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Unable to respond to someone at door notification

JR9
Community Member

1st Gen Nest Doorbell (and yes delaminating like all the rest but that's not the issue here!)

Happens on both iOS and Android.

Located in Australia

Wifi signal s excellent and using 5G. Access point is a few metres away.

Issue is that if someone rings doorbell, notification & preview is received within a few seconds BUT if we tap on notification to view who is at door, the app will open and never bring up live video. If we open app manually (i.e. not via notification), live view will open up no issue. 

It previously worked fine but hasn't for a few months now. 

Any suggestions?

Fyi I am also a nest aware subscriber.

 

 

 

 

 

17 REPLIES 17

MplsCustomer
Bronze
Bronze

@JR9 

Perhaps, as is the case with so many other Nest Hello owners, your internal battery has failed, causing the camera to go offline for about a minute. It's happened to all three of our Nest Hellos now. The workaround is to turn off the "Indoor chime" (the camera then does not go offline) and turn on "Visitor announcements" and rely on announcements on Nest Minis and Nest Hubs. Google Nest says they "cannot" replace them if they're past the 1-year warranty.

This thread on the topic has 992 replies:

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/Nest-Hello-Doorbell-cuts-out-when-butto...

JR9
Community Member

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry I did forget to mention that ours is powered not battery operated and we do already use announcement via nest mini's throughout the home.

The announcements and notifications work okay (slight delay).

The issue is only with answering a notification that someone is at the door via our phones (don't have hub). Tapping the notification will open the app and it will just spin forever trying to bring up the live feed. 

However if you close the app and then reopen and manually go an view the live feed it works but by this time it is generally to late and the person has left.

@JR9 

If you have the 1st Gen Nest Doorbell, then it has an internal battery (though most customers don't know that it does). When the internal battery fails (as it often does after a year or two) and if you have the "Indoor chime" option turned on, then the doorbell goes offline for a minute. I was suggesting that might be the cause of your problem. If you have the "Indoor chime" option turned on, you could try turning it off.

Some customers have pried open their Nest Hello and replaced the battery:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Nest+Hello+Battery+Replacement/131729

JR9
Community Member

Thanks for the further clarifications and you are right I didn't realise the internal battery is used when powered.

I have read through that thread and it doesn't appear to be the same issue I am experiencing. Indoor chime has always been disabled and I have never noticed the unit going offline. 

The issue is isolated to trying to answer the doorbell via the notification only.

 

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

Just checking in on this thread and the activity on it. We'll leave this topic open for another 24 hours in case there are any follow-up questions or comments.

Best regards,
Brad

Jimmy_J
Community Member

same issue here, JR9 - except now the doorbell doesn't even send a notification!  it is literally just an expensive ugly porch decoration.

aatienza
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey JR9,

 

I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble with this. No worries, we'll check this out. Were there any changes to the Wi-Fi network? Are there other family members who can access the camera? Do they have the same issue? Has the doorbell been moved recently? Also, have you tried any troubleshooting steps to fix this?

 

Check out this link on how to Troubleshoot notifications and emails from Nest

 

I appreciate the help, MplsCustomer.

 

Thanks,
Archie

janthadeus
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

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.

 

I appreciate the help here, MplsCustomer and Archie.

 

Regards,

JT

JR9
Community Member

No changes to doorbell location, wifi network or ISP. It happens even when remote using 4G or office Wifi.

Other family members have the same issue and they use iphones.

I've reviewed the article but this doesn't appear relevant. Notifications are received fine and usually with minimal delay. Just to reiterate, the problem occurs when we tap on a notification to open a live view. The live view will not display or on the rare occasion it does bring up the love view,  many minutes have passed and it's too late.

Opening live view at any other time (i.e. not from a notification) works okay.

I hope that makes sense.

Also, we are also a nest aware subscriber.

@JR9 

We've had Nest Hello doorbells going on 4 years now, and seldom if ever try to respond on our phones when someone rings the doorbell. The response time is just too long, if it even works. It's certainly not like the instantaneous response portrayed in Google Nest doorbell ads on television; that's just not real world.

As you report, notifications on our doorbells and cameras are usually quite prompt, as is opening a live view; it's trying to respond to a doorbell ring that is not worth the effort.

JR9
Community Member

Okay well sounds like it's not an isolated problem. 

Although I can't exactly say when it stopped working, it did originally work fine and this would have been prior to the device being officially released in Australia.

I am wondering whether it also has something to do with it using the Google Home vs Nest app? 

I've noticed accessing the doorbell via the original Nest app is much more responsive than through the Google Home app. I've example is that the Home app will never show a thumbnail image in history whereas the Nest app does the thumbnails almost instantly.

I might see if I can work out how to default the doorbell activity to use the nest app only. 

Brad
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there, 

 

Thank you for your patience while waiting for a reply. Are you still experiencing this? Just checking in to see how the conversation is going. Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns. We'll leave this thread open for a little longer for follow-up questions and concerns. 

 

Best regards, 

Brad

JR9
Community Member

Hi, yes it's still occurring for myself and others. I am actually replacing my gen 1 doorbell with the latest Google gen2 doorbell, so I will wait and see if the same issue is experienced.

There everyone for their suggestions so far.

janthadeus
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hello JR9,

 

Got it — sounds like a plan! Let us know if anything comes up.
 

Thanks for chiming in, Brad.

 

Best,

JT

janthadeus
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey there,

 

Checking back in — how's it going? Still need our help?

 

Best regards,

JT

JR9
Community Member

Hey JT,

We can close this topic and I will see if anything changes once I receive my new doorbell.

Regards

James

janthadeus
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,
 

As you’ve requested, I'm going to lock this thread and mark it as complete. Feel free to create a new one if you have more questions or have other concerns in the future. 

 

Cheers,

JT