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Unnamed Offline devices on Nest WiFi

ScottG_TC
Community Member

There are tons of unnamed offline devices on my Google WiFi device list. There were multiple threads on this in the old community but were locked without resolution.

 

What are these devices, where did they come from and why cant they be removed? Is my network a security risk even though it requires a password to access my wifi?

 

I am really concerned that my network safety is being compromised. 

1 Recommended Answer

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey all,

 

Sorry to hear about offline, unnamed devices displaying in the Google Home app. While this is not a security risk, we understand the list of unnamed devices can be bothersome. The appropriate teams are aware of this behavior and have been investigating. In the meantime, we can give some context about what you’re experiencing: 
 

Having “unnamed device” entries in the Google Home app is common– many devices don't provide Google Wifi with signals (e.g. DHCP host name, MAC address OUI) that we can use to identify them, or we just haven't seen enough of a particular device to interpret the signals we're given. 
 

While it’s difficult for Google to automatically detect, you can identify these devices yourself by manually matching up the IP or MAC address you see in the Google Home app with the same information on your devices’ control interfaces. Some devices even print the MAC address on the device itself. Once you identify them, you can rename them in the Google Home app to help you keep track of these devices in the future. 
 

When your device list fills up with unnamed devices, as many of you have described on this thread,  it’s likely the result of one device on the network regenerating its MAC address more frequently than usual. We are working toward a solution that cleans up your list of devices without affecting every device with a randomized address.
 

We hope this helps explain, and we apologize for the inconvenience. For updates, be sure to stay tuned to this thread.

 

Thanks,

Jeff

View Recommended Answer in original post

226 REPLIES 226

emwright
Community Member

I have all my devices set to use their native MAC addresses, and I have no Pixel phones on my network. My three Motorola phones, Windows devices, and Chromebook all have been labeled with their names and show up in the device page. We still have them live, not offline, although many are now offline. I agree with the others that this is definitely something in Home, not our devices. I'm beginning to regret going with Google Nest products.  An answer should be found. 

I just wanted to add my name to the list too - exact same issue…

Finken
Community Member

Adding myself to the list here. This is still an issue, and needs to be fixed. Just ha a call with an operator telling me that if the issue recieved multiple feedback it would be fixed. So check out case id: 2-7091000032072

 

MrB55
Community Member

i have the same problem with my google home wifi. it started with just a couple unnamed devices appearing in my google home app. i now have 34 unnamed devices on my wifi. a few of these were my security cameras, i renamed them but they appear to rename themselves back to unnamed devices. now my computers one by one are starting to have internet connection problems, some of my family's phones loose connection and now couple of my smart plugs are failing. my computers are pc windows based and all phones used are iphones. this problem is growing and if it continues i will be forced to buy a different router system cause nothing will connect to the google anymore. i can't help but think if i would of had a choice and been able to stay with the original google wifi app instead of being "forced" to move to the google home app life would still be good. with the original wifi app when i added a new device it's name would be a model number or special name the manufacture gave it. i would rename it to what i wanted and never had a problem after that but now since i started using the google home app i spend a lot of my time monitoring my network when i shouldn't have to. please put a rush on this problem so we can all try and get back to the way it was...

MrB55
Community Member

the last couple days my google routers have been spending more time offline then online. they go down and i've been able to get them working again but today (jan 6th) has been the worst day ever, in fact right now one of the routers are offline again and this time i can't get it working. the unnamed offline devices are growing at this time i'm up to 64. i can't keep going like this, routers go down and my computers go down. looks like i'm going to be forced to move my computers and a couple essential things to a different modem/router i have and shut these google ones off. i'm very disappointed in google. all the money we all spend on these products and it seems to be all down the drain. i can't even in good conscience sell these. i hope google gets a fix for this soon. 

