Nest camera email alerts on iPad open in Safari instead of nest app

[jwyoung]

 I have 6 Nest cameras (4 outdoor, 1 indoor, 1 doorbell) and get dozens of email alerts every day (at least 50).  Historically, when I click to open them, they automatically open in the Nest app.  This has worked well for years, on my iPhone, iMac, iPad and PC.  Now, this no longer works on iPad; they open in Safari and I must login every time.  This is a slow process and means I can't practicly use my iPad to monitor my alerts; there are just too many.  I've searched in the Nest Community and found nothing that helped.

[VTXRider]

Hi jwyoung. I get the same issue on my ipad inconsistently.  This is all started and is a direct result of google screwing up Nest products, the Nest app, and driving people to use the crappy Google Home app.  

[jwyoung]

This started as an intermittent problem several months ago, but now it's 100% repeatable.  It may have gotten worse just after the latest Apple iOS update, but I'm not sure.

[VTXRider]

I would fire it at Nest support to see if they can fix it. At least it's documented then. 

[MplsCustomer]

@jwyoung 

I've seen a post or two about this in the past, where it was suggested this was caused by setting your default browser to Chrome or another browser besides Safari on your iPad or iPhone.

[jwyoung]

Yes, I saw this post but it didn't apply to me.  Safari was my only browser on my iPad.  But this idea was still worth a try.  So I downloaded Chrome for iPad and made it my default browser. This fixed the problem; my Nest email alerts now open in the Nest app. Then I switched my default browser back to Safari and the problem returned.  So I have a solution if I'm willing to stick with Chrome as my default browser. Not my preference but I guess I'll try it for awhile.

[MplsCustomer]

@jwyoung 

I'm glad you found a solution of sorts, but something odd is going on in Google Nest's software.

[VTXRider]

Something odd, yes, they are screwing everyone out of Nest Secure.  

[jwyoung]

I was wrong, making Chrome the default browser on my iPad did not solve the problem.  Now  my Nest email alerts open in Chrome, not the Nest app.  And I still have to login every time I try to open an email alert. So goodbye Chrome, back to Safari.