10-28-2023 11:22 AM
As of today I am unable to create or modify activity zones - I removed and reinstalled camera and google home app - it did not solve the issue
10-28-2023 01:17 PM - edited 10-28-2023 01:21 PM
There must be a problem on Google Nest's servers right now.
If we go to Settings | Events | Seen events for our battery camera in the Google Home app, instead of a screen with our Activity Zones we get a black screen saying "Couldn't turn on" and "Open camera" even though we are accessing our camera's live feed. Clicking "Add a Zone" yields the same results. Clicking "Open Camera" just returns to the Live Feed screen. Activity Zones are inaccessible.
10-28-2023 04:38 PM
Yes indeed this are the symptoms plus since a couple of weeks it became a pain to review events without having a crash of the google home app. I have sent many crash reports via the feedback. Do you also have crashes when reviewing past events ?
10-28-2023 05:12 PM
The Google Home app often crashes, or hangs halfway through viewing a clip, or displays a false "Camera unavailable" message halfway through viewing a clip. For the last two, we can drag the tracking icon a bit to get the clip to resume. I've also sent crash reports. This has been happening the last couple of weeks.
10-29-2023 02:27 AM
I tried this morning to create an activity zone and … problem is solved !
10-29-2023 06:36 AM
It's not working for us. We cannot administer Seen Events or Activity Zones. We still get a black screen saying "Couldn't turn on" and "Open camera" even though the camera is on and viewable.
10-29-2023 06:52 AM
After trying it on 2 different devices and sending feedback about the failure, it just started working again.
10-29-2023 06:31 PM
It's broken again, and there's a new thread reporting the same problem:
10-30-2023 03:08 AM
Same thing overhere : unable to acces the activity zones
10-31-2023 05:11 PM
Hey everyone,
Our team is already aware of this and currently investigating this issue. Since this is the same discussion, we'll move this conversation to the main thread and we'll continue to update it as soon as we have some news to share.
Regards,
Edmond
11-12-2023 04:37 AM
Just switched to Google cameras. Would be an amazing product if they always worked. I’m unable to add activity zones as well.
10-29-2023 04:11 PM
This started happening in the last 3 days.
I have 9 cameras at 3 different properties in 3 different cities. When I go to edit the Zone for recording and notifications, I get this message, “couldn’t turn on” “open camera”. I open the camera and it’s working just fine. I’ve seen in this blog, to remove the camera from the app and reinstall it, but I can not. I have to be on the local WiFi to that and they are in other states. Besides, how does it happen to nine cameras? I have deleted the app and reinstalled it with no success. is there a software issue or any advise?
10-29-2023 06:32 PM - edited 10-29-2023 06:40 PM
I think it's an issue on Google Nest's servers.
There are two other new threads reporting the same thing.
In the last couple of days, we've encountered this error on both of our iPads and one of our iPhones. This morning it started working for awhile but now it's broken again.
I've sent Feedback multiple times, including a screen capture of the strange black screen with the "Couldn't turn on" message.
10-29-2023 07:33 PM
This same error occurs when trying to access Notifications.
The camera is on when this error occurs.
10-30-2023 03:26 AM
I am getting same issues. On all 5 of my cameras. Reinstalled apps and reset cameras - no change. Hoping it is fixed soon..
10-30-2023 09:03 AM
There's always something not working... I have to get rid of this crap. Exactly... zonecreating is not working. Only on the camera in de frontgarden, not the one on de driveway.
10-30-2023 12:00 PM
I’m having the same issue. Camera zones are not being allowed to change.
10-30-2023 12:05 PM
For the last several days, this has been intermittent for us. Today we can access Activity Zones, Seen Events, and Notifications. Yesterday we could not, on both of our iPads and iPhone.
10-30-2023 11:58 PM
Touch wood - everything is back working this morning. Thanks for the heads-up everyone.
Cheers,
10-31-2023 05:01 AM
I’ve also been having this issue for the last several days, and it’s still not resolved. I thought it was a specific camera which I recently added a solar panel to, but today I realized it’s an issue on my other camera. When I have to remove the camera to charge it, I need to be able to adjust the camera position to fit the zones or edit the zones…. I can’t do this lately. Google please recognize and fix this!
10-31-2023 08:51 AM
After updating my iPhone my ability to edit zones now work.
10-30-2023 01:26 PM
I have my nest doorbell camera installed (wired gen 2) however when i try to setup an activity zone the camera will not open.
10-30-2023 02:00 PM
This has been happening to us intermittently for the last several days on our battery camera.
