Not receiving critical alerts on my Iphone from Google Nest Cam (battery)

[Vvc1]

I bought 3 Google Nest Cam (battery). The critical alerts are enabled in the Google Home settings itself,  and in the iPhone settings for the Google Home app. But I don’t receive those alerts.

The notifications work in that they come through to the device when the cameras detect something, but they never come through as critical, so if the device is on silent, I don’t get a notification with sound (as it should do)

[Vvc1]

I bought 3 Google Nest Cam (battery). The critical alerts are enabled in the Google Home settings itself,  and in the iPhone settings for the Google Home app. But I don’t receive those alerts.

The notifications work in that they come through to the device when the cameras detect something, but they never come through as critical, so if the device is on silent, I don’t get a notification with sound (as it should do)

[MplsCustomer]

@Vvc1 

The "Critical Alerts" setting says "Home safety and security emergencies will always play a sound and appear on the lock screen, even if your phone is muted or in do not disturb."

"Critical alerts" are NOT camera visual events.  I'm not even sure they apply to detection of carbon monoxide alarm by a camera, since we've never turned that on.

"Critical alerts let you know about important events, like a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm, even if your phone's volume is set to low and you've turned on Do Not Disturb."

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9244826

[MplsCustomer]

@Vvc1 

I've tried doing some more searching through Google Nest Help,  It seems that documentation on "critical alerts" is not very precise or clear.

[Vvc1]

Hi MplsCustomer,

Thanks for that.  However, the "Camera and alerts" page clearly mentions critical alerts (https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9210305?hl=en#zippy=%2Chome-app-notifications%2Ctypes-o...

Nest camera alerts are notifications you receive on your phone or tablet when your Google Nest camera or doorbell detects important activity. Camera notifications are managed in the Google Home app or the Nest app.

How alerts work

• Home app settings are off by default. You can turn notifications on or off at any time.

• The notification options you get depend on the type of camera you have and whether you're subscribed to Nest Aware.
• You can choose to receive notifications for everything your camera detects, or choose notifications for only certain types of activity.
• You need to separately set up alerts for each camera and doorbell in your home.
• If others can control devices in your home, each person can set their own camera alert preferences in the app.
• If you've turned on critical alerts, you may receive some push notifications even when your phone is set to Do Not Disturb mode.
• Some camera alerts are always on to keep you informed about important events like when your camera goes offline, if it was removed from the app, or detects tampering. You can't change settings for these notifications in the app.

Therefore, I would expect to receive critical alerts if movement is detected

[MplsCustomer]

@Vvc1 

The only definition Google Nest ever provides for "critical alerts" is the one I cited above: "Critical alerts let you know about important events, like a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm."  We have critical alerts turned on, but we do NOT have alerts turned on for smoke or carbon monoxide alarms, and in 4 years we've never received a "critical alert".  Motion and People and Animal alerts are NOT critical alerts.  If they were, then all camera alerts would be critical, and that wouldn't make sense.

[Vvc1]

Hi @MplsCustomer 

Thanks for sharing that. I understand what you are saying, but I still think there's something wrong.

• The "Camera and alerts" page clearly mentions critical alerts, so there must be a type of event that will trigger those alerts
• You said that "Motion and People and Animal alerts are NOT critical alerts.  If they were, then all camera alerts would be critical, and that wouldn't make sense."
  • I respectfully disagree. One of the main things that made me buy those cameras was that I could add a bunch of filters (like filtering familiar faces, animals, cars, movements in certain zones, etc) so, at the end, I will receive alerts for only important "critical" events: unknown people in places where they should not be. 
• I had a cheaper camera in my previous home from another brand that had critical alerts available, and that helped me during one occasion when somebody broke into my place in the middle of the night. If it wasn't for these critical alerts, no sound would come through my phone (I put my phone on mute during the night because I don't want to be awakened by unimportant alerts from other apps) and I would not have woken up to deal with that situation right at the moment. I wish I could have the same thing for those way more expensive Google Cameras

Thanks

[MplsCustomer]

@Vvc1 

Yes, you can use the familiar faces feature, but all that does is add the person's name to your notification; there is no way to receive notifications ONLY for unfamiliar faces. And you can chose which notifications you wish to receive, but NONE of these are "critical" notifications; all you can do is filter the events for which you wish to receive notifications.

As I've indicated twice now, the only "critical alerts" example I've seen anywhere in Google Nest Help is this one: "Critical alerts let you know about important events, like a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm." I'm guessing that means alarms from a Nest Protect (Smart Smoke and CO Alarm).

We have "critical alerts" turned on and in 4 years have never received one. We just receive the standard camera event notifications that we've configured, and none of them are critical.

[zoeuvre]

Hi folks, 

@Vvc1, thanks for reaching out to us, and I'm sorry to hear about the situation. I want to check if you are still in need of any help. If so, you may check on this article to manage your Google Home app notifications. 
 

Let us know if you have any other questions. We're happy to help. 

I appreciate your input, @MplsCustomer. 

Best,

Zoe

[zoeuvre]

Hi Vvc1, 

I'll merge this thread with the main post, where all the updates will be posted, so we can communicate effectively. You can follow the main thread for news because this one will be closed automatically once merged.
 

All the best,

Zoe