Offline issues with Google Nest Cameras and Doorbell

[PapaGrim]

This post relates to issues I have been having with the Nest Doorbell (battery) and the Nest Cam (outdoor or indoor battery) x 2. Essentially, the doorbell and cameras have been suffering the same issues:

(1) They go offline
(2) Hard resetting occasionally works before the doorbell, and cameras refuse to complete the setup procedure.

All items get stuck on the final part of the installation procedure, i.e., “installing update”. The update process does not get beyond 0%.

I have been through all of the troubleshooting tips Google suggests and have spent hours talking to technical support at Google or through their online chat. One techie from Google logged into my Nest/Google Wifi system to check if that was an issue, and he reported no problems.

I am aware that I am not the only one to have these issues.

My set up

I live in the UK, and my broadband is fibre to the premises (FTTP), and my speed into the house is 1GB, so relatively fast. The FTTP connects to a socket (ONS) provided by my ISP. The ONS connects to a Fritzbox 7530 modem/router. Until recently, the WIFI on the Fritzbox was turned off. I recently enabled it just for 2.4 GHz, and I will explain why below. The Fritzbox connects to a Nest WIFI point and five Google WIFI points. Each point is connected via ethernet to the Nest WIFI via 1GB switches, so I have blanket coverage for WIFI within my house.
Further, in addition to several Home devices and a Nest 1st Generation thermostat, I have five Google Nest Outdoor Cameras (1st generation, wired), two first-generation indoor wired cameras and one Nest Cam (indoor, wired).

I have never had any issues with the Google Nest Outdoor Cameras (1st generation, wired), two first-generation indoor wired cameras and one Nest Cam (indoor, wired). They connect wirelessly and work as they should.
My only issues relate to the Nest Doorbell (battery) and the 2 x Nest Cam (outdoor or indoor battery). I am on my third doorbell and third set of Nest cameras. Google has been very generous in this respect.

Troubleshooting
The troubleshooting steps have included (for all three items):
(1) Soft resets
(2) Hard resets
(3) Removing and re-installing the Google Home App
(4) Changing to 2.4 GHz
(5) Moving the items closer to the router and Nest WIFI point.

I have even tried putting the doorbell in my airing cupboard to warm it up in case of a cold temperature issue. I did this even though the cold weather had not been an issue in previous years. The doorbell remains offline!
Sometimes troubleshooting works, but then the problems re-surface. So, last week (w/e April 1st 2023), Google sent me my third set of cameras. The doorbell was in early March. The cameras are now set up, and for now, they work. The doorbell went offline on April 1st.

So, is my setup the issue? I am not technically minded, but given that none of the other Google-related (and Philips Hue) products suffer any problems, and my setup is reasonably fast, so can cope with the demands, I don’t believe so.

Also, I mentioned above switching on the 2.4 GHz connection on my Fritzbox. Since the doorbell was delivered around 15 days ago, I decided to try something different. Those with Google Mesh systems will know they broadcast in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, but there is no way to manually choose which tech connects to which frequency. It is done automatically, and through the Home App, I can see what is connected to 2.4 GHz and what is connected to 5 GHz. Unsurprisingly all of my cameras and the doorbell showed as connecting to 2.4 GHz.

Nonetheless, having switched on the 2.4 GHz on my Fritzbox, I connected the doorbell to the Fritzbox, and for the last 15 days, I had no problems. Then the doorbell shows as offline on April 1st! Nothing else is connected to the Fritzbox, so bandwidth etc., can’t be an issue.

As I said, I contacted support at Google and spent many hours trying to get a solution. Everyone I have spoken to or chatted to has been helpful but to a point. They take you through steps already taken (i.e., troubleshooting); sometimes, things work, and other times they don’t. As you may have guessed, more often than not, troubleshooting ends up with the issue I first outlined above, i.e. cameras and the doorbell getting stuck in the setup process.

