymore. Google Home interface is terrible, while Nest App was so elegant and purposefully designed, and made it easy to use multitude of products with seeing everything immediately upon opening Nest App.

 

I also purchased them on black friday sale for move that was a couple months away, so outside of the return policy. Just looking for alternative that can rival the original Nest experience so I can wash my hands of this google home mess as Googles responses don't give me any confidence this is getting better. It's also been six months since they addressed it and as of yesterday, google home was very poor user experience.

 

Thank you in advance for the recommendations. 

urlybird
Community Member
mattfkho
Community Member

Looks like Google has put all the resources on building "Matter", regarding Nest Cam, CareFactor = Zero.

NeverStark
Community Member

It's halfway though 2022, so hopefully we're nearing some good improvements to the Nest series. Here are a few things I'm waiting for.

  • Nest app widgets: I'd love to have something on my home screen that gives me one tap access to any camera stream.
  • Google Assistant support on phones: I'm really surprised that we cannot yet ask Google Assistant to show a specific camera stream on our phones.
  • Chromecast support: Give us the ability to use the largest screen in the home to stream multiple cameras at once.

Thanks.

 

willeagle
Community Member

I guess I'll just ignore the Nest App then, along with my google nest home alarm system for which I can no longer get additional hardware supplies and therefore is rendered obsolete. I think there's an opportunity to do better here, Google team.

M3F
Community Member

So, when exactly in 2022 will we be able to view our cameras on a computer? Also, why is it that when it was NEST, we could create clips from any history and now we can only create clips from what the camera deemed an event? We are paying for the cloud storage and therefore should have access to it all in order to create clips. Also, today, I can't access or see any video history on one of my cameras from a storm last night...and last night, I was watching that history just fine. So, why isn't it accessible now? The features that Nest offered were so much nicer than what Google is now offering. Why mess with something that worked so well? It was so simple to pull up on a computer (since it's so difficult seeing anything on a cell phone) and now we can't do that. Wish I would have purchased more Gen 1 cams at this point.

SwampFox75
Community Member

I've been looking everywhere for a class action suit against the Google Nest vs Google Home it should either fall under false advertising or something. This is so wrong, I invested thousands of dollars worth of security products I thought would be managed in one single app and the app that has the features I originally purchases and continue to pay for. Only to find out my new cameras only work in Home and while we are promised the same features offered in Nest for nearly two years, there has been zero communication from Google and appears Zero effort to get this fixed. I need to be able to pull my cameras up on my screen and I need to be able to open my cameras quickly using the app. I need to be able to capture clips from any point in time on my recorded footage not just when Google says it has detected an "event". This is a security issue that Google has presented to my own situation and I can safely assume many other people. 

Someone please find the class action lawsuit that I can join.

maccampb
Community Member

I suggest you take a look at the EULA and terms and conditions you agreed to when installing the app. It likely says that Nest (and Google) reserve the right to make changes. You only get to use the software they provide!  

sininspira
Community Member

9 months and still radio silence regarding a web interface. What the actual hell?

Roonast
Community Member

I can't wait for these promised features any longer, and I'm not sticking around to have more features taken away. My blind dog is a better security solution than these new cameras or where "Google home" is apparently going "soon" (9months of silence later...)

Mykal
Community Member

We’ve got to be realistic - the innovative, leading-edge and consumer-oriented company that Nest used to be is gone - litigation will not bring it back.  It’s clear that the handoff of this product line to the Google team has not and will not result in further development or enhancement of the Nest products - all that we can expect are changes which continue to maximize revenue/minimize costs, as we have seen to date.  
It is a hugely disappointing outcome for products and services which were at the leading edge of this market segment.

connecticutjeff
Community Member

Any update on a web portal for these cameras? The delay is ridiculous. And to add, the lack of support for nest protects in the google home app is embarrassing. Does google take any of this seriously? Is there a strategy or are you making it up as you go?

 

The performance of the google home app is horrendous.  Ring doesn't try to push so many functions into a single application.  Google needs to rethink its strategy. 

