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Nest Floodlight Camera and Nest App

pjglad
Community Member

Does the Nest Floodlight Camera work with the Nest App?

1 Recommended Answer

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey folks,

I do appreciate you taking the time to share this feedback and I understand your frustrations with the new cameras only being available in the Google Home app. We appreciate the feedback shared by our community members and I've passed this along. Just for some context, 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. Our long term plan is to use the Google Home app as the one place you can control all of your favorite Nest and other smart home devices, as well as Google Assistant. In the near future, we’ll allow users to set up previous Nest devices and have full control in the Home app. You can also check out some of our blog posts (like this one) that share more details on cameras and what the team is working on. 

Please continue to share your feedback, and happy to help with any additional concerns you may have.

Best Regards,

Brad. 

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17 REPLIES 17

Cache22
Community Member

I have the same question. I purchased it assuming common sense indicated it would - but I can only get it to work with the Google Home app, which negates the reason I purchased this to replace a competitor's floodlight.

Among the concerns I have after spending $300 on this light:

- I cannot access it via the Nest app. I have family members that using the sharing feature for my existing Nest cameras, but not they are unable to view the Floodlight Camera. If this cannot be solved, please let me know ASAP so I can return it to my retailer.
- The floodlights are *very* dim, and I cannot figure out how to adjust them to be brighter, not sure if this is a deficiency in the Google Home app or the product. If this cannot be solved, please let me know ASAP so I can return it to my retailer, and put my Eufy camera back up.

- There is nowhere to setup zones (and the associated notifications per zone). If this cannot be solved, please let me know ASAP so I can return it to my retailer, and put my Eufy camera back up.

And if this "NEST" floodlight will never be available in the "NEST" app, what happens with Nest Protect (and likely other products)? Is Google shutting down the "Nest" brand and replacing it with a subpar "google home" experience?

A prompt reply from someone that has official information is greatly appreciated, as my 30 day return window is now down to 29.

Mick
Community Member

And we have yet another happy customer…..

loydj02
Community Member

I should've known Google would find a way to screw this up. Smh

eisenb11
Community Member

I don't think you're going to see this supported in the Nest app unless there is a massive backlash within the using community... and even then... not sure. I'm ticked about it too, because Google Home is nowhere near as smooth as the Nest app. Huge step backwards.

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there, folks.

 

I am very glad to hear that you are interested in the new Nest Cam Floodlight (wired)! I can understand with the launch of these new cameras, there may be some confusion and I would love to answer your questions for you and help you the best I can! Thank you so much for bringing your questions about our new camera to our attention. 

  • The new Nest Cam (battery), Nest Cam with Floodlight (wired), and Nest Cam (wired) as well as the Nest Hello (battery) are only available in the Google Home App. You are not able to add them to the Nest App. I apologize for this inconvenience, as I know it is hard to have separate devices in separate apps. 

Please let me know if you need any further assistance! I look forward to your response.

Best Regards,

Brad.

Cache22
Community Member

Thanks for taking some time to answer. I do have more questions and concerns - I don't expect you to be able to answer or speak to all of them. But if you can, could you at least read through, and answer my very last question? I have 28 days left to make a final decision.

What about feature parity between the Nest App and the Google Home app? As of right now the Home app is wildly more limited.

Bugs and/or Poor AI Detection: In the 16 hours my new Floodlight Camera has been installed, I have received over 20 notifications for "person", when there was slight wind. (Something that rarely happens in the Nest app for both the Doorbell Camera and the (original) Nest Outdoor Cam.

(EDIT: Zones *are* available, 4 max, I just couldn't find them in the app -- see later reply by "BG")
Missing Feature: Since there is no way to setup zones, I also get notifications for *every* car that drives by on the street. Both my previous floodlight (the older Eufy floodlight) AND the Nest Doorbell allow me to easily filter those out using zones. 

Bugs: Almost half of my notifications open the app, and then either show me a blank video, or just the live video. In some cases of a notification for a car driving by, I never see the car, and try to look back in the video, nothing.

Bugs: Likely related to my last point - sometimes I get a notification for an event, but that event is just plain missing in the app. Whether it says it's a person, or a car, etc. - some just give me a notification, but do not record the event at all. (I have been a Nest Aware subscriber for a couple of years)

 

And even if the Google Home app was to get every missing feature from the Nest app, and the bugs were all fixed, I still have concerns. 