MrB55
Community Member

not sure if this update will do any good but this is what I've experienced lately. i used to put everything i have that needs wifi on my main google side. the google guest side i only used for grandkids and their friends when they come over and need internet. i have about 20 to 25 smart plugs and smart switches connected and with my computers and phones its not uncommon for me alone to have 30 to 35 devices on my network at any time (that does not include unnamed devices) and even grow to 50 or 60 when family stops in, i'm sure most of you can relate to that. but anyway, shortly after my last post i finally did a factory reset on my google routers which as you know dumped everything off. i changed my passwords on both main and guest sides, took all my smart plugs and switches and this time put them all on the guest side of the network. my phones, smart thermostats, tablets, security cameras and few other things left on the main side. i have 3 main computers running and i moved them to my phone companys router/modem. when i added my devices back on i did only couple at a time then waited couple days to see if any unnamed devices popped in. when i was all said and done i only had 2 unnammed devices on my list which one finally disappeared last week but only to reappear yesterday, the other i found was an ipad tablet so now i only have 1 unnamed device which is one to many. i also noticed when adding my devices back in a lot of them were added as unnamed device which is unacceptable to me. every device I've worked with had a name. its either some name the manufacture gave it or its the serial number but either way it has a name and its not unnamed device... this google home even renamed my iphone to unnamed device. i'm not sure how it thought the phone that was monitoring the routers and in charge of everything was an unnamed device. time will tell if i get any new unnamed devices added but my main problem now is the routers freezing up. they take turns and do it at random. my internet stops, my phone app shows one of the routers is offline, i check the light on that router and its white which means all is ok but its not. i have to restart it and possibly power cycle it to get them all working again. there's even a good chance they will freeze when i add something new. i don't understand the white light yet they don't work, and its not my internet cause like i already said i switched my 3 main computers to my phone companies modem and they have been working perfect and have not missed a beat. if i continue to have problems i guess my next step would be to find a different mesh router system..

TCN
Community Member

I have the same issue since I purchased the google wifi router and access points, and setting them up using google home app.  There are offline and unnamed devices in my list and I can't get rid of them.

Russmd
Community Member

Add me to the list. Growing list of unnamed devices on my network on the Google Home app. I previously had my real devices named on the Wifi app - which worked great. Those names have fallen off. WHY did you migrate it into the Home app? The Wifi app worked great and it was easy to configure things. This Home app is terrible, clunky, and very difficult to work with. JUST REENABLE THE WIFI APP! Maybe one of the other mesh networks out these is worth exploring. 

Redpedr0
Community Member

Eero 6 Pro is a dream.... 

buckysrevenge
Community Member

I'm getting a few of these, I noticed that the IP addresses they show assigned to them are not within the DHCP address range (my known devices are in 192.168.26.x, the ones of the unnamed devices usually list themselves at 192.168.27.x until I block them). They also say they are wired to the main router, which it can't be, the only thing connected to it is my cable modem. The mac addresses are never ones that show up as known manufacturers, so are these most likely randomized from either my Pixel phone of one of the iPhones on my home network?

Like everyone else has said, this is a weird bug, it'd be nice to have better control of the list of recent devices.

mikesamson
Community Member

Adding my name to this frustrating problem. Wake up Google! Device deletion from routers has been available for almost two decades, this isn't a new feature and should have been baked into the hardware from the start. I know your busy selling your next idea, but step back for a second and support your devices!!!

Alas they will not. We have been banging on that drum for a while. You vent here and to support and...... nothing happens. 

Add me to the ever growing list of fed up users

Turning off mac randomization is not the answer, it's by definition, a security feature so why would I want to turn it off to "work around" a bug and then to learn it's not fixing the issue

This is NOT acceptable Google

Nicolsgaviria
Community Member

I have the same problem, but my unknown list is huge (few thousand entries).

A year ago I was getting constant notifications "A new device has joined your network" I ended up just turning the notifications off.

recently I turned the notifications on back again, now I am getting those notification 20 times a day minimum and the list is growing and growing.

Please, we need a solution soon.