It's working for us today. But several times, for hours, whenever we tried to access Notifications, Seen Events, or Activity Zones from either of our iPads or our iPhone, we got a black screen saying "Couldn't turn on" and "Open camera" even though we were accessing our camera's live feed. When we click on "Open camera", it returns to the Live Feed screen. In 2 years of using our battery camera, this is the first time we've seen this mysterious screen. And it's erroneous; our camera has been on and "Live" every time we've encountered the error.
Since it comes and goes without our making any changes on any of our devices, my guess is that it's a problem on the Google Nest servers. I've left Feedback numerous times now from within the Google Home app when it has occurred.
There are three other threads reporting this problem:
10-30-2023 02:24 PM
i have been on the phone with nest support for about an hour. Still no progress!
11-01-2023 02:03 PM
Google Nest support just advised that there is a compatibility issue between IOS 17.0.3 and event zone creation for Google Nest cameras. In short, you cannot create or modify an event zone if your iPhone runs IOS 17.0.3. This is just another example of how Google forced Nest app users to the Google Home app even though the Google Home app is not ready to fully support Nest products.
11-01-2023 05:42 PM
Many of us are experiencing this. See the thread below, which is a merger of several different threads. I didn't know it was related to iOS 17. For us, it comes and goes from day to day. It affects access to Notifications, Activity Zones, and Seen Events.
11-02-2023 05:38 PM
It’s working for me now. I’m using the latest iOS update, 17.0.3
10-03-2023 06:58 AM
I have the Costco 3 pack cameras, and I am running into a Zone Notification issue with the camera facing the street. I have the Front camera over the garage door facing the street. Naturally without an additional zone, you will get notifications for everything selected - Vehicles, People, Animals, Motion, etc. LSo to prevent getting a notification for every car that drives down the street, I created a Zone 1 that cuts off at approx 5 feet from the street. Let's Call that default Zone 0 which in the app they then call Out side of Zone.
I removed cars and motion from Zone 0 (Outside of zone), but I still get every car going down the street.
I then created an even tighter Zone 2 which cuts off at perhaps 20 foot from the street, and removed motion from Zone 1. Well, I still get Zone 0 alerts which I only have selected people and animals.
What is the point of setting zones if the app will alert outside of the set zones anyway? This is a total waste of battery and the phone's battery. Please fix!
10-03-2023 07:49 AM
Our zones on our battery camera work just fine, with the exception that if an event (say a person) occurs in two zones, only one of which has notifications turned, on, the notification is labeled as occurring in the first zone in which the event occurred. For example, if a person walks through Zone 1 first and then Zone 2, the event is labeled has having occurred in Zone 1 even if notifications are turned off in Zone 1.
Perhaps you could do a screen capture of your zones along with an explanation of what does not seem to be working. Maybe customers in this forum will have some suggestions. (I'm not following your verbal description: "I created a Zone 1 that cuts off at approx 5 feet from the street. Let's Call that default Zone 0..."
Or you could contact Support using the link and instructions in this post:
10-03-2023 09:03 AM
Thanks for the reply. Perhaps these screenshots will make it clearer for you, and the Support Team.
As you can see, I have the original default Zone 0, (which when you add additional zones turns into "Out of Zone") set for People and Animals only. With NO notifications.
Zone 1 which ends approx 5-10 feet from the street set to People, Vehicles and Animals.
Zone 2 which ends approx 20 feet from the street set to People, Vehicles, Animals, and Motion.
With this configuration, I get on average 30 or more Alerts of Vehicles or Motion (which are vehicles driving by). Obviously, I only have Alerts for Vehicles, People and Animals for Zone 1, and Vehicles, People, Animals and Motion in Zone 2, so if I am EVER getting alerts for Cars Driving down the street, there is a problem with the Zones - Would you agree?
Please see the next screen shot of a few minutes ago of exactly this. If it's Motion, which is only enabled in Zone 2, which is 20 feet away from the event, there is indeed a real problem. There is absolutely no shadow or anything occuring in the Blue Zone 2 region. I hope this helps to document this clearer.
10-03-2023 09:20 AM
The "Motion" event in your example could have been triggered by wind moving the trees in the center and right background, causing movement in the trees' shadows, which are in Zone 2. I think even the sun going behind a cloud could trigger a "Motion" event with the shadow from your house.
If it were me, I would be tempted to go with just one Zone with notifications turned on, with boundaries something like this, to avoid having "Motion" notifications triggered by trees' shadows. And it would still cover the yard closer to the house, which you probably really care about. And you might still get false notifications for changes to the shadow from your house.