No one at Google support appears remotely interested in resolving the technical issues – or so it seems. I do not know what they do after each call. I have read endless forum posts (which the moderators seem to want to close off quickly!), so it is clear others have the same issue and have not found any solutions.

I would be interested to know what steps others have taken and if anything works, no matter how short-term. Perhaps we can pool our collective knowledge.

I am reluctant to try resetting the doorbell in case it gets stuck during the setup process because it still functions as a doorbell, records video, and allows me to view history. However, it does not show a live view, and for the moment, I can live with that. The same comment applies to the cameras when they show as offline.

Here is the thing. Even when the Google Home App shows an item as offline, the connection details on the App show that the offline item is, in fact, online and indicates a solid connection to WIFI and on 2.4 GHz. The same comment applies to the Fritzbox and the doorbell. That shows as connected, has a strong signal, and identifies the IP address and other technical data from the doorbell.

NB: One thing I forgot to mention is that I tried replacing my Fritzbox with the router that Vodaphone provided to see if the issues were down to the Fritzbox, and the same issues occurred with the Vodaphone router.

As I said at the outset, I am not technically minded, but it seems this is a Google-side issue. Are there problems with their servers? Is the Google Home App broken?

UPDATE: 16 04 2023 - The two cameras and the doorbell no longer allow me to view history.  They stopped doing so at roughly the same point. Is anyone from Google going to bother commenting? There has to be a connection between (a) the issue only affecting the newer types of cameras and doorbells; (b) products failing to work at the same time. 
Thank you for reading.

[austin2]

Great job outlining the issue. Same issue I'm having. Google should refund us.

[PapaGrim]

Hi,  I would be interested to know of any troubleshooting tips that you may have tried.  I can pretty much rule out the possibility that the devices get confused between 2.4 and 5 GHz, as my doorbell is connected exclusively to a router that is only allowing 2.4 GHz connections.   I am starting to wonder if the app is at fault, given changes that are being suggested "under the hood" (so to speak).  I say this because I can still see my history, and in the case of the doorbell, it still alerts me when pressed.   So, the products appear to work but not as intended.  I agree with the refund point or even an exchange for products not affected.  I am astonished that Google is not more public about the issues as these products are still being sold. 

[austin2]

All 3 of my next gen cameras are doing the same thing. (2 nest cam battery, one nest can floodlight.) I’ve tried hard resetting all the cameras, soft resetting all the cameras, messing with router settings (google nest wifi pro) nothing works. When I hard reset the cameras I needed to spend 3 hours on the phone with a google rep trying to get them back onto my account. When we finally did get them back on the app after 3 hours of them not connecting, they worked for about a week then they all broke again and I again can’t view live footage. They say they are offline but are actually online. Infuriating. My 8 or so legacy nest cams continue to work great.

[PapaGrim]

Let's hope that someone from Google reads our posts and does something that resolves these issues.  Your issues mirror mine.  I was going to get the outdoor flood light camera as well but am glad I didn't.  Resetting it must be far more painful especially given the likely position of such a camera.   Hey Google, are you listening?!!!

[EmersonB]

Hello everyone,

We appreciate you sharing here all this important information and all the steps you’ve done so far. I'm sorry to hear about your experience on your Nest devices. We'd be happy to take a look into this for you. Please fill out this form with all the needed information. Let me know once you’re done.

Regards,

Emerson

[mjkopri]

I also filled out the form - having the same problem described here...

[Lance_L]

Hey everyone,

I’m sorry for the delay and to hear you're having trouble with this. I appreciate your reports here in the Community.

@mjkopri, are you still having issues with your Nest devices? Have you already tried all the troubleshooting steps recommended above?

Keep me posted.

Best,

Lance

[Juni]

Hi there,

I just wanted to follow up to see if you still need our help. Please let us know, as we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
 

Thanks,

Juni

[PapaGrim]

No one has actually taken the time to properly answer the questions that have been raised or the issues mentioned.  Is there a real role that "community specialists" have other than posting random, bland, unhelpful comments that eventually lead to locked posts despite no solutions? Perhaps be honest, and explain the limits of your roles.  Perhaps don't give your customers the false hope that there is real value from your comments (not just Juni by the way).  You say that you would be happy to answer questions etc but that is the one thing "community specialists" seem unable to do!

