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What’s the most frequently used automation in your home?

KiiFromGoogle
Community Manager (Admin)
Community Manager (Admin)

Hey Google Nest Community,

 

Welcome to our first automation discussion! To kick things off, we’ll start simple: Tell us about the most-used home automation that you’ve set up. 

 

For example, do you have the lights turn on gradually in the morning to help you wake up gently, and then have your smart coffee maker start your brew?

 

Be sure to include the details below: 

  • What Google products, Google services, or third-party devices are involved?
  • In what situations is this automation used? 
  • Who uses it? Just you, or family members in your household? 
  • Bonus question: How would you improve this automation?
17 REPLIES 17

Cathal_S
Gold Product Expert
Gold Product Expert

@KiiFromGoogle 

This is a great idea for getting ideas for routines 🙂

My simple but effective most used routine would be turning everything off.

 

When either myself or my son uses this command the assistant responses with "Ok turning 26 devices off". It's usually used just before bedtime although I have other routines that turn devices off at midnight and 7am just in case anything gets left on during the night.

Screenshot_20220429-184530.png

I'd love to see more actions (especially 'create your own custom') added to the home/away routines.

 

Regards,
Cathal

KiiFromGoogle
Community Manager (Admin)
Community Manager (Admin)

Wow, 26 devices! I wonder how many I have... 😅 And great suggestion, we'd like to expand those in the future, so I'll pass that on. 

S3bryan
Community Member

While all this is wonderful to read, it’s just superficial fluff.  What about us that invested heavily in the Nest ecosystem that google choose to toss aside. Google home is useless for Alarms, smoke detectors, motion sensors.  Nest users have been forced to use 2  different apps depending upon which camera we have.  The Home app offers Zero! Functionality for the aforementioned products.  Which might I add are all labeled Nest, though not the new Google nest.  Nice play on marketing, confuse users.  Yet here we are with more wonderful was being posted about the home app.  Be honest with consumers, back up the hype that you so love to boast about.  It’s May of 2022 and the biggest changes in the home app are icon changes, birthday wishes and tiktok?  Those are not home automation integrations.  Support the nest app, it’s works! Also you need to add a disclaimer to the IOS Store that the Apple TV app is only for non Migrated Nest users.  This is pure bait and switch marketing! 

see the attached photo, if you read the app listing, no disclosures about migrating account and you lose the functionality!

2sw
Community Member

This is nest share response.

I didn't do the Google home store app as I fear it will be along agonizing experience to try and get working like my nest app. From what I've read there are some users here that have experienced the same thing. So I'm staying away until existing users report that it's working properly and their system is working properly

S3bryan
Community Member

I hate to disillusion you, but that will never happen. The average user does not have the patience nor the basic technological skill for home automation. I have been in this industry for many years. People do not understand these are computers form follows function. To configure these devices you have to follow very specific flow charts. And when they don’t work you have to be able to diagnose the steps that are required. There are things like your Wi-Fi connection your encryption level. Try the Google Home app it does work but he can be flaky times as all software is

I have a.similat problem. I have 3 Nests to monitor doors, windows, cameras and my ADT stuff. Had all this stuff installed in November and it has not worked completely yet. I have a big house with just me and I wanted to be able to deal with people at my door when I'm not near it. Some of the things gs work. The Nest is fine as long as you don't ask it to do something other than wake you up or tell you when it will rain.  Ask it to lock the doors and it tells me it is no longer connected.  I called a Geek Squad guy to come out and sync everything. TOTAL WASTE OF TIME. The guy didn't have a clue. I'm not a kid, a programmer or.someone who likes to spend the day programming a few thousand dollars worth of gear. Especially more than once. So I remain not as secure or assisted. At my age I just want something to come on when I push the button. Speaking of buttons...the Google TV remote is probably the world's worst remote ever. Oddly oval shaped so it slips out of my hands. It's so small it's easy to lose.  They don't sync well with my tvs. I still have to use the TV remotes for volume and muting. It's simply too FN cute. Hey Google!  Go for function and skip the cute crap. If I want so vested in Google and Android I do something different. For thousands of dollars, it all should just work. No programming required. Totally disappointed with all this junk in my house. I stuck with it

ShawnH
Community Member

I am new to the Nest community and jumped in with both feet.

My goal was to outfit my entire home with Google automation end to end. I purchased every device in the catalog: Nest Hubs, 4 Nest Cameras, Doorbell, three thermostats, and Yale door locks.  Next goal was to set up automation and routines throughout the home, starting with motion sensors and alarm system, then all the lights. I have held off, and decided to jump in now. I have Google Fiber and live in the Google ecosystem at home and at work. 

I've hit a few unexpected big obstacles, however.

