Nest app and Google Home app conflicts with nest thermostat

[benson1980]

Hi there,

This seems to be a not uncommon issue but thought I'd ask and see if there are any other tips or tricks to get this sorted. We have a nest thermostat and use both the original nest app, and the google home app. We have loads of google smart products so getting rid of the home app isn't an option, and we have migrated our nest account so again we have our thermostat linked to home, for better or worse (mostly worse, it seems....)

The issue we have is that if I set phone location in one app, it says in the other app that presence sensing/location services are being used with a 'previously used phone'. I then correct this in the other app, and you go into the other one and sure enough it says I'm not using it with my current phone. I only have one phone.

This is causing repeated issues with location services not working, or only working sporadically. Clearly I wish google would just migrate everything over to the home app and I don't really understand why this hasn't been done, when clearly they want all of their smart products migrated over to this app....but in the interim any suggestions re: what I can do? I have tried just now switching off location services in the nest app and just running routines from the home app, but where they are linked you turn this feature on in home, it switches it on in the nest- just with an error message to say it's not using your current phone. 

Is one viable option just to delete the nest app and will the google home control home/away routines for the thermostat without it? This is probably the one thing left I have to try.

[MplsCustomer]

@benson1980 

I'm just another Google Nest customer and don't know why you're having the difficulties you are because we don't have a Nest thermostat.

However, I would suggest that you not delete the Google Nest app until you're really sure that's a viable option.

Some Google Nest devices work fully ONLY in the Google Nest app. For example, our older cameras and doorbells can be viewed in the Google Home app, but we can only configure them and view history in the Google Nest app,

It's all part of Google Nest's current 2-app solution.

[benson1980]

Thanks Mpls....yes there is indeed functionality in the original nest app that is not present in the google home app, such as viewing activity history, adjusting routines etc. Interestingly I have just tested it with presence sensing set up 'correctly' in the google home app, which then fault codes in the nest app as above that it isn't using my current phone for location settings, but....it does actually register my phone as away in the activity history and sets my thermostat to away. Maybe therefore this is the answer and just make sure all settings are correct in the home app, and disregard if there's an error message in the nest app.

Whatever the solution to my problem (if there is one), the over arching dual app solution from google is a cluttered and confusing picture, ridden with errors. You even get a pop up in the nest app when you set location settings, that the two apps conflict with each other so google fully recognise that there is a problem. 

[JohnF1]

I have the exact same issue - if you've found any solution to this I'd be grateful to know what it is. Thanks 🙂

[benson1980]

Kind of. At the moment I have all the settings correct in the nest app and the google home app still says I’m using an old phone for presence sensing. Everything is working as it should, finally. I assumed they’d further tweaked something in one or both of the apps.

[JohnF1]

Thanks ... I'm not sure they have tweaked anything as I have the same problem right now - I realise you're not able to do this, but I've just uninstalled GHome (as I have no other smart stuff) and will now test using Nest running solo - it does seem nuts have 2 apps trying to control the same device.

[Remustgx]

Hi, I have the same issue but juste from december 2022, Do you find a correction, solution? 

Thanks 

[JohnF1]

Hi, I had to uninstall and delete GHome, now works fine with nest alone.

[Remustgx]

Thanks JohnF1 for your response,

I already uninstall, restart the phone and reinstall. Every thing is fine actualy 

Maybe a error in update... 

[kevin-in-ky]

Google Home and Nest have been conflicting with each other for about 3 years now.  I presume Google will fix this a few weeks before they discontinue support of all the devices we are using with home/away routines.  Google Nest Cameras were supposed to move all functionality to Home by July 2023.  July is over next week and no hint at all that they are going to make that deadline either.  Pretty pathetic mismatch of functionality in two apps.  

[EmersonB]

Hello everybody,

Thanks for bringing this up to our attention. We appreciate you sharing here your thoughts and ideas. To know more about your concern, I'd like to confirm, do you have other people linked to your Nest Devices? Are they using your same email address for logging in? Each person can only use one phone to share one phone location at a time. If you’ve already enabled phone location on one phone, enabling it on a different phone will disable it on the first phone. 

If you're already sharing your phone location using the Nest app, enabling it in the Home app will disable it in the Nest app. You can only use one app to share phone locations at a time.

You can also turn off phone location in your phone’s main settings menu, but this will not only affect the accuracy of Home/Away Assist, it may change how other apps on your phone work, too. Hit this link for more information and let us know how it goes.

Best,

Emerson

[kevin-in-ky]

The problem I'm reporting is only using one phone.  If you enable home away assist in google Home app it breaks it in Google Nest app.  If you enable it in the Google nest app it breaks it in google home.

Its been broken since 2021.  Below is one of many users complaining about this defect for the last 3 years.

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Apps-Account/Home-away-assist-conflict-with-Nest/td-p/61345

[MplsCustomer]

@EmersonB 

In other words, since we have two 2nd gen cameras that work only in the Google Home app while the rest of our 1st gen cameras and doorbells work only in the Google Nest app, we simply cannot use the Home/Away feature?

[kevin-in-ky]

Correct, the Home/Away feature does not work for me at all because I have Nest Cam IQ and new Nest Cams in same system.  I have it set to not send me alerts when i'm home yet I get them all the time.  This has been broken for years.