 

 

connecticutjeff
Community Member

More and more people are noticing the lack of innovation. 

 

https://9to5google.com/2022/07/08/google-home-nest-app-disaster/

RMC27
Community Member

Power went out at house on the 4th. Several camera's went off line and would not reconnect on ridiculous Google Home via Blue Stacks.  So dumb that I have to use a proxy program to see all camera's on my PC  Usually I have to re-register the camera's when this happens.  Just for the heck of it I opened my old Nest software.  Immediately all cameras showed up/except of course the one lame battery powered Google   camera. How Google managed to screw this up for so long and ignore it is beyond me.  

esreborn
Community Member

Recently spent about ~$1500 on numerous Cameras, Doorbells, Hub Max, and accessories.

Imagine my shock when I learned that I can't view the cameras on anything but the mobile app.

Or how about learning that 24/7 video recording doesn't work for the Wireless Doorbell; I learned about it when going into the app to configure the doorbell video. Why isn't this stated elsewhere?!

Or that even the cameras won't do 24/7 unless hard-wired... whatever, I can drill some holes in my home to make that work... but the doorbell?!?!?!?!?!

Oof.

What's worse... I had received recommendations from several people to get this stuff and they showed me how it all worked. I am now realizing they all have older versions of the Hardware that work with the Nest mobile app and the Nest web app.

I feel as though I have been conned.

Looks like I will be returning everything.

connecticutjeff
Community Member

I fundamentally believe Google isn't listening or are incredibly incompetent.  I have been a Google and Nest fan for years and I just feel like I have been given the shaft. No communication. Again.....where is the innovation?  For over a year we have heard about a web portal!

 

 

 

 

3rdandlong
Community Member

At this point it is obvious google could care less. What can we do? 1. Do not buy. 2. Return if bought. 3. Tell everyone not to buy. 3. Hit social media, TIK TOK, FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM etc. so that the word spreads far and wide. The only way to motivate Google to fix these problems is monetarily. I have not seen any class action law suits being brought so this is the next best thing. I switched to Google because of the NEST app. and they have ruined it. The Google home app is terrible with much less functionality. 

connecticutjeff
Community Member

The Google Home app is a disaster. The Google Home app is horrendous. The app crashes daily, and it is not user-friendly. Google is forcing too many functions into a single interface and it is a mistake. 

connecticutjeff
Community Member

Has anyone on this thread noticed that nobody at Google has yet to respond? Tone deaf? Ignore the customer and they will go away?  Incompetence? Ignorance? Maybe they don't care??

SwampFox75
Community Member

Apparently they have ditched this forum but are replying to Twitter @madebygoogle

https://twitter.com/Canadian_Guano/status/1544416429721522176?t=df_ZZ71vz00N6Zr9nub9TQ&s=19

Let your voices be heard on Twitter!

 

SwampFox75
Community Member

Here is a much better thread, basically a reply by Google to the first thread but way more involvement from other Google Nesters that got defrauded.

https://twitter.com/Canadian_Guano/status/1544416429721522176?t=CT5CFPE8lWpAA3t9O2CJKg&s=19

connecticutjeff
Community Member

I replied on Twitter. Thanks for the link. I expect nothing from google as I feel they just don't care. Ever since Nest was acquired by google the innovation has declined and the excuses have increased. 

S3bryan
Community Member

Google is a data mining company they do not and never have understood product support. They were started as a search engine. They know how to make software that collects data on everything you do, but they don’t know how to support it, but they love to show off their pixie  Dixie phones at Coachella.