1. No compatible alarm system or motion sensors. I didn't know the Nest Secure alarm system was discontinued. So I'm looking at all the third parties (Abode, etc), but it's totally unclear if this will be supported, or API's to their systems will be discontinued also. I wish I understood what Google's general roadmap and strategic direction was, so I don't throw money and effort into a dead-end.

2. Poor general documentation on basic home automation. I'm cobbling this together from many different locations, but this has been very frustrating. It's either way too bare-bones or too esoteric.

3. Now that I'm diving in, the user community is weaker and less engaged than I expected. I would have expected a history of regular updates from Google spokespersons, and have to believe there is simply massive integration pain as they transition from old Nest apps and back-end to the new Google Home app. But the number of outbound posts to the community are few and far between.

4. Weak product roadmap. I feel the radio silence here. 

 

My top question that I'm evaluating: Have I made a big mistake in betting on Nest, or is the best to come? I don't have many data points, so in the face of no information, I'm not sure if the product ecosystem is cratering and is being de-resourced or going into maintenance mode, or if we are at the beginning of a renaissance.

I need to invest in the next round of purchases in the next 30 days, and need to decide if:

 A - Wait for the next big round of Google releases; 

 B - Invest in a separate Google-compatible home security and motion sensor product (because Google has no plans here) -- and loosely integrate; or 

 C - Sign off on Nest as "just a bunch of legacy cameras", and move to the Alexa ecosystem.

Help!

EmptyNester
Gold Product Expert
Gold Product Expert

hi 

 

Thank you

S3bryan
Community Member

It’s now May of 2022.  Google has yet to keep any of its word to support next cameras.  Nest camera users are still crippled and forced to use two separate apps. The Google home app only sees the alarms motion sensors and Nest protects other than that it is completely useless. The only updates that Google has come out with our birthday wishes and TickTock integration. I invested also in the nest ecosystem prior to the acquisition  by Google. Nest users still find themselves discarded. Google has chosen to market the cameras as  Google nest cameras.  That alone is deceiving and a play on marketing, for you think you were buying nest but you are not. I am happy with the nest products but miserable with the Google nest integration.  About a month ago Google updated the Nest app. Since then users who tried to watch recorded videos only get a spinning circle. Many of us have cried out for help and the only thing we get from Google is it’s our fault. I am very sad at the state of the nest product support. But then again Google is an Internet browser company who was solely created for one purpose, to collect data and sell it.

S3bryan
Community Member

87B53D57-7065-44B0-B615-7C1AD49F2288.jpeg

 Hey Google how about being honest with consumers.  On the Apple App Store you list the Nest being compatible with AppleTV. Yet you failed to disclose that if we migrate to google the app is useless. You’re asking about home automation what about features that used to work that are now crippled. The home app is an absolute disaster with no thought for usefulness or integration with existing nest products meaning nest protect, nest alarm, nest motion sensors. Why are you asking about home automation when you have crippled the majority of products you market as nest

Larry757
Community Member

My most used automation is "evening" lighting routine. Using my Nest Hub, and Hue light bulbs and bridge, my lights turn on automatically at sundown. I like that it adjusts for the day so I don't have to wait until almost 9pm in the winter for my lights to turn on. 

GoBananas
Community Member

We use the intercom feature "Broadcast" far more than we ever expected.

 

Sure wish there were some good options/devices for window covering automation that works (well) with Google Home, Matter and Thread. None found so far that are really up to the task. Just working with Google Assistant is a bad experience not worth the frustration.

 

Also, wish we could get Hey Google to display on our Hub Max specific web pages like bookmarked in Chrome.

 

Thanks

KiiFromGoogle
Community Manager (Admin)
Community Manager (Admin)

Nice one! And that's great feedback, I'll pass on your thoughts about window coverings and opening a bookmarked webpage on your Nest Hub Max to the appropriate teams. 

Hi KiiFromGoogle.   Sorry to be negative here  but could you put this last on the list and maybe get them to release may one or two things that hundreds of people have been asking to be implemented in the last 9+ months?   I mean REALLY?  We have seen no significant changes to the Google Home app when it comes to security cameras.

KiiFromGoogle
Community Manager (Admin)
Community Manager (Admin)

@EmptyNester Message received, and no worries, I appreciate you chiming in here and sharing your perspective. I'll gladly pass this note along to our team. 

To share some context: The community team continuously shares feedback with product teams across all our forums, including the Cameras & Doorbells forum and the Apps & Accounts forum. While we don't always have news to share, we do track requests and feedback around here and will share more with the community as soon as we have updates.

Hello Again and thanks for the reply.   I don't understand why this is such a big secret by Google.  Apple and other big companies are always announcing  up coming beta software and upcoming features that will be in them along with estimated dates.   I can only conclude that there is no one working on anything inside Google with respect to the security cameras.  It has been 9 months and this feels like a case of actions (or the lack there of) speak louder than words.   ... just my opinion.