Camera Notifications When Home Settings Set For Only Away

[JoshL]

Hello Again Forum - 

After several phones calls and several hours of Google technicians politely trying to help, I am turning to the forum...

I am getting notifications all day about "Person Seen".  My wife works from home and I do not.  Throughout the day I will get notifications for her being seen in the house on different cameras.

My current setting are set for away notifications only.  Both my wife and I are using Pixel 8 Pros, latest OS, with app permissions set for location services all the time.  We are both in the same Google Household.  No other Google  accounts logged into our devices.   In attempt to remedy, I installed the Nest app again (I thought they were phasing it out - I only have my thermostat and doorbell in there but they are also in my Google Home app) and I have the settings set for home sensing accordingly.  That actually seemed to make it worse as it is now reporting everyone in the house seen on camera as a new notification.  

I only want to receive notifications about a person seen on camera when both my wife and I are not home.   There is an option within the Google Home app for this specific need but it does seem to be working or I have a conflicting setting enabled...

Is there a setting I am missing somewhere?  The Google Technician told me that the product and notifications were working as intended and suggested that I turn notifications off when I get home and turn them on when I leave...

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  

**Edit**

Forgot to attach screenshot of my camera notification settings and the notifications.

[EmersonB]

Hi JoshL,

Thanks for reaching out here in the Community. Each person can only use one phone to share one phone location at a time. If you’ve already enabled phone location on one phone, enabling it on a different phone will disable it on the first phone. 

If you're already sharing your phone location using the Nest app, enabling it in the Home app will disable it in the Nest app. You can only use one app to share phone location at a time. 

So if you're away from your home, your Away feature will kick in and send you notification. To confirm, are there other devices (Nest Thermostat, Nest Protect, Nest Secure, Nest speakers and displays) contributing to Home and Away? If these devices have detected activity within the past hour of you exiting the geofence, the home might not switch to Away immediately. This is expected behaviour and you may just need to wait a little longer for the home mode to switch.

To learn more, you may visit our public article about "Learn more about Home/Away Assist".

Best,

Emerson

[JoshL]

Hello Emerson B!

Thanks for replying.  To ensure I understand, if I enable phone location on my phone and my wife's phone, only phone will provide location data for the home/away status?  

Can you recommend what app (Home or Nest) for best results?  Is the Nest app even needed anymore with Home? All devices that are on my Nest app are on my Home app.

My devices (Nest Thermostat, Nest Yale door lock, Google Indoor Camera) contribute to the Home/Away Assist status.  I have noticed that when my wife is home the notifications come throughout the day even after being away for hours.  

Again, thank you for replying, this was super helpful.

[EmersonB · Accepted solution]

Hello JoshL,

That's correct. Your phone can use a combination of GPS, cellular, and Wi-Fi signals to help sense if you've left or returned home. The Away Routine starts after the last home member’s phone leaves home. The Home Routine starts when the first home member’s phone returns. Nest Cameras are not included on the Nest devices that can contribute if you're Home or away. If you have the Nest Learning Thermostat, Nest Thermostat E and Nest Yale lock, you should use the Nest app for the Home and Away assist feature. 

Thanks,

Emerson