Nest Camera

[Covspring]

My nest camera will not show on the Nest app? Why?

[MplsCustomer]

Unfortunately, the new Google Nest cameras and doorbells introduced starting in the fall of 2021 work ONLY in the Google Home app and NOT in the Google Nest app OR on the home.nest.com website. (We discovered this the hard way when we bought a Google Nest Camera [Battery] in Sept. 2022.).

Google Nest's VP and GM posted this rationale for this approach for the new Google Nest cameras back in Sept. 2022; there has been no update since then on his promises:
https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Blog/Message-from-our-GM-Updates-for-our-Nest-customers/ba-p/...

[vtboxers]

This guy (VP) should be fired. Google oftentimes loses focus on the present while building for the future. They absolutely ruined the camera experience with these cameras. While I appreciate what they're trying to do, they overlooked feature parity between the Nest app and Google Home app. I think the most annoying part is not having the ability to view the streams in a browser or seeing all of your cameras as thumbnails on the main screen.

@Google - listen to the consumers buying your products and not always the MBAs and PHDs driving your product development.

"We chose to transition to the Home app because this app is designed for the future of the smart home — a single place to set up, manage, automate, and control your home. Today, most home devices are controlled across multiple apps, but we’re working on making the Google Home app the central controller across all your home devices, including Google devices and devices from 1,000s of other brands. We continue to make major improvements to the Home app to support this future."

[Brad]

Hey folks,

Thank you for your feedback on this issue, I fully understand the frustrations of not having your new Nest Cams in the Nest App or available on https://bit.ly/3HtBgJC web app. I can imagine having to use two different apps at the moment is quite daunting, and could lead to frustration. 

However, the new Nest cameras and doorbell are exclusive to the Home app because we wanted to create an integrated experience with your speakers and displays. A Nest Aware subscription applies to all of your cameras, speakers, and displays in the same home structure. Thank you for your continued patience, and support. I am more than happy to assist you further with this inquiry if you wish. Please let me know.

Best Regards,

Brad.

[vtboxers]

Hi Brad,

Thank you for your reply. To be clear, I returned the handful of new gen cameras back in the fall after discovering they didn't work in the Nest app and the features I rely on with the older cameras and Nest app aren't in the Home app. I checked again the other day to see if this issue had been resolved and it doesn't sound like it is and there's no indication that those features will be ported over to the Home app.

I was excited about the new Nest Aware subscription that applied to all of the cameras and other devices, but it's pointless when the features I care about most are no longer available. I'd be more than happy to pay a premium for a feature rich experience.

A couple of questions for you:

1. Is having the ability to view feeds through a browser on the roadmap? In what world do we live in where everyone wants to view security footage on a mobile device? Not mine and many others.
2. Will the grid view with live mini feeds of the cameras like the Nest app has, be available on the Home app?

Thanks

[Brad]

@vtboxers

I am sorry to hear that you were not happy with your new cams! Yes, there are plans to bring the Google Home app to a web app version. I am afraid I do not have an ETA, but it is planned! As for specifics like the grid view you were talking about, I do not know if this will be a thing or not. Sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused though! Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Best regards,

Brad.

[doesntmatter]

Well, I was going to buy Nest web cams for our three homes, but not now. This is insane. Six months of vague reassurances to restore previous functionality to hundreds of thousands of people that relied on your equipment for something as critical as security? Functionality that was deliberately, not accidentally, broken? Broken for the benefit of Google, and Google alone? PLEASE don't try to tell us that this was for the good of the consumer. Nobody is going to buy that some promised future benefit justifies losing critical funcationality that your customers *already paid for*. Your customers didn't ask for that tradeoff. You forced it on them.

[Brad]

@doesntmatter

I just wanted to jump in real fast and thank you for your feedback. Please feel free to submit your feedback to us. I've put instructions for feedback below.

• Open the Google Home app

• At the top right, tap your account.
• Tap Feedback 

• tap the type of device you'd like to submit feedback for.
• To display available emails, in the "From:" section, tap the arrow on the right. Select your email address.
• In the feedback summary, write a brief description of your issue.
• Be sure to check the box for Screenshot and System logs.
• To submit feedback, at the top right corner, tap Send 

If you need anything else, please let me know.

Best regards,

Brad.

[vtboxers]

So you can't submit feedback in a browser? You're required to use the Google Home app? The hits keep on coming.

Brad, please do us a favor and submit feedback for us and just include the link to this thread.

Thanks,

vtboxers

[doesntmatter]

@vtboxers  Good god, yes. 

Brad, seriously?? 

[Brad]

Hey y'all.

The feedback coming from the customer with the issue itself, is preferable by our engineers. Hence why I ask you to supply it yourself. Thanks for your patience...

Best regards,

Brad.

[MplsCustomer]

@Brad 

I think perhaps you missed the point, which is that the only way Google Nest accepts feedback for its engineers is by entering the feedback in the Google Home app on a mobile device. So we as customers have to resort to typing feedback in the Google Home app on our cell phones.  Seriously?

That's why I think the other customers on this thread asked you, as a Google Nest employee, to submit the feedback on this thread to Google Nest engineers in your own company.

[Brad]

@MplsCustomer

You are more than welcome to send that information in yourself. I do not have a direct line to anyone in Engineering. This Community forum is also not the place for this sort of request. If you want that feedback sent forward, contact Support so they can direct you further.

Best regards,

Brad.

[doesntmatter]

Brad, this feedback is for your management, not the engineering team:  Requiring a customer to install an application - the very application they are concerned about - in order to provide feedback is terrible.  This only lowers my already very poor perception of the quality of support and quality around this product line. 

[Brad]

Hi there,

Just checking in to see how the conversation is going as there's been a lapse in activity on this thread. Please let me know if you need further assistance. 

Best Regards,

Brad.

[doesntmatter]

Brad, just forget it.  It is clear that Google doesn't care about either existing or new customers.  You've already said you can't even forward text that has already been typed for you, which is ridiculous and embarrassing.  So please don't add to the embarrassment by offering assistance that you can't provide. 

[Brad]

@desn'tmatter

I am sorry, but our feedback process is done a certain way and it is not as simple as you suggest it to be. Please leave your feedback on the app. At this time, I'll go ahead and lock this thread. If you're still experiencing problems, feel free to start a new thread and we'll be happy to help.

Best Regards,

Brad.