[Moo]

This is a persistent issue on this community based Google forums. It's just cut and paste, no actual human intellect is ever applied. I have had zero success in finding any reasonable solution on these forums. Outsourcing tech-support to people that just cut and paste chat bot responses is worthless. I don't understand why people bother replying if they can't read what you've written, which is comprehensive and very detailed.

[mjkopri]

Hi, it is still doing that. Everyday, a few times a day I get a push message that the Doorbell is offline. 1 minute later it works again as expected...

[PapaGrim]

Hello Emerson, what more information could you possibly want? The post sets out clearly what the issue is, and there is a hard stop on the amount that I can write on the form.  None the less, I have sent the form back with my personal details. 

[austin2]

I filled out the form

[Dan_A]

Hi folks,

@PapaGrim, @austin2, we got your form — thanks for filling it out. Our team will reach out to you via email anytime soon. Please continue the conversation there as this thread will be locked after 24 hours.

Kind regards,

Dan

[PapaGrim]

This seems to happen a lot on the forums - stops debate or contribution from others, doesn't it? Solutions from the community become harder to come by

[austin2]

Totally agree. Locking the post doesn’t make any sense. This issue has been ongoing for years. If you search the form, a bunch of people have had the thread on this issue shut down for no good reason. Because of this policy, there’s a scattershot of information out there, splintered on a bunch of different form posts. Why must Google go from form to form and shut them down? It would make sense if the issue was resolved, but the bug still exists. Why not have one thread to talk about the bug? Probably because Google doesn’t want the problem to seem too severe. I’m guessing they prefer the information to be split on a bunch of form posts instead of one thread because they don’t want bad optics. Terrible policy to lock form posts like this in my opinion. Due to this policy, I will soon not be able to communicate with someone else who is having my exact issue.

btw, I still have yet to hear from the team after filling out my form. Have you heard anything yet PapaGrim? 

[PapaGrim]

No, nothing.  I am not expecting anything tbh.  I agree that fragmentation and closing down posts is unhelpful.  I wasn't able to post under a more relevant heading.  Again unhelpful.   While Google staffers are keen to help with troubleshooting tips, they appear unable to answer direct questions.   I have asked to talk through the issues with a senior-level tech person but no joy.  I have been sent replacement cameras and doorbells several times and they all fail after a few weeks and roughly at the same time.  My doorbell went offline yesterday so had to be reset.  First, to a fake home set-up, then after a reset to my actual home set-up.  Such a faff.   

[austin2]

They finally got back to me. Asked me for my serial numbers (which were a real pain to access) and then told me they are “out of warranty.” I am fuming. I bought them less than 2 years ago. Why did they waste even more of my time filling out a stupid form, tracking down serial numbers, and going over my painful story again? This has made me so angry. This company doesn’t stand behind their products and is so anti consumer it is not even funny. I don’t think I will ever buy another google product again. The time they took from me is worth more than the cameras. I was lied to by the tech I was working with for 3 hours on the phone because he said they would replace my cameras if the fix he gave me didn’t work out. He also told me that he would be my personal google rep and help me personally, he never spoke to me again. I was the biggest google fan from pixel to smart home, now I am burned. They just don’t care that expensive hardware will brick on you after less than two years of ownership.

[kc6243]

I am having this exact experience. Camera just went offline one morning and has been a brick ever since. I've had it for a year and a half so it is out of warranty.

I attempted to connect it to a new Home structure but that has not worked for me. I have a slew of Google devices, including the Pixel, but this Nest experience has really turned me off from the brand. 

[PapaGrim]

I am sorry to hear that.  I am considering bringing a small claims case against Google.  I live in the UK.   Products are expected to be of satisfactory quality.  Given the issues, comments on the forums etc, the cameras clearly aren't.  Have you tried creating a new home structure and seeing if the cameras connect there? 

