Assisting Device Setup Constantly Fails

[KD25]

In October of 2023, we purchased and installed our 3rd Nest Hello doorbell. Setup went flawlessly and everything was working as it should. In December of 2023, our Verizon router went bad and had to be replaced. Twice. We were never able to successfully set up more than one doorbell on one home structure ever again. The connection to the assisting device constantly gives NC013 or NC024 error codes. The ONLY way more than one doorbell would work was to create a new home for each doorbell. Ok. That was inconvenient, but workable. Until I got the emails that my trial Nest Aware subscription would be expiring soon. I had just paid $80 to renew in December! Apparently that subscription only applies to one home structure. 

I have spent COUNTLESS hours (probably close to 40 now) in phone calls and emails to tech support with no solution. I called Verizon and had them split the network into a viewable 2.4 and 5 ghz networks. Factory Reset the doorbells and tried to set them up on the 2.4ghz and had the same problems. Tried installing on a new home and again, could never get more than one installed. 

When that Verizon router went bad, we purchased an Eero mesh system. Same problems over and over again. My case has been escalated and supposedly my emails are getting forwarded to the engineers. They are offering no solution. 

When we got these 3 three doorbells, never once did any of them look for an assisting device. 
Has anyone had a similar problem and solved it? Thx. 

[EmersonB]

Hello KD25,

Thanks for reaching out here in the Community. We understand your troubles about this issue and this is not the experience we want you to have. Please share your case ID here so that we can take a look at what happened. 

Regards,

Emerson

[Slinger1032]

Is there any solution to this problem?  I’m having the same issue trying to connect 2 nest IQ cams.  One connects and uses my protect as an assisting device.  Once I install one cam, it wants to use that cam as the assisting device and immediately fails with code NC013.  Looking at other posts, people have been complaining about this issues for 3 years now.  How can I get both cams to work at the same time?

[KD25]

We have created b/322043528 to further investigate this issue.  Once we have more information, we'll forward that to you.  Please note that there's no ETA on resolution. "

For your reference your case number is 9-7092000035254.

[Moose2]

I'm having a similar issue connecting all my nest cams under one home after trying to replace a nest cam outdoor IQ that failed. The assisting device seems to fail each time. Never had this issue before and items normally pretty easy to ass.  I made the mistake of deleting all the working items in the old home structure in an effort to get the outdoor IQ working but now seem to have the issue across all cams. I have managed to get the cams back online temporarily by adding a new home structure (agreed not ideal) for each of the cams that won't add via the assist including my front door nest Hello. I don't think it's the router, or the hardware of the cams itself -  as I get the same NC013 (4.8) error on my Nest pro wifi as I do on a phone hotspot . I did however get some joy in connecting 3 cams to the old home structure after removing the protects onto a new home structure and using a iPhone 12pro vs my iPhone 15pro (possibly 6GHz wifi issue? ) - however after the 3rd cam added via assist I ran into the same NC013 issue. Have seen a blog saying to get the new item as close to the thermostat for an assist instead so will let you know if that works. Let me know if you get any joy with support and the steps needed to resolve. I'm sure you already have this but here is the list of items support gave me to try: 

By the way  here are the steps you can follow for your error NC013

1. Quit and restart the Nest app or Google Home app.
2. Restart the mobile device or tablet.
3. Make sure the assisting device is awake and within pairing distance (maximum of 2 to 3 meters).
4. Restart the assisting product (Example: the Nest Connect when pairing a Nest × Yale Lock).
5. Put the mobile device or tablet on Airplane mode, then turn on Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
6. Try a different mobile device or tablet.
7. Restart the network equipment (router, extender, or modem).
8. Reset the joining device to defaults.
9. Test with a mobile hotspot.
10. Create a new home structure and delete the old home structure.
11. Pair all devices to the new home structure.

[KD25]

We have tried all those steps … multiple times. We even brought the doorbells inside and powered them via USB, set them next to each other, as recommended. Didn’t help. As this was not a problem upon initial purchase and setup of any of our 3 doorbells, I suspect a firmware update pushed to them changed how they now have to be set up. I asked support - three times - if it was the hardware or the software controlling this “assisting device” feature and got no answer. 
I even tried setting these up using my Kindle Fire Tablet and going back and loading old app versions. Tried 5.22 from 2018 and still got the same result and looking for an assisting device failure. I had read here that it was in 2021 that they added the assisting device feature. We purchased and successfully set up our 3rd doorbell in October of 2023, which is why I believe this is a firmware problem. I suspect if I would buy a new Nest Hello that it would set up just fine. Frustrating to have hundreds of dollars of equipment that will not work as intended. We chose the Gen 1 doorbells as we prefer the Nest app to the Google home. 

