New user 2nd Gen Indoor/Outdoor Cam and Wired Doorbell

[Dan6879]

Is there any way to set up an automation for either of my products to go like this:  When I arrive home, I would say to  

the Google Nest "I'm Home" and have it turn off the cameras.  When I'm leaving the house say " I'm leaving" and turn on the cameras.  Also, can someone explain how the cameras work or what they do when they recognize your phone.  Thanks 

[tajennifer]

Hi Dan6879,

Thanks for posting. I understand that you are interested in an automation that can turn on and off your cameras once you are at home or not. In this case, let me tell you that this is possible with the Home/Away feature. This is possible with presence sensing; your Google Nest camera or doorbell can use your phone’s location to automatically start the video stream when you’re away and stop the video stream once you get home. You don’t have to set a schedule or manually turn the camera on or off.

You can check for detailed information about this feature on the "How Nest cameras automatically switch to Home or Away". 

Please let me know if you have more questions.

Best regards,

Jenny

[PrezMTM]

Hi Jenny,

I have two Nest Indoor Cams attached to my home in Google Home.  In the Home/Away routines, both cameras are set to turn on/off as needed.  The routines are set to trigger by either voice command or presence sensing.  Here's a really weird issue that I'm having, and I'm hoping that you can help me resolve it:

- Whenever I manually change the Home/Away mode of the home in Google Home app, the cameras come on/off properly.

- Whenever I use voice commands to change the Home/Away mode, or presence sensing changes the mode, the cameras do NOT go on/off properly - they remain in whatever status they currently are in, even though the home does change to Home/Away as they should.

Do you have any ideas why the cameras do not turn on/off via automations, and only by manual triggers?

Mike.

[tajennifer]

Hi PrezMTM,
 
Thanks for posting. I'm sorry to hear about the situation that you are experiencing with the automation that can turn on/off your cameras when you are or are not at home. I understand how frustrating it can be when things do not work as expected. But don't worry; help is here. I just need to ask for some information to provide the best assistance:

• What device are you using to say the command?
• What steps did you try to solve the situation?
• What is the command that you are using for this automation?

Please keep me posted. I'll be waiting for your response.
 
Best regards,
Jenny

[PrezMTM]

- I have two Google Nest Indoor Cams (wired, 2nd gen), one in my living room facing a deck door, and one by my garage door.  I use use Google Nest Mini speakers in various rooms, and a docked Google Pixel Tablet for voice commands.  When I say things like "Turn off Living Room camera", I get responses that either the camera is not setup, or does not exist.  But I see the cameras setup in Google Home app and assigned to the correct room.  I can manually turn them on/off using Google Home app, and if I manually change the home/away status in Google Home, the cameras come on/off like they are supposed to.  

- I use Google Pixel 8 Pro as my phone, and presence sensing is turned on.  It is correctly determining when I am home/away via location, and sets my home accordingly.  I can see changes occuring in the Google Home app via the Activity tab.  However, the cameras do NOT come on/off when this happens.

- Interestingly enough, whenever I give voice commands to any of my devices like "I'm home", My Nest Mini will say something like "Welcome home, I tried to hold down the fort", and will turn on my music and certain lights, but cameras do NOT shut off with voice commands either.

In summary:  Voice commands and Presence sensing do NOT turn cameras on/off.  However, manually changing the Home/Away status of my home in Google Home app does turn cameras on/off. 

[tajennifer]

Hi PrezMTM,

Thanks for your reply and all the information provided. I understand that your Google Nest Mini is not finding the cameras that you have set up on the Google Home app when you said the command to turn them on/off. But don't worry; let's try to find the best solution for this. In this case, please try to sync all the cameras with your speaker device by the voice command: "Hey Google, sync all my cameras"; after that you can try to set up your Home/Away with the command to turn them on/off. Please make the test, and let's see how that works.
Please keep me posted.

Best regards,
Jenny

[PrezMTM]

Hi Jenny, here are some results from some actions / testing I have done over the last few days:

- I tried the command "sync all my cameras" as you suggested, and my Nest Mini says "ok", but does NOT seem to do anything.  Cameras still don't auto on/off.

- I tried the command "sync all my devices", and my Nest Mini says "I could not sync all devices. 6 devices are not available".  I have no idea which 6 devices it is referring to, and can’t figure out how to get it to tell me what they are.

- I realised that the command "I'm home" that I had been using was not a trigger for the Home Routine.  It should have been "Someone's home".  When I use the latter, the Nest Mini responds by saying that it could not complete all the actions in my routine (which are only to turn off the two cameras).  When I remove these actions, the voice command seems to work fine.  Re-adding the cameras to the routine still doesn't allow them to turn on/off properly.

- I tried completing removing the two cameras from my Home app, resetting the cameras, and re-adding them to my Home app, configuring them as if they were brand new cameras.  I can turn them on/off manually, but they still do not respond to automations or voice commands.

At this point, I’m convinced that it’s not something with my setup, as they were working up until mid December, around the time that I subscribed to Nest Aware Plus with 24/7 recording.  That’s when the routines seemed to get messed up and stop working properly.

I would greatly appreciate any advice you have.  Because at this moment in time, the cameras are NOT working how they used to, and it defeats the purpose of me using them as an automated security system if I have to manually set my Google Home app into Home/Away status every time.

Thanks,

Mike.

[tajennifer]

Hi PrezMTM,
 
Thanks for the update. I understand that you already tried to sync your cameras and devices, and that doesn't solve the problem, including if you delete and re-add the devices on your home. But don't worry; I can help, and let's try with different steps. In this case you can try the next steps with the Google Home app:

• Check internet connectivity and ensure that your device has a stable internet connection and is working properly.
• Please restart the Google Home app by closing the Google Home app completely and then reopening it. 
• Restart your mobile device; sometimes, restarting your smartphone can resolve app-related issues. Turn off your device, wait a few seconds, and then turn it back on.
• Clear app cache and data. If the Google Home app continues to malfunction, try clearing the app's cache and data. 
• And the last step will be to try to delete and reinstall the Google Home app. This simple step can resolve temporary glitches or issues with the app.

Please let me know how that goes.
 
Best regards,
Jenny

[PrezMTM]

Hi Jenny,

I've done all those things and the issue has not resolved.  Most of those suggestions deal with my phone, but from what I can tell, the issue is NOT with my phone - I am able to make the cameras turn on/off properly by initiating actions directly my phone.  I believe the issue is with Google's servers and how the devices communicate with each other.  Could something have changed recently on Google's end that could cause the cameras to no longer operate properly when the commands to turn on/off are initiated from the Nest Mini / Presence Sensing?

[tajennifer]

Hi PrezMTM,

Thanks for your reply. I understand how frustrating the situation can be after trying all the steps provided. We are sorry for the inconvenience that this can cause. But the team would like to learn more about this behavior. When you get a chance, please fill out this form and let us know when you’re finished. We’ll have someone reach out to you via email from there. 

Best regards,

Jenny

[PrezMTM]

I have filled out the form.