New "Nest" cameras DO NOT WORK in Nest App. When will we see parity in the Home app?

[C22]

I have a deep investment in the Nest camera, thermostat, and Protect ecosystem (also Guard until it was unceremoniously dropped).  I use the NEST app every single day. Scrubbing through continuous video, saving custom video clips, and relying on the animated push notifications provided by the NEST APP.

Unfortunately, three of my original Outdoor Nest cameras have failed. Google support said replacements are impossible and the only option I was given was to "purchase the new Nest Cam (outdoor or indoor, battery)" and replace the old cameras.  Of course, support failed to mention that these "Nest" branded cameras DON'T ACTUALLY WORK WITH NEST.

I went to make that purchase only to be stopped by an overwhelming number of extremely negative comments on the store stating: WARNING: These new "NEST" cameras don't work AT ALL in the NEST App.  You instead have to use the lackluster Home app that supports maybe 20% of the features provided in the Nest App & website.

The NEST acquisition happened in 2014. How is it that Google is effectively sunsetting the Nest app but doesn't even remotely support the features in the replacement Home app?

Here's a semi-comprehensive list of ALL the KEY features that the Home app & Home website are missing. 

Whew, the number of unsupported (❌) features in the Home app & website compared to the Nest App & Website is outright embarrassing.

A couple of extremely simple questions that I'm sure many of us long time Nest users would like to see answers to:

1. Will "old" cameras ever be FULLY supported in the Home app?  Meaning, scrubbing live continuous video, saving clips, time lapse support, zone creation and management, etc..

• Or are you going to force us to upgrade to the new "works only in the Home app cameras" to get these "state of the art in 2012" features that we've had for the last 11 years inside the Nest app AND website?

2. If your grand plan is to sunset the Nest app, when should we expect to see the GIGANTIC list of missing features enumerated above to appear 1:1 in the Home app and website?

• Is the actual goal to reach parity with the Nest app / Website? 
  • If not, why the hell not?
• Or is the plan to continue to phone-this-in and get it "sorta working", sunset the Nest app, and then wash your hands of the Nest acquisition?

3. Since the Nest app and website are the ONLY fully functional places to operate "nest" cameras, will the newer "Nest" cameras ever been supported in the current Nest app?

• Or will be continue to be forced to use two totally different apps forever to swap between the old and new cameras?

If the final answer is something like : "Sorry, you'll never be able to see 24/7 continuous video in the Home App or Website with your legacy Nest cameras" or "We're not  expecting to see 1:1 parity in the Home app/website with the features CURRENTLY found in the Nest app/website."  I for one will be cancelling my Nest subscriptions and tossing all this hardware in a fire.  

Anti-Consumer is the only description that fits here.  How else can you explain the purposeful decision to not fully support old cameras in the Home App while simultaneously choosing to not support the newer cameras in the VASTLY SUPERIOR AND FULLY FUNCTIONAL Nest app.  Disgusting.  

An EXTREMELY disappointed former long time Nest consumer and supporter.

[NestJoke]

this post need to be viral 

[C22]

I'd love it to be. Branding these new cameras as "Nest" without supporting 80% of the features that have been around in the Nest app and website since ~2012 is bordering on false advertising and fraud. 

It's like buying a new car and being bamboozled by tiny legal text that says "This new car doesn't drive on roads unless you use Google roads!  NOTE: Google roads are actually rivers!"

[Super_paulie]

that list explains its all, Google should be ashamed. What i dont understand is how they think its acceptable, and its not even complicated stuff to code. You could make all of the above in a couple of days of work, its madness.

"Have you tried restarting your router? Let me know how you get on"

[Rikademus]

Very well said!! I applaud your clarity, you’ve hit the nail on the head. I am in a similar position to yourself, thousands spent on a system that is gradually eroding to obsolescence. Screw you Google, it’s disgusting the way you’ve treated us. No words of advice or even explanation, not a s**t given about your customer base. 

[C22]

@GoogleNestTeam 

@David_K 

@zoeuvre 

Can I get a reply from an official support member?

[frankccwong]

I cannot agree more. Bring those features to the home app

[ViPeR5000]

True 😞

[C22]

I'll try again.

@GoogleNestTeam 

@David_K 

@zoeuvre 

Can we get some kind of reply from an official support member?

[NestJoke]

This will be your answer : 

"Hello there,

We appreciate people who are keen on sharing their thoughts with us.  We’re always looking for ways to improve and are working on adding more features and country support; we’ll definitely take this as feedback.

Cheers,

Random community specialist " 

[C22]

Absolutely disgusting that nobody from Google has stepped in and answered any of these pressing questions:

1. Will "old" nest cameras ever be FULLY supported in the Home app?  Meaning, scrubbing live continuous video, saving clips, time lapse support, zone creation and management, etc.. (see the giant list of unsupported features above if you have questions)

2. If your grand plan is to sunset the Nest app, when should we expect to see the GIGANTIC list of missing features enumerated above to appear 1:1 in the Home app and website?

