3 hrs of Event History - false advertising

[tkzz]

I just installed a Nest doorbell gen 2 wired. I also bought a Nest floodlight camera (not installed yet). I chose Nest because of the claimed free 3 hrs of event history but I expected it to keep 3 hrs worth of events. Not a rolling window of 3 hrs. If something happened over night - more than 3 hrs before I wake up in the morning - this appears to mean that I will have no record of it. I hope I’m wrong but after trying to scroll back in time, the timeline stops exactly 3 hours back. I’m disappointed. Can someone clarify / confirm? Is the Nest useless without paying Google for a monthly subscription? 

Also the notifications are silent even with “sounds” turned on, so if something goes bump in the night I won’t know about it. Any way to fix this?

[MplsCustomer]

@tkzz 

You are right; Google Nest's description of its free event video history is ambiguous. They say "Up to 3 hours of event video history", but you actually get event video history only for the most recent 3 hours. I'm just another Google Nest customer, but this comes up repeatedly in this forum.

On an iPhone or iPad, notifications from the Google Home app use only the standard iOS notification sound and this is not configurable (except that the sound can be turned off in your iOS settings). I don't know how it works on an android phone.

[tkzz]

So, it seems that notification sounds are working now. I didn’t change anything.

However I’m still bummed about the recording history being limited to a 3 hr window. Is there a way to send the video stream to my computer to store there instead of the cloud? Feeling a bit bait and switched.

[Brad]

Hi there, 

Thanks for bringing up the concern you're having. I'd love to look into this for you. If you would like more than the standard 3 hours, you should sign up for Nest Aware as you can go back and view your history, etc. and I believe it could be the answer you're looking for. Here is a great link on how Nest Aware works and how to subscribe. In addition, here is a link on how to manage your subscription. 

Best regards,

Brad

[tkzz]

Thank you Brad. I'm well aware that Google will gladly take more of my money after having already spent $700 on nest products!

I am just pointing out that in Google's advertising, it states that "3 hours of events" is included for free. However in practice this does not translate to "3 hours of events". It actually means "events that happen to occur during a 3-hour rolling time period".

I am a paying Google Workspace customer (different account than the gmail account I use with nest, as I don't believe nest works with workspace accounts). It would be good if google could offer enhanced nest video storage as part of the workspace fees, similarly to how Apple does this with their iCloud.

[Brad]

@tkzz 

I appreciate your sharing your experience with us. I get where you're coming from, and I would love for you to please share your feedback with us. We’re always looking for ways to improve, and appreciate you sharing. . You can send it at any time using your devices, following the steps found here. 

Best regards,
Brad

[Brad]

Hey there,

In an attempt to keep content in these forums fresh, we'll be locking and closing this thread. If you still need assistance with this issue, feel free to start a new thread. Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,
Brad