Home and Away sensing worked perfectly on the old Nest Dropcams using the Nest app. But then I received Google's email telling me that the Dropcams would become obsolete next year and offering me a deal (only tacky white cameras, of course) if I upgraded to Google's Nest Cams. I made the terrible mistake of believing Google: I purchased replacement Nest Cams and mounted them in the exact Dropcam locations. I had no idea that this so-called upgrade was actually a downgrade in both function and app usability. And nothing in the email said I would only be able to set up the new cameras with Google Home, which has a rudimentary and clunky UI compared to the Nest App.
To get back to my main complaint, presence sensing doesn't work with Google Home, and automation doesn't allow me to select my phone as a device to trigger a routine. All this worked fine with Dropcams and the Nest app. It doesn't work at all with Nest Cams and Google Home.
Before we go any further: Yes, I contacted Google Support about this issue. I have a case number. I spent over two hours on chat with a hopelessly inept Google support agent from some third-world country who struggled with English grammar and knowledge of the Google Home app, after which I had to beg them to escalate my case to someone higher up. They said they would do so and that I would get a response via email, which I did a few days later-- and the so-called advanced emailed solutions were worse and more ill-informed than the original support I received via chat. It was almost as if the original agent passed my case ID to someone at the same level in support and never escalated my case (probably to protect their job performance metrics).
To add insult to injury, when the cameras are on and I'm away from the house, I can't watch camera clips at all. Google must not provide sufficient bandwidth for me to view the clips regardless of the strength of my network connection (cell or WiFi). So if I get an alert, I open Google Home, view a useless thumbnail, and then watch the gears spin endlessly until I get an error message that the video can't be viewed. What's the point of paying Google for a service that doesn't work? I'm getting ripped off.
[iPhone 14 Pro running the latest IOS. Gigabit Wifi with strong signal strength at the camera locations. And I have over 7 active Nest products in this home. Everything worked flawlessly with Dropcams and the Nest apps.]
