Event detection original Nest Cam

[Turnbacktime]

Wondering if anyone can help. I have an original outdoor Nest Cam that we access via the Nest app and Google Home in various iOS platforms.

After several years of working perfectly we are no longer getting reliable event triggers/notifications via either the Nest App or Google Home. Not 100% sure what is going wrong but if a person walks towards the camera we no longer reliably get a notification on someone being seen. It probably works properly less than 10% of the time. If you look in event history then there is often a recording there. But if you view it in the Nest App you won’t get the normal red dot indication of an event triggered by a person being seen. You will get the grey dot of a lesser event trigger.

happens on all our platforms so not an individual iOS issue. Have tried pretty much everything I can think off from cleaning camera lens, power cycling it, resetting it and connecting to Wifi again. If you view the camera the video is always as clear and stable as it has ever been. Camera is well protected from weather so rain etc can’t have got in and damaged it.

This might have only started happening since we out the camera onto Google Home as well as the Nest app. But can’t be certain.

any suggestions.

[EdmondB]

Hello Turnbacktime,
 

Thanks for posting here in the Community. I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble with this. No worries; we'll check this out. Have you checked if notifications are enabled in your Nest App and iPhone settings? Check out this link on how to change Nest notification settings.
 

For your iPhone settings, go to Settings>Apps>, select Nest App or Google Home, and make sure notifications are on.
 

Let me know if that works.
 

Thanks,
EdmondB

[Turnbacktime]

All notifications are turned on for both Nest and Google Home on all devices. I very much doubt it is a notification issue more like a software detection issue. 
The camera is set up to notify on person detection not movement. Previously it has been very reliable on that. Now it probably triggers properly on only around 30% of the people approaching the house. Whereas before every person detected could be seen by the red indicator in history they now normally only get the pale grey indicator in history. An event will have been recorded and you can replay it. But no notifications will have been triggered. As I said about 30% will trigger notifications properly. It is the same on all our devices, both mine and my wife’s.

[Lance_L]

Hi Turnbacktime,

I’m sorry for the delay. I know how it feels when something isn’t working the way it should; let’s check it out.

Follow the troubleshooting steps below (try to trigger a notification to test after each step):

• Connect the mobile device to another Wi-Fi or cellular network.
• Sign in to your account on another mobile device.
• Connect the Nest cameras to a different network.

More information here: Nest notifications not working.

Let me know how it goes.

I appreciate the help, EdmondB.

Best,

Lance

[Turnbacktime]

Lance

thanks for getting back to me. I can confirm that the problem exists whether the mobile devices are on cellular, Wifi at home or away. When it doesn’t work it fails across all devices. We have proved this by double checking with our daughter 150 miles away whether she got a notification when we failed to do so. We only have one Wifi signal in the house, a 3 node MEsH system so I am confident that the Wifi signal is strong and stable. 
The problem isn’t the actual notification system it is the person recognition for that actual camera. 

I have been experimenting with the issue a bit more. It improved after turning the microphone off. And I have no turned the system back so that it notifies of any motion in the configured zone. That means I get too many false triggers but at least events get recorded. Yesterday was a good example. A delivery driver came up the drive, rang the bell and stood there. System triggered based on motion, notifications were received but it didn’t log it as a person. Despite the long walk directly towards the camera and then standing less than 4 feet from it for a minute.

the newer floodlight cam is fine. It is the older Nest cam that is misbehaving. Picture quality is set to high and no visible deterioration in that. Camera lens has been cleaned. There is no stray direct sun or street lighting entering the lens and causing issues,

[Lance_L]

Hello Turnbacktime,

Since the steps didn't work on your end, I'd be happy to take a look into this for you. Please fill out this form with all the needed information, then let me know once you're done.

Regards,

Lance

[Lance_L]

Hey Turnbacktime,

We got your form — thanks for filling it out. Our team will reach out to you via email to further assist you. Also, please be advised that this thread will be locked after 24 hours.

Regards,

Lance