We had to play with our Front Yard zones to avoid getting excess notifications.
10-03-2023 02:43 PM - edited 10-03-2023 02:46 PM
Mpls,
I know you are trying to help, but you are missing a few crucial pieces. Firstly, I have Motion Turned OFF in Zone 1 - so there should be NO Zone 1 Motions alerts, right? Next, there is virtually no wind today, but to your point on shadows, I think you need to understand that the house is facing West. That means there is NO possible Zone boundary that would work by your logic. The House totally shades out to the street in the morning, and the trees totally shade to the house towards evening. So, there is NEVER a time where the Trees and Shadows are not encroaching during a typical day. As such, it would be impossible to recreate Zone boundaries multiple times a day to avoid tree shadows. Besides, the camera should be able to suppress these kinds of motions unless the winds are unusually high.
More importantly, the example I provided was just a quick clip I grabbed quickly as I was working. To better prove my point, I should have done a screen shot with a flurry of Vehicle alerts, which I now have done. I think you will agree that I should NEVER get a Vehicle Alert from any vehicle in the street, as Zone 1 and especially Zone 2 is clearly well short of the street. And Outside of Zone is turned OFF for Vehicles. Would you agree? If you finally do, then lets refocus your inquiry to the folks at Google.
Lastly, I've got 2 years of experience with Arlo 4K's, which I mistakenly gave to my kids which are absolutely light years better. I thought it would be a good idea to standardize on Google, and its been a rough road. It's time for Google to start deciding if they truly want to be in this space or not, as they are falling behind quickly. This isn't the only glaring issues with the Google Cameras BTW.
10-03-2023 06:36 PM
Sorry for not catching the important fact that "Motion" is turned off for Zone 1.
In your latest example, I can't explain the flurry of "Vehicle" notifications. We don't have them turned on for our one plugged-in battery camera, because it's in the front of our house and we don't have a driveway in front, and don't need notifications for passing cars. But it does well with "People" notifications.
We don't use "Motion" notifications because we'd get so many false notifications, including ones triggered by shadows that come and go as clouds pass in front of the sun.
Beyond that, I don't know what to suggest. I suppose it's possible something is awry with your camera that a factory reset might rectify, but I really don't know.
Sorry I can't be of more help.
10-10-2023 01:52 PM
Hello mrmagloo,
I’m sorry for the trouble this has caused you. Let me help you out. Just to check: Have you tried removing the zones and creating a new one? Did you try to restart or factory reset your Nest Camera? If not, here is a link on how to restart or factory reset your Nest camera or doorbell.
Thanks for the help, @MplsCustomer.
I look forward to your response.
Best,
Edmond
10-12-2023 06:28 AM
I have followed all of the typical blame the user self-help items. Restarts, Resets, Removing and Replacing Zones, etc. I'm not sure if this could be related to the well known and acknowledged poor focus problem, making alert types harder to identify, but I have entered a work order. I'm pretty much done chasing my tail. I've been putting up with this issue since day one, and was originally told it would be resolved with future updates. Well 6 months later, the performance of these cameras have gotten only worse. 1.67 and especially 1.69 are disasters and we are still waiting on ETA's. All the Resets in the world isn't going to fix shoddy software.
10-29-2023 09:19 AM
Nest doorbell - cannot add activity zones. Previous posts’ suggestions did not solve the error despite removing and re-adding the doorbell to google home.
any suggestions? Super tired on the excessive notifications.
thanks!
10-29-2023 12:24 PM
I suspect there's a problem on Google Nest's servers. As we reported on the other thread (https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/Unable-to-create-or-modify-activity-zon...), we had the same problem yesterday, getting a black screen saying "Couldn't turn on" and "Open camera" even though we were accessing our camera's live feed. We also couldn't access Seen Events. Clicking on "Open camera" just returned us to the Live Feed view.
This morning I had the same problem, trying several times on our 2 iPads and one of our iPhones, reporting Feedback on each device. After several tries, it just started working again, and is working for us right now.
10-29-2023 06:29 PM
It's broken again, and there's a new thread reporting the same problem:
11-06-2023 04:39 PM
I have same issue on all 4 of my Camera's Never was an issue before.
12-06-2023 03:47 PM
I am able to change activity zones in the iOS Nest app for my Nest cams BUT my zones seem to be gone if I try the new Google Home Beta service? So I moved/migrated back to the Nest app.