Have had enough and am switching to TP link... Maybe someone who is unconcerned with this will be interested in my router and secondary unit

ThomasRogers
Community Member

I'm having the same issue. Mac randomizer is off on all of my devices. Unnamed devices show up with different mac addresses but are all "offline". It's annoying when you don't have basic mac ACL or at the least a delete and block function. Hopefully it's just an app issue from migration and will get fixed soon. If not I'll go find another device to use. 

m_l
Community Member

Hi, I just saw the following paragraph on an Apple page regarding Wi-Fi privacy (emphasis added by me):

https://support.apple.com/guide/security/wi-fi-privacy-secb9cb3140c/web

---

Wi-Fi connections

Apple generates randomized MAC addresses for the Peer-to-Peer Wi-Fi connections that are used for AirDrop and AirPlay. Randomized addresses are also used for Personal Hotspot in iOS and iPadOS (with a SIM card) and Internet Sharing in macOS.

New random addresses are generated whenever these network interfaces are started, and unique addresses are independently generated for each interface as needed.

---

 

Could this be one of the causes of a bunch of "Unnamed devices" appearing on the Google WiFi network?  I've tried testing it and couldn't get use of AirPlay or Hotspot to create new unnamed devices, but thought I'd share this just in case it provides any clue.

ScottG_TC
Community Member

If that was the case, why don't they show in the Google wifi app? They only show in the Google home app. 

 

If they can hide them in one app, they can hide them in another. It's been ongoing for a year. It's pretty clear they don't intend on fixing this cause they don't really care what the users want. 

I once thought it was just the devices kicking off these if restarted etc but my list is still growing "perhaps one a week". They say these are supposed to fall off after a month? I haven't ran a network analyzer yet but it's strange that these random macs appear but it's good they show offline. I just hope it's not a hidden connection to my neighbors, they like to steal. I hope more updates come soon for the product!  I like the little nest products as they help me in life taking care of my elderly parents. They love playing music through the AP or asking questions etc. 

Have a look at the new UI launch message they published and the number of users complaining about the app and not a single response from Google. 

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Blog/Updates-coming-to-the-Google-Home-app/bc-p/137231/emcs_t...

 

ThomasRogers
Community Member

I'm hoping it's not a hot spot we cannot see. Lol But the AP's might be triggered to produce random macs when saying testing the mesh or restarting? Last time though i did this no new item connected. It seems it's random and all devices on my network have device macs set. 

sambeckett
Community Member

I currently have 49 Unnamed devices.   Its been going up and up... 

I've updated my home app, reset my home and before any devices connected made sure all my devices have "Mac randomization" turned off and it seems to have stopped listing. I also have ipv6 turned off as well, not sure if ipv6 addresses causes this as well. But so far so good no new devices showing up! 👍 It only showed two unknowns after setup with Offline status. If you're getting that many unknowns are they online or offline status? 

AbsoluteNole
Community Member

 Add me to the list of growing frustrated google wifi users. 

I'm no longer a frustrated Google Wifi user as I bought the Eero Pro 6 mesh system and it has been faultless since I set it up. Truly set it and forget it. The Google Wifi Router and points however do make really good door stops. 😂

GB-
Community Member

any update?

Finken
Community Member

Aaaand now it no longer differentiate between devices on main and guest network! Wow keep going Google. 

DWBlue
Community Member

I set mine up yesterday and I already have 7 unnamed devices.

 

Having read through the past comments, I'm beginning to wonder if I should return this stuff and just by Eero instead.

Shgmlg
Community Member

Unnamed device list has grown to over 50 and never drops off after 60 days. Seems so easy to just let us delete a device.  

nightscar
Community Member

Well, this might be an old thread but.. im starting to have the same thing happen with my Google wifi network.  All these "unnamed device" are starting to show up.

Like a few others have said.. why is it not possible to "delete" a device? You think that would be standard programing for a router.

I would also like to say that after some research.. it looks like with android 10 they implimented the Mac randomizer. So I will be going around to all my android devices and switching that off to see if it helps.

But I do hope that google wifi adds standard operating tools for there router. I realize they are trying to keep it simple for most... but for those of us, more advanced those kind of tools would be welcomed.

