Home/Away Assist No Longer Working

[tgs6]

It seems like after latest update to Google Nest, home/away assist feature is no longer functional.    The thermostat only switches to away mode when I open the app and doesn't do it in the background.  I tried contacting support and they were no help and were not willing to reach out to developer to report issue. I have to say this kind of support is just terrible. I have tried everything outlined in their troubleshooting article and still not working.

[johnCNA]

This is actually an iOS issue on the phone itself.  Most likely, you had an iOS update which changed some of the security settings.  You need to be sure that Location services are ALWAYS on for the Nest/Home app, and are allowed to run in the background.  Make sure Location is set to use High Accuracy as well.

[tgs6]

Location is already set to always with precise location.  Also background refresh is on.  

[johnCNA]

One other thing I ran into was that Google Home did not have an accurate address for my house.  I think that's what the Home/Away function was looking at.  When I updated my house address in my Google settings, the geofencing used for Home/Away got more accurate.  That could be another thing to look at.

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9257400?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid#zippy=%2Chow-...

[tgs6]

I also have my home address entered.  It worked up until 2 months ago when Nest released an update.

[tgs6]

Looks like more people are having issues with home/away assist based on below link.  Not sure why Google is not looking into it.  

Home/Away Assist Problems - Google Nest Community

[Robg21]

I'm also seeing the same problem. I've spent a lot of time ensuring I have the setup exactly as required, but the Nest app will not recognise home/away unless I start the app before leaving home. Also sometimes when the Nest app switches to away mode it doesn't  switch to ECO. Also the Nest app and the Google Home app can't agree on the name of my iphone. I sick of both apps. An excellent bit of kit is spoilt by these amateurish apps.

[tgs6]

I agree.  I don't know how we can get Google to look into this and fix it.  Their support is ridiculous.

[ShazzaD]

I have been having the same problem, been onto Customer Support twice now. Gone through the whole process of resetting nest to default settings, checking Google settings and Nest. 
Worked fine until Google merged with Google.

Home and away assist doesn’t recognise when we leave the home and return🤬

So annoying Google have really made this thermostat not fit for purpose.

[tgs6]

It's unbelievable how the smart thermostat is being turned into a useless thermostat.  Why pay $300 for a thermostat that has such an important feature be flawed? I don't even know how these issues get reported to their developers if support is not willing to do so.

[tgs6]

Does anybody know if Google has any plans to make updates to the Nest app to fix these issues?  It is so frustrating that these issues are just not being looked into.

[SiobhanT]

I have the same issues. I've been on the phone/twitter/email/chat every single day for the last 10 days and they always take me through the exact same checks, then tell me they're going to 'escalate' the problem. Then I get this:

Thanks for reaching out to the Google Nest Customer Care Team.

 I've successfully escalated the case for you. Please let me know if you have any other questions for me. 

For your reference your case number is XXXXXXXXXX. If you need more help, you can contact us again and reference this case number or reply to this email to reopen your case.

Have a new question? There are lots of ways to get back in touch with us below.

which is the generic email. Note the use of the word "successfully".  Totally unbelievable and infuriating.

[Robg21]

I do wonder what is the purpose of this site. I see the same issues raised month after month after month with no progress made.  Despite the overwhelming evidence of a problem there is never a resolution or promise of a resolution. It seems to be just a  place to complain.

[SiobhanT]

Exactly.  useless - just like the "support" you supposedly get