[PapaGrim]

Just a thought, are they calculating the end of the warranty period from today's date or from when you first notified Google of the issues? It should be from this earlier date which essentially should stop the warranty period running out. 

[austin2]

Thanks for your sympathy. I know we are in the same boat, it has not been a fun experience to say the least. I first contacted google in February, so they are technically correct that it is out of warranty in my case. I still believe they should do the right thing. I have had the issue within the first year, just had a busy life and couldn't deal with it at the time. I was also hoping it was a temporary glitch. I wish you the best of luck pursuing your small claims case. I won't pursue this further because if I go against google in the USA, they have been known to shut down access to your google account. I will reluctantly give up if I can't work with them on this. I contacted customer support via phone again. I hope I have better luck this time. A new agent has opened a new case and are waiting to hear from the engineering department for approval on if they can make an exception and give me a replacement. I will keep you posted so my experience is on the form for you and others. (That is if they don't lock it.)

[PapaGrim]

An update - a slight glimmer of hope?

There are many posts that I have read today scattered on the forums. 

There is sadly no way to link all of the issues into one collective set of posts - unless done manually.   There is lots of what could be deemed as interference by "Community Specialists" who seem to shut down posts too prematurely.   

Anyhow, I have an update, early days, but this may work for others.   

I set up a new home structure and have hooked up my two faulty Nest cameras to this new home structure (having deleted them from my preferred home structure).   So far, and it has only been a couple of days, they have gone through the reset process, downloaded the necessary updates, and they work.  As of yet I haven't tried this with my doorbell.   

There is a downside to this which is that my Nest Aware subscription will not work on my new home structure.  It would seem that I need to take out a separate subscription or cancel my current one and then take out a new one.  Not ideal and not happening!  At least not until I know this is a permanent fix. 

I tried this fix because I read on another forum topic that someone suggested a new home structure to get their cameras to download the update and start working again.  They then reset their cameras and reconnected to their original home structure.  A faff which worked for them but not for me. 

I am wondering whether my preferred home structure has become corrupted or won't work for the Nest cameras because of something Google is doing server-side.  A post on another forum topic suggests that someone was having speed and connectivity issues hence my theory re Google servers being the issue (or in the very least something that Google is doing their side). 

Another reason that I think this is that when my Nest cameras were showing as off-line on my preferred home structure via my Google Home app, two of my three Nest Hub displays (one first gen and one second gen) showed live feeds for the two supposedly dead cameras.  I viewed the live feeds at the same time as seeing the off-line messages in the Home App.  Also, my third Nest Hub display (1st Gen) showed the cameras as off line. This is incredibly bizarre. 

I have emailed Google several times through their support agents to say that I am willing to work with them as a guinea pig to try and find a solution, but all I get is standard emails back with utterly useless help guides.  The "happy clappy" "Community Specialists" are doing Google a massive disservice by not (it would seem) thinking outside of the box and linking the issues rather than closing posts down.   

The Nest Hub displays run Fuchsia, whereas my phone and tablets run Android/ChromeOS.  That said, the PC version of the Google Home (limited as it is) runs on Chrome.  Anyhow, I could speculate endlessly, but perhaps the "Community Specialists" could be more positive in their approach and actively look for solutions that might work or admit that there is a problem!   I have had endless replacement devices but they all fail within a week or less.  Again, can't be good for Google. 

[MplsCustomer]

@PapaGrim 

Corruption of a customer's Google Nest "home/structure" by some malfunction on Google Nest's servers would explain why only some customers are having problems.

Google Nest has not acknowledged that this is occurring, but in numerous other posts Google Nest Community Specialists have recommended that customers reinstall their malfunctioning cameras, doorbells, and Nest Hubs in a new Google Nest "home/structure" as a way of solving their problems.

Google Nest needs to address the issue head-on by identifying and fixing whatever is corrupting customers' Google Nest "homes/structures".