- First off, I think the app change is a very bad move. Google already has an terribly bad reputation for changing or removing things people use and LIKE with no warning, and this is yet another instance of this happening. What guarantees do we have that Google will maintain the Google Home app next year, or the year after? I know the answer is we don't have any - **only the reputation of Google**. And, well, that's not good at all, and getting worse all the time. Even among 20+ year "Google fanboys".

- Nest Cameras are overpriced. (Or "have a premium price" if you prefer.)  I was willing to pay that price not for the cameras, as many cameras are MUCH cheaper - I paid that price for a reliable user experience and reliable/usable software. I no longer have that, not even close. For the $300 I spent on the Floodlight, I could get a different brand floodlight cam, plus 4 other wired outdoor cams, with a user experience at least as good as Google Home app. *(But not as good as the Nest App).  If I sold my Nest doorbell camera, and my other outdoor cameras, I could have an outdoor security system with significantly more coverage with money left over. Sure it would take more of my time to maintain, but not much more than dealing with the issues in the Google Home app. 

I'm not typing this because I want to be yet another person saying "I'm not buying your products anymore". I'm typing it because I *want* to buy them - but that is because of the experience I previously had. I knowingly overpaid for every Nest camera I own, but I was ok with that, because not all of that cost was just hardware - *it was for the software too*. But at this point I just lost nearly all of that software value. 

So with all that being said - what advice can you give me? Is there a well detailed roadmap that can help me understand Google's plans for Nest in the future? Is there a roadmap or timeline for the Google Home app to reach feature parity with the Nest app? (Or even the competing Eufy security app?)

 

And if you can't answer any other question, at least answer this one:

Can you tell me a good reason to spend $270 for the Nest Floodlight, vs $99 for various competing floodlights (which have MUCH better illumination as well). I already know the app experience for the $99 option is better than Google Home app. (But not better than Nest app)

 

I just installed my Floodlight, and you bring up many points I was disappointed in as well. Over time, I'm trying to like it more lol, and I completely understand why and where Google is going with this. If they are migrating everything to the Google Home app, at least make it BETTER!!! But they seem to release things before they are ready or have thought of everything. For instance, I simply want to schedule the camera to be off during the day and on at night, and you can't even schedule it like you could in the original nest app. I do like the hardware, and now that I have used it a few days, I can see how jumping back and forth from the Home app to the Nest app is a little cumbersome. I had rather everything be in the Home app since all my other stuff is there too. It was really a matter of forcing myself to get use to using the Google Home app and "learning" it. My wife has really gotten good in the Home app and uses it exclusively for all the lighting and likes it. I'm still jumping from Phillips Hue app to Nest, to Google Home app, etc. So I started forcing myself to use the Home app and I'm getting more use to it.

As far as zones, you can set up zones in the Google home app for your floodlight. Open Camera > Settings (cog icon at top) > Events > Seen Events > +Add a zone.

Another nice feature that my Nest Hello didn't have it a category of "Vehicle". The Nest doorbell only had notification for "Motion, People, Packages". With the new category of Vehicle, I can exclude cars going down the street. That is nice.

You can do other things like set up Sunrise and Sunset Routines to turn the floodlights on and off (if you want them on at night, etc.). What is lacking for me is that the Camera doesn't show up as a device in Google Home app, only the floodlight (under lights), so you cannot set up a routine to schedule it. :o(

I also really miss the web interface, but they say they are launching that in 2022.

All in all, we are really suffering through a major migration from Nest to Google, but hopefully they will make it better and not abandon everything like they always do.

Cache22
Community Member

Thanks for the tip on finding where the zones are - it definitely seems clunky to use compared to what I'm used to (zones features for both Nest and Eufy apps) and has a limit of 4 zones max -- however at least it's there, so I can finally stop getting notifications for every car that drives on the street. 🙂  Later on I'll work on the more specific zones, such as with my doorbell I have it setup with 6 zones to best avoid false positive alerts while also hoping I don't miss any real ones either. (Like for one area motion in front of a wall near to the door is important - unless it's only up high it's probably just a big flying bug - impossible to get perfect, but I've been very happy with how I've been able to find tune my Nest doorbell zones to mostly get relevant alerts (and not missing any either), so hopefully I can get something similar for the floodlight. ) And due to the view, I think I can get the 4 zone max to work, but it would be easier with more -- but a new concern is if they ever force me to switch the doorbell to Google Home app - it would completely break my well working doorbell zone setup.

