Yet more shortcomings in Google Home compared to the Nest App.

[Turnbacktime]

With the Nest App and my original camera I had two options to control whether the camera was active all the time or not. I could use the presence of my mobile phone to let it know I was at home and turn the camera off. Or I could set a schedule for the camera.

Neither seem to be available in Google Home, or at least not in an easy to find way. Please point me the right direction if I have missed something obvious.

I wonder when Google will do something about this embarrassment of an app. It is so lacking in functionality. The Nest app was far better. For Google Home to not even be matching that feature set after so long is ridiculous.

I know one local company who has switched from supplying Nest devices to an alternative purely because if Google Home. It just doesn’t cut it.

[MplsCustomer]

@Turnbacktime 

See the thread below. We haven't used routines, but the thread below says you can use them to set a schedule.

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/Let-me-put-my-cameras-on-a-schedule/m-p...

[Turnbacktime]

Thanks for that. Just been to try it and not got very far. Firstly none of my cameras appear in the devices that I can activate, or deactivate, in a routine. I can do something with the light in my floodlight camera, but not the actual camera.
the old Nest app would work based on knowing that you had gone out automatically, I didn’t have to set a routine that relied on me initiating a trigger by saying something or similar. It just worked.

can’t see an obvious way to set an actual timed schedule, and not sure it is worth putting the time in when I can’t activate a camera anyway.

thanks but I still thing Google Home is a terrible app. The Nest one was far better.

[EmersonB]

Hi everyone,

@Turnbacktime, thanks for reaching out here in the Community. We understand that some of the features of the Nest app are not available to the Google Home app and  we don't have any news to share about applying this feature to the Google Home app. We're always looking for ways to improve and we'll take it as feedback. I'd suggest you send feedback about your concern using this link to let the Google Engineering team know about your concern. While they won't respond directly back to you, this is the best way to let them know about this. Please let me know if you have other questions or concerns as I will be locking this after 24 hours. Feel free to start a new thread and we'll be happy to help.

I appreciate the help, MplsCustomer.

Best,
Emerson

[Turnbacktime]

Emerson

thanks for getting back to me. I will follow up on the link. But, and this is a serious question not just a dig, are Google actually serious about the Home app?

it has been around for a while now, and as an ex software product manager and engineering manager, it is stunningly “thin” as an application. Functionality wise is is severely lacking, screen layout etc is poor and confusing, and in many ways it is still way behind the point applications it is supposed to supersede. 

Also what is this obsession with closing threads so quickly? Not the first time it has happened on posts where I have expressed dissatisfaction about Google Home. Is it an attempt to limit negative comments by reducing opportunity for people to add to it? Do you close positive threads so quickly.

I have said it before but will repeat it. The Nest floodlight cam is a great piece kit. But I regret buying it and being forced down the Google Home route. If I had realised I had to use Google Home and quite how poor it actually is I would have bought something from another supplier. I would have ended up with two apps on my phone. But that is where I am now because I don’t want to lose the functionality of the Nest app on one of my cameras.

[EmersonB]

Hello Turnbacktime,

We appreciate you sharing here all of your feedback on this post and we understand where you're coming from. We are aware of the things that are not reflecting from the Nest app to the Google Home app. Well take note of it and ensure that we'll learn from your experience as we continually improve our products and service. Rest assured that we'll take this as feedback. We'll learn from this to deliver a better process and experience in the future. If you have other questions and concerns, feel free to let me know.

Regards,

Emerson

[Turnbacktime]

Emerson. But one of the things I asked for was help in case I had missed something when I was trying to set it up. And if so could anyone point me in the right direction.

if threads are closed prematurely then it prevents other members helping out. Or are you admitting I can’t set schedules/routines for camera via Google Hime full stop.

[Lance_L]

Hi Turnbacktime,

Thanks for posting in our Community. I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with this. Let’s check it out.

You can schedule your Nest camera to turn on and off at specific times, regardless of whether someone’s home or not. However, this feature is currently only available for cameras controlled by the Nest app.

I understand that this would be a helpful feature, but this option is not available. We would like to encourage you to provide feedback, and we are excited to see what possibilities will arise by taking our users' feedback and suggestions into account.

Right now, the best option for camera setup in the Home app is to use Home & Away routines.

Let us know if you have additional questions; otherwise, we'll be locking the thread after 24 hours.

Thanks for the help, MplsCustomer and Emerson.

Best,

Lance