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GoogleNestTeam
Community Manager (Admin)
Community Manager (Admin)

Hey Google Nest Community, 

 

A few weeks ago we announced that we are working on rebuilding and redesigning the Home app for the future of the smart home. With feedback from many of you in hand we set out to imagine what it would take to make the smart home as simple and reliable as the light switch on your wall. We envision a future where you can control all your home devices in one place, from any surface, and where all your compatible devices work together to be more helpful.

 

Today we’re taking an initial step towards creating a singular app experience with a Public Preview of the new Google Home app. To learn more about the experience and how to enroll, check out this post. For those of you who have questions, in particular for our Nest app users, we wanted to share some more information on what you can expect. 

 

Anish Kattukaran

Director, Product Management, Google Home & Nest

 

Top Google Home app questions

Q: Last year you talked about a single app for all Nest devices - when can we expect that?

A: For our Nest app users we think that a lot of the new features in the redesigned Google Home app get us closer to the vision for a single app to control your home, but it isn’t a completely one app experience yet. It was really important to us that we get the Home app experience right before we asked our Nest users to migrate to it. This is why we are bringing these updates to Public Preview, so you can try them out first and share feedback with us so we can improve that experience. This preview is our first big step in making this vision real for you, and we’ll continue adding more functionality over time.

 

Q: What’s taking so long to bring all the Nest cameras to the Google Home app?

A: We’re building the Home app for the future of the smart home, but it's a hard problem. We care deeply about bringing the Nest camera experiences over to the Home app. But this isn't just about updating the app. It involves migrating technology, updating software on the devices, and in many cases on hardware that is more than five years old (our Nest Cam Indoor originally launched back in 2015!). This has involved investing in all parts of the camera software, cloud infrastructure and apps experiences so that we can work to make this transition as seamless as possible -- while maintaining a high bar for performance, security and privacy. That takes a lot of work, and time. We are excited about the progress we are making and are committed to rolling support out for these older cameras over time.

 

Q: What about the rest of my Nest devices, when will I be able to migrate them over?  

A: Beyond just cameras, we will continue to bring support for many Nest devices and features to the Home app, one device at a time, while maintaining the same level of privacy, security, and experiences for our customers. Each device has its own complexity and requires migrating infrastructure, updates to device software and evaluating if the hardware can be supported.

 

We are excited to start with the Google Nest Cam Indoor and Nest Cam Outdoor followed by other Nest devices like smoke alarms and thermostats. These migrations will begin in 2023.

 

Q: What happens to the Nest app with this new Google Home app announcement? 

A: There is no change to the Nest app today. You can continue to use the app as you do now. 

 

Q: When will I have the ability to schedule cameras in the Google Home app like I can in the Nest App?

A: We recently expanded automation capabilities in the Home app. With this update, you can create a Household Routine to schedule when your camera will turn On/Off, similar to the experience in the Nest app. Learn more about Household Routines in this community blog post.

 

Q: Is Google Home for web going to support all of the same experiences as the Nest app on the web?

A: Google Home for web already has a key feature that users have asked for - the ability to live stream all your Nest cameras in one place - available as a Public Preview today to all Nest camera users that have migrated. Over time, we will continue to make updates to bring more camera and automation features to the web.

 

Q: What will I be able to do with my different Nest Cams and Doorbells in the Google Home App Public Preview?

A: In Public Preview the new set of camera controller experiences will be available for Nest Cams and Doorbells launched in 2021 or later. You will see a revamped camera controller experience where you can vertically scroll through your video history, review specific events, and view live streams of your cameras directly on the app’s home view. Customers with Nest Cams and Doorbells that launched before 2021 will also be able to quickly view live video on the home screen as part of Public Preview, however the new camera controller experience won’t be available in the Public Preview right away. We are working to support this soon, starting with Nest Cam Indoor and Nest Cam Outdoor.

32 Comments
MplsCustomer
Bronze
Bronze

These are good steps forward!  Thank you in advance.

Arthur_Gray
Community Member

This is the kind of Q&A that Google and the @GoogleNestTeam need to post more ofte

Over a year ago the post about the updates to Google Home, new doorbell, and web app was made. That was September 2021.

While I understood what was going on behind the scenes, other people don't nor do they have time to care. It builds frustration.

The Reddit Google WiFi, Google Nest and Google Home subreddits are full of it.

Please make more timely updates even if it sounds redundant. It helps everyone know that you care.

 

StevilGenius
Community Member

All positive news, but when will I be able to say ‘hey google feed the cat’ and have my Tuya cat feeder dispense a portion?  Better still, why not have Google watch the camera on the cat feeder and tell me when my chonk of a cat is sat there waiting to be fed and then have Google ask me if he should be fed. Now that’s functionality worth developing. 