Ron4
Community Member

So Google has screwed me again. This crap of a battery cam is completely dead and only after 4 months of use. I have called Google and begged them for my money back but said because of policy only have a 15 day money back guarantee and also begged them even talked to supervisors on the floor to exchange it with there wired version which I have had no issues with and works awesome in the nest app. Well they didn't care what I had to say they said they have to replace with the same garbage battery cam, so I told them all I am going to do is try to sell it and try to get whatever money I can from this poorly put together device. Thanks Google you continue to disappoint.

cburkard
Community Member

The Google Home app, compared to the Nest app, is a complete abomination. I know Google is one of the largest companies on the planet -- so they can pretty much do whatever they want and folks have little choice but to follow along -- but at least put some effort in to not having your "new all-inclusive" app be excruciatingly clunky and limited. It is like Google let some underperforming interns write it as a summer project. You are burning down the ecosystem Nest did a great job building. 

Irievibesender
Community Member

Give us scheduled notification already!!!! It's been a year. How can you not add this to the home app in a month or two. It's simple functionality offered in allll competition. As others say nest app awesome. Home app sucks. No changes in a year on camera function in home. Did you abandon this ecosystem or what??

 

 

M3F
Community Member

Why isn't anything change with this home app? It's just horrible. You can't create clips from history. When you go to history, it drops you back at the last event, rather than just going to history, like a minute ago, so you can search for what you want. And when you are back in history, the lag is so awful, you lose your mind just watching for a minute. You can't look at your cameras on the computer.  We can't select multiple zones to monitor at different times of the day. Why isn't anything getting better with this app? It's not like thousands of people aren't here complaining to you regularly about all the problems. FIX THEM or give us back the NEST app. It was just fine before you destroyed it!

connecticutjeff
Community Member

August 18th 2022 and still no web portal.  

chuckwalla
Community Member

I've abandoned my two battery 2nd gen "Nest" cameras for home use, since they don't integrate with my four 1st gen Nest cameras and they shouldn't be considered part of the Nest product line. I decided to set up the 2nd gen cameras at work and do my best to learn how they operate [note: if you want to integrate 1st gen and 2nd gen cameras, you're out of luck... can't do it on the Nest app and just too many issues on the Home app]. Here is my assessment of running only the 2nd gen cameras compared to my years of experience with the Nest App: 1) The Google Home app is not designed to be a security camera app and takes additional selections to get to a view that shows what the camera is seeing [Nest app shows all camera views when you initially open it, plus the Home app has connecting glitches....]; 2) Live mode connects about 0% of the time and takes going back and forth with the 'more' menu [this is a programming glitch and needs to be fixed, so it takes me 3 selections to finally see the camera view]; 3) Event recording doesn't capture the entire activity period of the event, even though I have it set to max [fast moving objects/persons are missed, except for the last 1-2 seconds... Nest app records 24/7 up to your plans 10 or 30 day period]; 4) Since the service doesn't record the non-event periods, there is no way to recover anything between events or periods missed during an event [no seeing when a person enters the camera view, since the event usually starts sometime after it detects motion]; 5) No website interface so viewing video and editing requires the event to be downloaded and transferred [also can't do Nest functions like save clips in the app, create timelapse clips, or view older clips]; 6) Battery camera lasts well in areas with little motion, but drained to 50% in 2 days with high motion [place camera where events won't be triggered by motion from passing cars, wind, or high foot traffic or set up nest aware when you don't want it to record]. Conclusion: 2nd gen cameras still have too many issues to recommend to anyone.... mostly due to the Home App's poor design and functionality and the lack of a website interface (its mobile only). How to fix it? ANS: LET US USE 2nd GEN CAMERAS ON THE NEST APP.

MplsCustomer
Bronze
Bronze

@chuckwalla 

Your critique is right on. I'd just note the following. With our Google Nest Camera (Battery) plugged in with the optional power cable, we get event coverage comparable to that of our older cameras (except that, of course, we can't manually edit events). The camera stays "Live" all the time. And we've found that, upon opening the Google Home app, we can click on the Cameras icon to get a live view of all of our cameras (though it's often slower than the Google Nest app in bringing them up).