Wmorris20
Community Member

I've done a lot of testing on this with my devices, and I'm fairly certain it's the Nest Wifi points that are doing this.

Well it seams after I went into all my android devices and turned off dynamic MAC address the problem is now gone..

However I would still like to be able to "delete" or "forget device" in the list to clean it up ..

How do you do that with lights? I still get them, like most here. Frustrating!

With lights or light switches.. I have no clue mabey somewhere in the settings in the manufacturers app? I currently have two wifi light switches by Kasa and have no issued with them creating "unnamed device".

Also for anyone else.. the only way to clear all those "unnamed devices" is to factory reset your Google wifi. 

Interesting point (pardon the pun). In my case, the unnamed devices pop up in pairs, about once a month, and I have two Google Nest WiFi points... Possibly, it is the points that are in play here.

Also, as others have said, none of these unnamed devices ever drops off the list... Some are more than 6 months old.

SpottedQuoll
Community Member

This is still a current problem, and the list of offline unnamed devices is only growing and growing...  Any time frame for a fix, community specialists and bronze, silver, gold, platinum product experts?  So many labels for so many people being busy, but where are the solutions for some of these problems that have lasted several years even?

ScottG_TC
Community Member

It seems to me that Google/Nest dont care one iota about this issue and are only concered about selling the devices. Once we purchase we are on our own. 

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey all,

 

Sorry to hear about offline, unnamed devices displaying in the Google Home app. While this is not a security risk, we understand the list of unnamed devices can be bothersome. The appropriate teams are aware of this behavior and have been investigating. In the meantime, we can give some context about what you’re experiencing: 
 

Having “unnamed device” entries in the Google Home app is common– many devices don't provide Google Wifi with signals (e.g. DHCP host name, MAC address OUI) that we can use to identify them, or we just haven't seen enough of a particular device to interpret the signals we're given. 
 

While it’s difficult for Google to automatically detect, you can identify these devices yourself by manually matching up the IP or MAC address you see in the Google Home app with the same information on your devices’ control interfaces. Some devices even print the MAC address on the device itself. Once you identify them, you can rename them in the Google Home app to help you keep track of these devices in the future. 
 

When your device list fills up with unnamed devices, as many of you have described on this thread,  it’s likely the result of one device on the network regenerating its MAC address more frequently than usual. We are working toward a solution that cleans up your list of devices without affecting every device with a randomized address.
 

We hope this helps explain, and we apologize for the inconvenience. For updates, be sure to stay tuned to this thread.

 

Thanks,

Jeff

ScottG_TC
Community Member

Jeff this answer and suggestion is a bit rediculous. 

1. Why arent these devices showing in the Google Wifi App?

2. Every device I have is listed as the actual device, and the 45+ unnamed devices I have been unable to find a matching device with that IP or MAC address, so despite what your team told you, they are 100% wrong

Fully agreed with @ScottG_TC .  This is just ridiculous.  I note @Jeff has also marked his own answer as the accepted answer straight away.  Very telling on the desperation to make this go away.

These issues did not exist in the Google WiFi app, so the issue is unique to the Google Home app.  And indeed, the actual devices consistently do show up as their original, and only, entry.  The bogus "unnamed devices" relevant to this issue are devices that pop up (and indicate this via a notification, if you have them switched on), but are never connected.  They have zero traffic, and never have an IP address.  They are also not removed from the list after 30~60 (or any number of) days, which indicates once more they are not simply existing devices with a new MAC address.

As mentioned numerous times, in my case, an additional batch of such bogus unnamed devices gets generated each time I restart (parts of) my network, either the router or any number of access points.

Also, as I and others have mentioned numerous times, this is a very real security risk, because it's extremely easy for a malicious connected device to go unnoticed in this avalanche of bogus unnamed devices.  The Google Home app is supposed to serve a network monitoring purpose, which is compromised by these and other bugs misrepresenting the actual network and devices' status.