PedroLiberal
Community Member

@StevilGenius that’s a great idea but google isn’t developing products for pets I believe. So you’d have to reach out to a pet company to create that product. And ask them to integrate it to google.

As for the camera idea that’s one of the things I would love for google to work on. Something happens -> google asks me if I want to do something -> I say yes -> google does it. Alexa does it (not sure about the cameras but the rest yeah).

Arthur_Gray
Community Member

@StevilGenius the cat feeder is able to do that if the company has built it to do so.

I took the time to look up your Cat Feeder product and found the following:

Please don't assume Google Assistant and Nest have an issue when the developer has provided instruction for you.

If it isn't working, you should contact Tuya.

 

Screenshot of all commands:

Pisko
Community Member

The Nest app, and it’s great usability, features, and functionality is one of the main reasons I chose Nest Cameras over its MANY competitors. The frustration of purchasing two new battery cameras without any mention from google that these involve a significant step down in functionality and usability and I would not be able to add them to the other 4 cameras I already have (and pay Google for monthly) around my home is a huge disappointment. Now I am seeing that these complaints are over a year old and google has done nothing for these existing customers and their promises of future features/functionality are so vague it makes me wonder.  Bottom line question is WILL GOOGLE OFFER THE SAME CAMERA FUNCTIONALITY ON THE NEW HOME APP OR NOT?  Just give us a feature list. You’ve been working on it for a while there must be a list? 

Pisko
Community Member

THIS DOES NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION!  Don’t tell us what it already does- we have already expressed that what it does is insufficient compared to the Nest App. Answer the question- will it support all of the same experiences? What is your plan - surely you know by now what functionality you are working on? 

Q: Is Google Home for web going to support all of the same experiences as the Nest app on the web?

A: Google Home for web already has a key feature that users have asked for - the ability to live stream all your Nest cameras in one place - available as a Public Preview today to all Nest camera users that have migrated.

IngloriousAeon
Community Member

The superiority of the nest app and the dumbness of google home app has made me return the new nest cam indoor and nest cam with floodlight cameras. I had to fish for 1st generation google cam indoor from websites like bed bath and beyond for the original full retail price. This is ridiculous but I needed to do so because I bought a home with 7 older generation camera setup. What is the point of buying nest devices if they can’t be supported on nest app or vice versa. To top that the thermostats & temperature sensors have limited functionality on google home app, and all my 8 nest protects are not even supported on google home. 

I understand google doing a migration but please support and improve the legacy system until your new system has feature parity. 

So, thanks for the update but no thanks because your timelines are so vague that I don’t trust you’ll achieve significant migration in 2023. If I need to upgrade, I would rather upgrade all my cameras to ring because unlike google home they are already way ahead. 

dyod
Community Member

First off, the naming of the new vs old cameras makes it difficult when trying to do due diligence before upgrading.

I purchased 4 new Nest Cam (outdoor,indoor, battery) cameras thinking it would have the following basic features but they do NOT:

1. Ability to make a clip of any history on the timeline, not just events.

2. Web viewer that can do more then show live video such as show history, events, and download clips of important video. Would also be nice to adjust activity/privacy zones.

3. Working activity or privacy zones on the new cameras. I thought this was included with my nest aware plus subscription but I can't find an area to configure them.  Whoops,found it buried in the individual camera settings gear icon/ events / seen events / activity zones section

4. Ability for google home app to change the camera history view to full screen landscape mode so I could then do a screen record of a big image without the time line in it. (Until google home has a way to record non-events from history)

5. Also, the account nest to google migration didn't work and google support people are reading off a script with no troubleshooting thoughts of their own. I wasted 40 minutes with support guy who would ignore what I say and just continue reading his script. Every time I tried to migrate my nest account to google account it said "an unexpected error has occurred." The "fix" was to just spam migrate attempts and after the 3rd of 4th consecutive try it started to work! This was over multiple days so I don't think any google service required to complete the migration would be down but maybe it was?

Hoping to see all these BASIC features added in 2023. Let's GO Google Nest Team!

dougw03
Community Member

It's great to hear the smoke detectors will finally be supported in Google Home. Can you please comment on whether these detectors will also be getting Matter support?

LRT
Community Member

Will Google home for the web eventually do everything the Google home app does?  We can't expect ordinary people to deploy and configure a third party solution like Home Assistant to administer their smart home From a desktop computer.  