SwampFox75
Community Member

 

Apparently Google is looking for people to help test and develop the next gen home app.... Just FYI 

https://9to5google.com/2022/08/11/google-home-next-generation-design/

chuckwalla
Community Member

@MplsCustomer 

Thanks... yes, I've plugged one of my battery cameras in and see that event capture is better (which makes sense, since battery conservation overrides recording duration). I'm doing my best to except the 2nd gen/Home app environment, but I'm also bitter that 1st gen users who invested $800+ in cameras have been abandoned, along with the design simplicity of the Nest app. The lack of promised updates to the Home app is baffling.

JustTina
Community Member

It's been over a year since this spiel was posted and yet i am no closer to getting this friggen battery cam to join a google home with nest aware subscription that my other nest cameras are housed in.

It is not the change that frustrates me (although the thought of google home eventually taking over Nest fills me with absolute horror! ) So I hope google is really listening because I want to say to you I spent 5 hours on the phone with 2 support workers  from 3 pm to 8 pm and still the battery camera is homeless! Truly google should have to pay me, I will never get that time back and so when you talk about frustration get it right and stop with the BS. Say it, google home a year on still super sucks!

 

dwieggi
Community Member

Bought new nest camera's. Was very disappointed when they wouldn't work with the Nest app, only the Home app. I pay for my home camera's and didn't realized that if I put some at my camper that I'd have to pay another subscription. But pay for what? I can't go back further than the clip. Plus still no web support! The Nest app was so much better. Paying a second subscription for a different location is outrageous! It's the same login! Then to not have 24/7 access with a subscription is just too much.

Might be time to get rid of Nest cameras.

ChopStiR
Community Member

first update Ive read

GSM Arena - Google Announcment

Looks like another year wait. 

Locane
Community Member

It is totally unacceptable that we can't view live feed of our cameras from a web page.  These were expensive - why would you do this?

BasikBlack
Community Member

I really wish all of these new features in home. Wonderful! Sounding innovations would be just as available to the devices that are under the "works with Google" devices as well. I love Google and I love Google products. However, I'm going to say it. Google products are way too expensive for the trouble they're worth.

I'm quickly finding this out. Having switched out my home for an Alexa enabled to now a Google Assistant enabled home. While I like the greater freedom of choosing different products, they do not work in harmony with the Home app the way it is suggested. Heck, the Home app doesn't work with the Home app the way it is suggested and is a mess.

And I'm sorry, but it is too expensive to purchase all of your needed products at the Google Store. For instance, my Chromecast with Google TV 4K has half of the options and a more complicated interface than I had with my ONN Android TV that cost half the price. I only got the Google version because they had a sale, I had $10 in credit and 10% off with Google One so it came out to almost the same as the ONN. 

Personally, that's one product that I will not be purchasing again from Google. But that's just my two cents.

I Have a video doorbell. It works great and it even pops up on my Google TV or my Google Hub but it's a basic Android non-Google item and I spent a nice amount on that doorbell and I'm not going to switch and spend $180 for the battery version - which is what I would need because I live in a condo (and most people need if you really get down to it) and I can't have the wired version. It's $180 for the video doorbell and on top of that we're not talking about the subscription that you really need to purchase to truly get all the features and abilities they're talking about sand advertise. 

I found it to be a downright slap in the face when researching the doorbell to see that the cloud storage used for the video surveillance can't be connected to your Google One, Google Drive, Google Cloud, or whatever else it is your purchasing cloud storage from Google under and it has to be under this Nest subscription. That is ridiculous. Anything to get more money. 

Agriffo13
Community Member

When can we expect this awkward transition where we have to use the Nest App and Home app to be completed?  As users, we need better transparency on this.  Leads me to feel that there are issues and may warrant looking into other products that offer a more fluid user interface.  

srussell58
Community Member

When will the Home app have 24/7 viewing like the Nest app? This is important to us. So far I am NOT impressed with the Home app at all.

MplsCustomer
Bronze
Bronze
dg-goog
Community Member

New home app preview out. I like what I see thus far (limited functionality now) and full web camera view is very nice. I am excited to see final products for home mobile and PC app/views. Lets help make this as good as possible. Thanks Google!!!