3. Since the Nest app and website are the ONLY fully functional places to operate "nest" cameras, will the newer "Nest" cameras ever been supported in the current Nest app?

I think your entire community is waiting for answers here.

[GEN2User]

I discovered this "feature" today when I got a gen2 cam to replace a gen 1.  So my question since Google doesn't seem to care is what cameras are or have you gone to as a replacement?

[C22]

I haven't replaced any yet. But I'm days away from doing so.

I'm investigating what I can do to repair my existing old gen exterior cameras. That said, since @GoogleNestTeam  refuses to answer any of my questions about the old cameras and their expected support in the Home app - I'm hesitant to spend a bunch of money getting my old gen cameras repaired if they just plan to sunset the Nest app and leave old gen cameras purposefully crippled in the Home app (as they are now)

I imagine if they continue to ignore the community - people will just move to other platforms. 

Platform	Options
Replacing Nest Guard	I already had to replace my Nest Guard system with a "real" alarm system - which is disgusting because ALL the alarm companies are all giant scammers that use obsolete equipment and rope you into long term contracts with steep cancellation terms. This was before I started investigating Simplysafe, I might have moved to them instead had I done my research after Nest Guard was dumped by Google.
Replacing Nest Thermostats	Looking to replace all my Nest Thermostats with Ecobee.  Same functionality, just without the risk of "don't be evil / do the right thing" Google sunsetting them overnight without warning.
Replacing Nest Cameras	Looks like there are a lot of competitors for replacing the Nest camera system. Companies with an incentive to treat their customers with respect unlike what Google is doing here.  There's Wyze, Ring, SimpliSafe, Swann, Lorex, Arlo, Blink.  I'm investigating the top competitors now and am finding a surprising amount of feature parity with the old Nest offerings.
Replacing Nest Protect	For Nest Protect replacement - looking at OneLink and or a mix of my alarm company's overpriced and outdated (yet integrated with the alarm) hardware.
Replacing Google Wifi	Hundreds of competitors here. Just moving to Orbi or Ubiquity UDM.
Replacing Google home screens	If I end up replacing 2 or 3 out of 5 of the hardware solutions above, I'll definitely be dumping all the other Google hardware in the trash.  Home screens have steep competition with Amazon Alexa devices.  I'll just moved to that ecosystem.

It's truly disheartening that a company with such HUGE scale and with so much capability at their disposal is actively trying to drive their users away.  So far, Google has forced me (personally) out of Nest Guard to some garbage local alarm company.  I'm days away from dumping the Nest Camera system I have, and once that bubble bursts I'm very likely going to dump Google entirely as a hardware platform.  Not an insignificant cost to replace everything, but at that point it's a matter of principle.  I'd be replacing:

• [Already replaced] 2x Nest Guards + 12x Nest Detect sensors + 4x nest tags
• 2x Nest Thermostats
• 5x Nest indoor cameras + 1x Nest doorbell + 8x Nest outdoor cameras
• 6x Nest Protects
• 5x Google Wifi access points + 3x Nest Hubs
• 2x Nest Hub Max devices 

Once all those pieces of Google hardware are in the trash (or sold to some other sucker (like us) on Facebook Marketplace), I'll dump the Chromecasts as well and just swap to Roku.

[Rikademus]

Very interesting. I'm going to do the same with my 15 (!!) Nest Cameras (3/4 indoor, 1/4 outdoor). Please let us know what you go for as a replacement. I wonder if there are any with an Apple TV app? Nest dropping support for this was a big deal for me. 

[GEN2User]

I have been considering Blink which with the sales going on right now I can replace my 2 outdoor cams and a doorbell for like $180 bucks.  How ever I am addicted to being able to scroll through the days video to see from start to finish what all occurred that day the way GEN1 works with the Nest app.  THE WAY IT SHOULD CONTINUE TO WORK!!  So with the Google home app I guess timelapse is gone too. 

[C22]

---

@GEN2User wrote:

...being able to scroll through the days video to see from start to finish what all occurred that day....

---

Seriously - how does Google even think that their current solution even REMOTELY works for a "security camera system." A KEY FEATURE of security cameras is being able to scrub back through time to locate specific footage.  

I have numerous examples of situations where I've needed to go back to previous footage (because the event system didn't capture an event related to the footage I needed) to identify a person, or a package, or an event, or a sound, or the start of a fire, the license plate of a car, etc..

Basically the PRIMARY FUNCTION OF A 24/7 CAMERA BASED SECURITY SYSTEM IS TO BE ABLE TO ACCESS THE 24/7 FOOTAGE AND CREATE CLIPS!  How have they missed that point so drastically?!

24/7 scrubbing doesn't work in their Home app (event based only, or "seek and wait" scrubbing - which isn't the same), it doesn't on their Home website (live only), and it definitely doesn't work on Google branded displays (live only).

The ONLY PLACE YOU CAN SEE AND SCRUB THROUGH 24/7 FOOTAGE is in the existing Nest app. The one that Google is sunsetting soon.

It's anti-consumer and should be illegal.