RossLukin
Community Member

Hey ! Regarding Nest Cams, is there a setting where an alert or alarm occurs on your phone, similar to a marine anchor alarm —- ie if between the hours of 11pm and 6 am cameras detect a person in your cam activity area then a different alarm is triggered on ur phone. 
I assume would be an easy feature to add, the push notification is not loud enough. 
no extra hardware required and peace of mind to control preferred times and alerts 

Thanks for listening !

cheers 

MillOnWheels
Community Member

Hello all, 

I've got a Nest doorbell. But my phone doesn't let me know when someone rings the bell. Any help would be much appreciated.

Kind regards 

Ann 

MplsCustomer
Bronze
Bronze

@MillOnWheels 

Do you have "Push notifications" turned on in your doorbell's settings?

cls
Community Member

I know I've already posted this but I'm not sure if I keep deleting it or what. My Roku device is not found on my TV. They are not compatible up on a different TV. It did show it but all it did was do something so it's volume up volume down on an office not the remote on my phone and it also have the remote at the house for the Roku 2. I just need to know what to do to fix this. Thank you

GenPain2U
Community Member

When will you be able to do a multi view of all your cameras on one screen? Weather it be streamed to a display or on your smart device? Like a security feed.

MartinMadaj93
Community Member
Musdi
Community Member

I have owned the Nest cameras for years and have had the unfortunate situation of replacing 2 of them.  the new cameras do NOT give you the option of looking at the entire footage.  if the camera does NOT detect an event it wont show you anything.  a blank screen saying no event detected.  this is unacceptable.  this doesn't really give you security.  what if the camera missed something that actually occurred.  which happens all the time.  you don't have access to it?!   @GoogleNestTeam  needs to see the whole picture here.  we can not depend on the system 100%.  we should always have the option of reviewing the entire footage in order to determine whether or not it has value.  to top it off we are paying to store the footage and yet the footage is events that the camera decides is important.  this new generation of camera's is definitely not worth it.  Extremely unhappy customer.

EmptyNester
Gold Product Expert
Gold Product Expert

Hi Musdi,  I am an end user like you.  If you are talking about a camera running on a battery then yes, it will not be able to offer you 24/7 recording.  It would drain the battery in a matter of hours.    The  only cameras that can do this are the ones that have wired power going to them.  

With the exception of one of the doorbell cameras any of the Google Nest cameras will record 24/7 if you have the NEST AWARE PLUS subscription.

Hope this helps

SIINSI721
Community Member

When will the camera on the Nest Hub Max actually work again? Right now it is basically a paperweight for me. I even bought another one hoping that would work and nope. The new one doesn’t work either. 

Dumke6
Community Member

I can get the Nest door bell to work/connect to home but no indoor cameras. I have been trying every possible way listed on the forums and everything else I can think of. I did not expect this to happen with a Google product. Apparently many others are experiencing the same thing. Will there ever be a fix?

EmptyNester
Gold Product Expert
Gold Product Expert

@GenPain2U  Give this a try.  It should let you see all  of your cams at the same time.  But you will not be able to look at any history

https://home.google.com/

EmptyNester
Gold Product Expert
Gold Product Expert

@Dumke6  Which app are you using?  Nest app or Google home app?    Which cameras do you have?  Are the the older gen 1 cams or the newer cams that only work with the Google Home app?   

You may want to speak with a Google Tech person on this and they can help you over the phone.  Here is the link to open a support ticket and after you enter all the information there will be an option to speak with someone by phone.

Good luck and if you get it working please return here and lets us know how you got it going.

https://support.google.com/googlenest/gethelp

Gh8toes
Community Member

Why on earth are people anxious to have the Nest cameras migrate to the Google Home app?  It should be the other way around.  The camera functionality available in the new Google Home app is terrible.  Think about why people have these cameras.  They want to record 24/7 (with Nest Aware subscription), they want to be able to easily view any segment of the complete video history that was recorded, they want to be able to isolate a portion of that video history and download a clip of it without having a time limit of how long a time period the clip is, they want it to detect specific events and receive notifications regarding that event, they want to be able to set up activity zones, they want the option to view and manipulate their video history on a large PC monitor rather than a small android screen, they want to easily set up a schedule for the cameras to turn on or off,......  How much of that can you do on the new Google Home app - not much when it comes to viewing history and downloading clips.  The Home app does not allow you to select an extended time period of video history and download it, The app limits event history to 3 minutes max, what happens if the event lasts longer than 3 minutes? Or how about an event happening so quickly that when the app triggers an event, the thing causing the event is out of view - you want to be able to scroll back before the designated event to see what triggered it (also known as shutter lag for those using a trail camera),  If you want to scroll through a video history timeline, you have to do it in a half screen mode (small android screen to boot) because the new app takes up half the screen with the event history showing. People that think the new Home app is great for using their Google Nest cameras evidently never used the Nest app on their android device, or on a PC, to be aware of the great features it contains.  Why are people paying 2-3 times the original cost for the used older Nest cameras on eBay - because the cameras were better and the Nest app is better.  The Nest app is superior to the Google Home app when it comes to managing video cameras.  Google needs to duplicate it's full functionality or allow the newer Google Nest cameras to function within the Nest app.  With the Nest app, I am able to download clips from various Nest cameras I have overlooking different areas of my yard, and create a composite video of people or animals as they move out of view of one camera and into view of another camera, and produce a video of the complete history of someone or something as it was moving around my yard, add text within the video, manipulate brightness, etc.  How easy is that to do with the new Google Home app - Not at all.