[PapaGrim]

I agree.  The only issue I have with creating a new home structure is the Nest Aware issue and the time and effort it would take to transfer over all of my products.  If the new home structure I have created doesn't show any issues over the next couple of months, then I would consider moving everything over. 

[MplsCustomer]

@PapaGrim 

Yeah, that's the challenge everyone faces, compounded by the fact that Google Nest provides no way  at all of transferring a Nest Aware subscription and its associated history and settings to a new Google Nest "home/structure".

[austin2]

Update. The new case that was created with the new tech went nowhere. He was extremely unhelpful. They do not care. 

[PapaGrim]

Have you tried creating a new home structure and adding the cameras to that?  Might work.

[austin2]

I have had success doing that (with the tech I was working with for 3 hours.) Still needed to try multiple times, but it finally updated and then I could move it to my preferred home structure. I am reluctant to try that fix again due to how janky that experience was and the fix only worked for a couple of weeks.

[PapaGrim]

That's good news.  How do you move back to the original home structure without having to reset the device?  

[zoeuvre]

Hello everyone,
 

@austin2, I’m glad that everything has been sorted out. 
 

@PapaGrim, the only step you can do to transfer one Nest device from one home to another is to factory reset the Nest device first, remove it from the current home where it is added, then add it to your preferred home. 
 

Keep us posted. We’re happy to help. 

All thanks for your help, @MplsCustomer, Emerson, and Dan. 
 

Best,

Zoe

[PapaGrim]

Hello Zoe, this is not a satisfactory fix. I have a Nest Aware subscription on my current Home structure.  If I transfer the defective camera to a new Home structure, I will not have Nest Aware of that new structure unless I take out an additional subscription.  Will Google pay for the additional cost?  After all, this is clearly a Google-side issue and not a consumer issue.  You might suggest that I transfer all of my cameras to the new structure, but I have little confidence that creating a new structure will actually fix the problem or that I will be able to transfer all my cameras over successfully. Some are out of warranty so the risk is on me and for something that is not of my doing.  It is only the newer battery camera and doorbells that fail.    Surely that is not a coincidence? One of your techies recently suggested that I may have too many devices on my Home structure.  I doubt this but if true, this is not something that Google say pre-sale as clearly I wouldn't add devices to my current Home structure if there were a limit and that I was near to that limit.  Besides, I haven't added anything for ages and I had no issues until January of this year.  Overcapacity is unlikely to be an issue though it is interesting that the techie suggested it might be.  It would be helpful if the Community Specialists pulled all of the messages on issues such as those in this post into one thread and concentrated of trying to find actual viable solutions rather than try and close posts down with messages implying all is sorted when clearly nothing is.  So returning to my earlier question, will Google pay for a Nest Aware subscription for a new Home structure or allow subscribers to share across Home structures if those structures are from one physical home address?  At the moment I read endless posts of frustrated customers and no real support given by Community Specialists.  I don't wish to come across as rude on this point but I have spoken to numerous techies since January and not one has been able to help solve the problem.  Please can you think creatively, and out of the box and help us find a proper answer.   Curious why you thank Dan and Emerson.  As far as I am aware all one has done is ask me to fill in a form and another thanked me for doing so!  No one contacted me on the form and I had to chase support so what was the point!  

[TipTop1987]

This isn’t just affecting battery cameras. I have 3 cameras that are all plugged in (2 Indoor wired), and all are showing offline in app, but online/recording status light on the camera. My two Nest (Not Google Nest) cameras work just fine. Never had issues with FT devices being ignored this long… That team was on it.