I'm hoping after I use it more, the zones feature will seem easier, and less clunky - it still seems very odd to have to edit zones in a section titled "Seen events" - I would have *never* thought to go there to setup zones for the areas of the camera's view. In my mind it seems a bit backwards. But again, at least it's there -- thanks for pointing that out!

I can't believe I had to wait until after I purchased 6 new floodlight cams and installed one of them to learn that they don't work in the Nest App (alongside a dozen existing Nest cams we already have) and are not viewable on a computer which is the whole reason we went with a Nest platform a couple years ago. Google sucks. I hope this bombs for you, you deserve the worst. Returning all our new cams right now and finding a new platform. F YOU.

eneuf2001
Community Member

WTF??????????????????????????

Connect all the cameras in one app.  In what world is it OK to sell a "family" of cameras and then exclude any from one app or the other.  That's BS. Just tell me the developers are working on this. Or tell me Nest is being deprecated.  What a disappointment!

 

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

 

Just checking in to see if you still need assistance with this issue. If so, please let me know and I would love to look into this further for you!

 

Best Regards,

Brad.

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey folks,

I do appreciate you taking the time to share this feedback and I understand your frustrations with the new cameras only being available in the Google Home app. We appreciate the feedback shared by our community members and I've passed this along. Just for some context, 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. Our long term plan is to use the Google Home app as the one place you can control all of your favorite Nest and other smart home devices, as well as Google Assistant. In the near future, we’ll allow users to set up previous Nest devices and have full control in the Home app. You can also check out some of our blog posts (like this one) that share more details on cameras and what the team is working on. 

Please continue to share your feedback, and happy to help with any additional concerns you may have.

Best Regards,

Brad. 

I think that Google has completely missed the point that a large portion of Nest camera users neither want nor need the cameras functions integrated with "a household", speakers and doorbells and such. We used dozen of these cameras around a commercial complex.. At the time it was the best wifi/non-hardwired system that would allow many people on remote desktop computers to monitor security live from many cams at once and save/share/and download clips of incidents (sometimes single incidents that occurred on/over multiple cameras and then we'd stitch the clips together chronologicallly in Adobe Premiere).. You've broken an awesome system and former awesome brand to appeal to your own egos.. And a smaller demographic of customers. You will lose business and you will totally deserve it. 

Mick
Community Member

Oh Brad.

Your explanation further reinforces that Google just doesn’t get it. At all…..

However, my refund was promptly processed when I sent back my Nest Cam (Battery) after I discovered that it wouldn’t work with the Nest App, and the Google Home app didn’t have one single feature that I needed….

Cache22
Community Member

Do you realize that the previous Nest cameras, which use the well working Nest app, integrate perfectly into my Nest/Google speakers and displays? I say "Hey Google show me the driveway' and it promptly shows me the feed for that camera. Same for the backyard, and every other "old" Nest camera. The key here, it does that perfectly using the previous generation cameras that all use the Nest app. When my doorbell is rung, my Nest Hub screen automatically shows the video from my 1st gen Nest Hello doorbell camera (which also uses the better Nest app). I fail to see what "integration" is missing that needs to be added. Unless by "integration" you mean trying to leverage the more successful Nest camera brand to sell more of the less successful Hubs with screens...

I'm not trying to be sarcastic here. But what you are talking about has already worked just fine with the old Nest cameras. I fail to see what "value" is being added, but I can clearly see all the value that is being lost. (I assume some things will eventually be added to the Google Home app, but my fear is if the Google Home app is eventually updated to have every feature the Nest app has, it will end up being sluggish and a resource hog, since it still has to perform the other functionality of the Google Home app.)

And what about Nest Protect? Is that staying in the Nest app, or is my investment into 4 x $120 smoke detectors also going to turn into a buggy and unreliable experience?

I guess the question that keeps being asked, but never answered is: What *VALUE* are we getting buying the Nest brand? I can buy a camera that costs 1/4 the price that also already works with the Google/Nest Hub displays. So why should I continue to pay absurdly high prices for Nest products if you take away the one part that makes it stand apart from EVERY generic brand out there?

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

@Cache22

 

Hey there,

 

I am terribly sorry to hear that you are still experiencing this issue, I would suggest sending feedback to our engineering team through the app so that they can investigate this. That way, you know your feedback is going directly to where it counts. 

 

Please let me know if you have any further questions. 

Best Regards,

Brad.

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey Folks.

 

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.