[C22]

I'm breaking out my list above into a post instead of an image for better search results.  Really would like a response from somebody on the Nest team.  Guess I'll start calling support daily referring to this post until I get an official reply.  It's ABSURD that we have been left in the dark on these issues for so long. 

Here is a semi-comprehensive list of ALL the KEY NEST features that the Home app & Home website are missing

   NEST  |  G HOME |           [ LEGEND ] [ ✅ SUPPORTED ]  [ ➖ N/A ]  [ ❌ NOT SUPPORTED ]
 APP|WEB | APP|WEB | FEATURE              [ 🤡 NEW "NEST" CAMERAS ONLY AND NOT AT 100% OF REQUIRED ] 
+--------+---------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|✅ |✅ | 🤡| ❌ | Scrubbing continuous 24/7 video
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | - Scrubbable timeline in landscape & portrait
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | - With color coded zone based clip events
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | - With HR/MIN/SEC increments
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | - With Custom Clip Creation
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | - With Custom timelapse clip creation
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | - Variable length timelapse clip creation
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | - Event view vs continuous 24/7 toggle
|✅ |✅ | ✅| ✅ | - Event view filter
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | - Rewind and Fastforward 1 5 sec buttons
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | - Pause button
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | - Jump to live view button
|✅ |✅ | ✅| ✅ | Live view
|➖ |✅ | ➖| ❌ | Pop out live view
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Zoom locking w/higher res video
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Volume slider
|✅ |✅ | ✅| ✅ | Volume Mute 
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Full screen mode
|✅ |✅ | 🤡| ❌ | Save Clip / Event to manager
|✅ |✅ | 🤡| ❌ | Save Clip / Event to camera roll or computer
|✅ |❌ | ❌| ❌ | - Manage Clips
|✅ |❌ | ❌| ❌ | - Share Clip (URL)
|❌ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | - Share clip (Social: FB, YouTube, Twitter, etc.)
|✅ |❌ | ❌| ❌ | - Rename Clip
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Video history calendar
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Zone creation and management
|✅ |✅ | ✅| ❌ | Camera talking toggle
|✅ |❌ | ✅| ❌ | Doorbell quick responses
|✅ |✅ | ✅| ✅ | Camera config: on/off
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Camera config: notification settings
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Camera config: Loud noises on/off
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Camera config: Zone activity type management
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Camera config: Out of zone activity management
|✅ |✅ | ✅| ❌ | Camera config: Disable video recording
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Doorbell config: Chime on/off
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Camera config: Auto geofencing on/off
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Camera config: Schedule management
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Camera config: Quality/Bandwidth
|✅ |✅ | ✅| ❌ | Camera config: Doorbell quiet time
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Camera config: Face detection 
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Camera config: Night vision options
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Camera config: Camera Sharing
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Camera config: Status light management
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Camera config: Microphone management
|✅ |✅ | ❌| ❌ | Doorbell config: Quick response Spoken language
|✅ |✅ | ✅| ❌ | Camera config: name, room, home
|✅ |➖ | ❌| ➖ | Video preview animated push notifications

Total number of features in the NEST app or on the NEST WEBSITE:  47

• Features supported in the NEST APP: 45 / 96% | GRADE: A
• Features supported on the NEST WEBSITE: 42 / 89% | GRADE: A
• Features supported in the GOOLE HOME APP: 9 / 19% | GRADE: F
• Features supported on the GOOGLE HOME WEBSITE: 4 / 9% | GRADE: F

[C22]

Unbelievable 

I posted my table of missing features in the Home app + the three top level questions in their Pinned "Let's Discuss: Support for Nest Cam Indoor (1st gen) in the Google Home App" thread, and instead of answering any questions, they immediately LOCKED THE THREAD.

@GoogleNestTeam why would you do that?  Just answer our questions!!

[NestJoke]

I have put the link of this thread ( and one about nest protect ) under their Q&A reddit session

My post has been deleted.

[Rikademus]

UNBELIEVABLE🤦 I guess they’re really showing their colours now at least.

[jordanlong20]

well done @C22 

as the kids say. C22 brought receipts. 

embarrassing from almost every angle. 

[VRK867]

My front door Nest doorbell just suddenly died. I wish I had seen this thread before I upgraded to the Gen 2 doorbell. It really feels like a downgrade instead of an upgrade with all the missing features. Not to mention that the field of view is significantly more narrow than the older model. I went to the help pages trying to figure out why the new doorbell wouldn't populate in the Nest app. They don't even bother to tell you it's not an option. What a bummer.  

[frankccwong]

I'm not sure any of you have both the old nest cam and the new cam.  Started a few days ago, the video history scrubbing for the new cam in the Google Home app improved significantly and it's almost as good as the Nest app.  I haven't tried the same on the old nest cam because I reverted the migration of my old nest cams back to the nest app.  Can anyone else share their experience? 

[jordanlong20]

Wow, yes Frank. 

I fired up the Home app and navigated to a new ('22?) camera - and the history scrubbing was way better than I recall and reminiscent of the Nest app in terms of the scrubbing timeline/thumbnail speed and overall experience.