[PapaGrim]

Still no reply from the ever-so-helpful Community Specialists...  Why am I not surprised?  So am running two home structures, and I have a new camera and new doorbell attached to the new structure.  I had originally added them to my existing home structure and was so shocked when they failed after a couple of days - nay, even shorter for the camera!   So, not being a specialist, very much like the Community Specialists, I deduce that there is an issue on Google's side regarding existing or original home structures, probably to do with the creation of the new app.  I love the new app, by the way (what's the betting that the Community Specialists pick up on this and not the actual big problem!).  However, while this appears to be a work around, it does not solve the fact that my Nest Aware subscription only covers my original home structure.  Google should address this.  I do not have the confidence to transfer all of my Google products to the new structure lest they stop working.  Also, I am not a masochist, and I have a life.  Come on, Community Specialists, do your job and be "happy to help" or admit failure!  

[Gozem]

My doorbell camera just hit the same problem. I am a very WiFi-tech person (I did write WiFi firmwares) and are running UniFi WiFi at home with 5 APs. I can seen everything in my network. I have 3 indoor, 2 outdoor and 1 doorbell Google Nest Camera. All next gen.

Today at 9:45 (you can see last contact on device-info page) it went "offline". But only for live-view. Everything else works. Including face recognition. I have the "big nest aware" subscription that does continuous recording. However, the Nest Doorbell doesn't support that.

But again, I have the exact same problem as you guys and I can confirm that the device is very much online. I do enrolled in the Google Home labs to get the new lab. But I did that some half a year ago (can't remember exactly). 

I have not yet tried to factory-reset the camera, nor to move it to a new home. I got the same issue of loosing data and not having a nest aware on any new home.

If this doesn't solve it self soon I will try to factory-reset it and force it to a 5GHz only network. Current SSID it is on is dual band. I doubt that will solve anything, as the Camera is connected to Internet.

I do have 1 Gbit/s Fibre. In Sweden. I have a excellent wifi and network equipment and over 100 various wifi-devices (all from computers, to phones to TVs, gaming stations and IoT-devices) that work just fine in my home. It is NOT a WiFi/connection problem.

Edit:
AND my Doorbell Camera is only around 13 months old. Still got 11 month of warranty. Besides, in Sweden, consumer law says 3 years.

[Gozem]

And... during the night all 3 of my indoor Cameras died the same way. Offline in Google Home app and on the Google Hubs. Only thing left now are my 2 outdoor cameras.

[Gozem]

And one of the outdoor cameras just "died" and shows offline, but everything but live-view seems to still work. I only got one camera left "true online" now or 6 cameras. All died within 24 hours.

[HMP63]

Same her - one doorbell, two outdoor cameras and one indoor camera all went offline yesterday evening 😢 

[PapaGrim]

Here we go again.  My doorbell is offline, one of my Nest Cam (battery) and my Nest Cam (wired) are also offline.  They went offline at the same time or within quick succession of each other.  I fully expect my other Nest Cam (battery) to go offline imminently.  I am away from home so am not in a position to troubleshoot.  I have noted other posts in the forums that have similar issues at roughly the same time as me.   This does therefore appear to be a Google side issue.  I am notifying Google support of the issue so that they are aware of when this happened, just in case my warranty times out before I am able to get back home.  

My first-generation Nest cameras are still working.  My non-Google tech is still working, and my Google hubs, minis and smart displays all work.  My network can not be the issue.  Also, the doorbell and Nest Cam (battery) were both on a separate Home structure to my other tech, as this appeared to be a possible solution.  Clearly not.  

Please now excuse the bold and underlined, capitalised text.  I do not wish to be rude, but I do not feel that the usual method of support interaction works. 

THERE IS A CLEAR ISSUE WITH NEST CAMS AND DOORBELLS.  GOOGLE MUST BE AWARE THAT THIS IS NOT AN ISOLATED ISSUE AND THAT TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS DO NOT WORK  WITH  THE ISSUES  I AND MANY OTHERS PRESENT TO GOOGLE.  PLEASE ESCALATE TO A HIGH LEVEL.  PLEASE READ MY PREVIOUS EMAILS WRITTEN SINCE JANUARY AND MY FORUM POSTS FOR CONTEXT.  THERE IS A REPUTATIONAL ISSUE FOR GOOGLE.