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Correct procedure to change "home" for Nest cameras.

NPTech
Community Member

I recently took over IT responsibilities for a customer who owns a set of Nest cameras (2 indoor, 1 outdoor).

I am unsure which generation the cameras are, as I do not see that info in the Nest app (either web browser or mobile), and the most I could get out of my customer was that they predated the Google merger.  (I had to perform their account merger, which is now done.)  They do not currently have Nest Aware, but I plan to fire up the trial as soon as I'm confident the cameras are otherwise set properly.

When attempting to add users to the "family", I discovered that whoever had set the cameras up (the customer doesn't even know who) had configured each as a separate "home".  Rather than repeating the same setting changes three times, I thought it prudent to correct this first, and get them all associated with the same "home". 

My gut instinct was to factory reset all three and start fresh, but in researching that I'm seeing a disturbing number of posts where people effectively bricked their cameras attempting that.  Since the cameras are otherwise connected to the network properly and working, I'm now wondering how to move two cameras to the "home" of the other.  Unfortunately, the closest setting I can find is the "remove camera" button, which warns that it will remove the camera from the account.  I chickened out at this point and came here.

Is that in fact what I need to do?  Remove the camera from the "home" I want to go and add it to the one I want to keep?

6 REPLIES 6

EmptyNester
Silver Product Expert
Silver Product Expert

So you definitely have the GEN 1 cameras as the newer Gen 2 cams do not work inside the NEST APP.  The newer cams only work in the Google Home app.  I'm a very long time user of the nest cams and I can tell you that you are better off in the older generation and the Nest App.    The newer Google Home app is just now coming up to speed but still lacks some things.

So you are right to be cautious about change the system because have you can see it can be a nightmare to get them to reconnect.  That being said if you go into the nest app and REMOVE the camera first and then do the full factory reset (not just the factory restart) then you should be able to add them to the HOME that you want them to be in.   Here is a link that will help you.

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9252162#factory-reset

Good luck and maybe you can come back here and let us know how it went.

NPTech
Community Member

Thanks for indirectly answering some of my fears, regarding  Gen 1 vs Gen 2.

So, remove it, fully reset it, then rejoin.  Okay, seems like I would expect.

How much trouble am I getting into, expecting that adding Gen 2 equipment into the mix is a good idea?

EmptyNester
Silver Product Expert
Silver Product Expert

So if you go the route of Gen 2 cams then it is just a pain in the butt moving between the (2) different apps to view and manage your cameras.   However the Nest Aware will still work for all cameras as long as they are in the same "home".   Gen 2 cams will not ever show up in the Nest App.  Google has recently updated the Google home app so that the Gen 1 cameras can now be moved (migrated) from the Nest App to the Google home app.  And it works pretty well.   Still a few features are missing or not as well implemented (in my opinion) in the Google Home app. 

If you want to dabble in the Gen 2 cams you could buy one from Best Buy or Google (or where ever) and you have 30 days to try it and return it if you don't like it.   I have also purchased used Gen 1 cams from ebay sellers and that has gone well for me as well.

Also in case you haven't tried it yet you can view all the Gen 1 NEST APP cameras from your computer browser by going to "home.nest.com" and you can look at the newer Gen 2 cams and the Gen 1 cams (if you move them to the Google Home app which is very easy) at "Home.Google.com".  

There are (2) NestAware subscriptions.   NEST AWARE (Motion Event Recordings only) and NEST AWARE PLUS  gives you full 24/7 recorded footage of all cams.   This is the one  have and love it because you never have to deal with the "event recordings" that clip the start of the event or turn the recording off too soon.   For me this fill 24/7 recording sets Nest apart from all the other cams that don't offer that feature.  Keep in mind you will want a good internet connection as this will be eating up a lot of "UP" data as it is constantly sending video and audio to the Google Cloud (very secure by the way).    Here is the link for more on signing up for Nest aware:

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Blog/What-is-Nest-Aware/ba-p/581837?emcs_t=S2h8ZW1haWx8Ym9hcm...

 

NPTech
Community Member

Yeah, I assumed they would need the Plus plan. 

How much upstream (ballpark) for say 5 or 6 cameras?

What features do I lose migrating Gen 1 cameras over?

EmptyNester
Silver Product Expert
Silver Product Expert

I have 7 Cameras which are the majority of my UP usage.   My router app is showing I have uploaded 270GB from March 17-22.   I have a spectrum cable modem with 500up and 20down and it works great.

With regard to features you are coming in at a good time as a lot has been migrated over to the Google Home app.  

One feature that I miss is when you need to send someone the ability to VIEW A CLIP event the NEST APP lets you  make a clip that remains in the Google Cloud and you can just send them a link to view the clip.   The newer app forces clips to be saved to your phone PHOTOS (both IOS and Android) and then you have to share the clip from there.  And if you have 10 clips to share is becomes rather cumbersome.  

There are some other little features that I miss but I won't try and get into them here.    However here is come good news.  When you launch the GOOGLE HOME app it asks you if you want to move the GEN 1 Cameras over to the Google Home app. If you say yes the it move it and  you can play with it.  Once you move it you can NOT view it in the Nest app.   But if you decided you don't like it you can easily move the camera back to the NEST app.    So try one camera first for a few days and see how it goes.   

NPTech
Community Member

Sounds good.  I'll look into that then.  Thanks for the help!