[Moose2]

No joy from my end so far either - getting near the thermostat didn't help at all and 100% agreed about the annoying feature of nest aware not being on the front door doorbell as the nest aware subscription is linked to the old home - not this new temporary home I've set up to jerry-rig it work. On my old home structure it doesnt even tell me which item it is trying to assist from just a blue circle with "Nest" inside - so I have tried going round the various nest items one by one and holding close the new cam to see if I can get the assist working but no joy still. I still have a couple of things I need to try so I can fully say I have done the whole list before going back through to support (just need to find the spare time to crack on with it) . When the items were assisted successfully last time - I needed to click add next item immediately after adding the first as per the prompt - the last successful nest cam IQ to be added to the home structure looked like it kind of stalled out at the end - whilst successfully added - it broke the chain of prompts to add the next one (haven't been brave enough to remove it yet as 3 cams in a home structure is better than 2 cams in 1 and 1 in another if I can't re add it again) - However I'm going to try to follow through with this and remove it and re add quickly in sequence - then failing that remove all items and re add and make sure I only have one router plugged in close by to all items ( have a Nest Pro mesh system with multiple access points in case this is the issue). If no joy after that I'm back onto support again to try to find a rhyme or reason for the issue / a resolution to it - thanks for your update as well - fingers crossed we both get a breakthrough on this and our accounts back to normal.

[KD25]

Easy solution. Just remove the assisting device function! Set up each device manually. I don’t know why tech support can’t do this. It’s obviously a problem for many people from my searches for a solution. I am positive that upon initial purchase this was not the way the devices handled first time set up. If you are paying for Nest Aware, just remove that single camera every 30 days and re add. You will get another month of a trial subscription. 

[Moose2]

Sorry for the bit of delay in feeding back the results - kids were off school last week so didn't want to break the internet at home and become the scourge of the household haha. Unfortunately no joy again. I made sure it was a single router / access point on and tried a close-by set up a new home structure - added the nest protects first then added a Nest cam IQ indoors however when you go to set up the second nest cam IQ the assist chooses the Nest cam IQ rather than a protect always and gives a NC024(4.8) error - doesnt matter which way round on the two cams I do it. It is also interesting that you get the same error NC024(4.8)  if you try to update the wifi details from the device menu on nest cam IQ once successfully set up.  I have ensured I have always used a phone with no 6ghz wifi  during set up but don't think its network related as I tried using a hotspot on the phone with same issues as well. From memory when I did the set up of many previously on my old home structure - you would get to find and enter the details for the 1st device being set up but then similarly to now it would search for a nearby device to get the assist from which I would always just carry around a nest protect with me to do as they are battery powered  (more portable / no wires) if another device wasn't in range  - there seems to be some change whereby aside from the first cam connection it wants to go cam to cam for the assist and that appears to be broken in some way. I'm going to head back to chasing up support on this as that was the last test I needed to from the list and removing some of the variables that could have been unique to my network setup / devices being used. If I get any joy I will let you know - good luck as well. 

[KD25]

So it’s been almost a month and no reply here or the Google Folks on a solution to my problem. 

[ByronP]

Hi folks,

Thank you for posting. Sorry for the inconvenience of having to pair the devices again and encounter the error code NC0013.

I really appreciate the effort to troubleshoot the above steps so far.

If you still need assistance, please fill out this form, and a dedicated team will reach out to you via email for more options.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Byron

[NameGoesHere]

Same here. I have had the NCO13 since December. We have an extra Nest Cam IQ Outdoor that we use while traveling. I attempted to change the wifi info to the AirBnB's. It wouldn't take, so I removed it from my account and tried to re-add it. I haven't been able add it back to my account ever since. I have tried both the Nest and the horrible Google Home app. No luck on either.

[Sonunet]

Same same.  Google support is officially a joke.  They're asserting that since the camera is out of warranty they're not able to do anything.  Funny thing is even if it was under warranty they still couldn't do anything. 🙂  I guess the real question is what is the warranty given against the paid subscription since in reality (that's an active contract if they're charging).  

Google has defiantly deteriorated in quality of service and quality of product, since they have no appetite to support their customers and community that have purchased devices and have active agreements in place with their subscription service.