EmptyNester
Gold Product Expert
Gold Product Expert

I have been fighting that battle since day one of the new cameras.  The answer is because Google has said NO to that.  The Nest app lacks all the home automation stuff that Google is going after and along with support for "Matter".   There is no simple way to do that so they are forging ahead with the Google Home app.

That being said I completely agree with you.  Given that we are now 2+ years into waiting for the Google Home app to have NEST app features I REALLY wish the Nest app had supported the new cameras on day one.  Then we could migrate to the Google Home app if and when they go it up to par.

It has been a very frustrating 2+ years trying to live in both apps. It could have been so cool if they just included the new cams in the Nest app.  I ended up selling  my new cams and just bought used Gen 1 cams from Ebay and I'm very happy to stay in the Nest app.    

ChrisMcSweyn
Community Member

Seriously, I'm getting more and more disappointed that I went with the Nest Camera ecosystem. I've been in product development for over 20 years and I would fire my whole team if, after 2 years, this was the functionality and user experience that we subjected our customers to. The original Nest was created by former Apple employees and it showed with a very intuitive and easy to use blend of hardware and software. This Google takeover of the ecosystem has been a disaster. As has been mentioned previously, living between 2 apps is frustrating and confusing. The new app is basically a Beta that's missing features but hey, they added the ability to write scripts! That's cool for about 3 people that are computer science majors and want to do that kind of thing 🙄

How about the Google camera team write a few scripts that allow me to set up my Nest Outdoor cam and my Doorbell cam on the Home app, scrub through my video history on all of my cameras, or even snooze notifications when I'm working in my garage or I'm in my backyard? That would be pretty cool...

Oh and I heard that people with Dropcam Pros got emails to replace them, I have yet to receive such an email for the one that I have. Not sure what to do about that.

Do better Google. Maybe try a bit harder to get your teams back to the office and finish these **bleep** projects.

 

MR-QPR1991
Community Member

Surely we are due an official update soon on the camera mess we have with the Home and Nest app integration. When will all my cameras work in the same app with the same features. Let's not even get started on your plan for smoke alarms 🤣. Juggling between the 2 apps for over a year is frustrating and lack of features on the new camera is still appalling.

 

But please if any member of the @GoogleNestTeam does read this just a little update to say your still working hard on getting this resolved

ChrisMcSweyn
Community Member

It's not only juggling between the 2 apps, it's also the reduced functionality on the Home App. We had an earthquake a couple of days ago, I captured something on my garage camera that I needed to clip and share. Since it wasn't an "event" according to the camera, there was no way to clip it. This is a new Nest Indoor/Outdoor with the additional power cable for 24-7 recording so it doesn't show up in the Nest app that has the ability to clip anywhere on the timeline. SUPER frustrating! My dissatisfaction for the Google Home ecosystem is growing day after day.

EmptyNester
Gold Product Expert
Gold Product Expert

@ChrisMcSweyn  Hi Chris,  I completely agree.  there is a (kind of) work around for when you want to save a clip but there is no "event".  Just put your phone into screen record mode, then go the GOOGLE HOME app and play the clip.  Then stop the phone from recording and it will be saved in your Photos. I know this works great on the iPhone but I'm sure you a do it on Android as well.

GenPain2U
Community Member

Billion dollar companies like Google shouldn't require their customers to use a work around. They sell this under developed "that's good enough" product to the customer for 300% markup from what it cost to build. Then abandon it for a new project, while discontinuing the old stuff already purchased. The government needs to step in and squish this practice and hold them accountable for making the products consumers purchase from them better based on their feedback and make sure they can't discontinue it for at least 15 years.. Its total theft what they are doing in order to make profit margins.

ChrisMcSweyn
Community Member

@EmptyNester  Yeah, that's what I ended up doing. 

ChrisMcSweyn
Community Member

And now a significant Nest Aware price increase yet still missing the Nest features! Ridiculous! Dear Google, the way that you do this without absolutely insulting your customers is FIX THE HOME APP FIRST, before handing out a 25% increase to an already upset customer base. It's too bad your system auto censors these posts because I could add several choice words.