Nest Connect out of box: error NA013 (4.7) while adding

[JRuocco29]

I just received my new Nest Connect (to replace the Guard). I am unable to add it to my Nest App.

The error message NA013 (4.7) I received is NOT included in your troubleshooting guide. "The app is having trouble connecting to the assisting Nest product." What is the "assisting Nest product" and how do I Conn my new Connect?

STEPS:

1. Took Connect out of the box 

2. Launched Nest app

3. Clicked Add Device

4. Scanned the code on the back of Connect

5. Attempted to add device to app

RESULTS: App showed error NA013 (4.7), and Connect was not added to the Nest app. "The app is having trouble connecting to the assisting Nest product.

6. On phone: turned Airplane Mode ON.  Turned WiFi and Bluetooth ON. Confirmed WiFi is working. Device is less than 10ft from router.

7. Restarted Nest app. Unplugged Connect so I could access the code.

8. Repeated steps 1-5. 

RESULTS:  Same error NA013.

9. Plugged Connect into wall

10. Factory reset Connect: pressed & held button until light turned yellow.

11. Saw the light pulsing blue for several minutes. Waited for green light to appear.

RESULTS:  Light continues flashing blue. Never turns green.

Eventually, the light stopped altogether.

13. Restarted Nest app and unplugged Connect

14. Launched Nest app. 

15. Clicked Add Device

16. Chose "continue without scanning". Manually entered the Connect's key.

RESULTS: Adding the device failed with the same error.

[Lance_L]

Hi JRuocco29,

Thanks for reaching out and sharing all the steps you’ve tried to fix the issue. I’d be happy to help you with Nest Connect. Let’s check it out.

An assisting Nest product is a device that is already added to your account in the Nest app, e.g. Nest thermostats, Nest Protect, etc. The Nest Connect tries to get Wi-Fi information from the assisting device during the setup. The Nest app should show an image of the assisting Nest product.

Before troubleshooting, check for the recommended Wi-Fi router settings for Nest products. Then, please try the steps below:

1. Quit and restart the Nest app.
2. Restart the mobile device or tablet.
3. Make sure the assisting device is awake and within pairing distance (a maximum of 2 to 3 meters or 6 to 10 feet).
4. Restart the assisting product.
5. Put the mobile device or tablet in airplane mode, then turn on Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
6. Try a different mobile device or tablet.
7. Restart the network equipment (router, extender, or modem).
8. Reset the Nest Connect to defaults. Plug Nest Connect into a power outlet. Press and hold the bottom button until the LED light turns yellow and then blue. This action should reset Nest Connect to the factory default.
9. Set up Nest Connect again.
10. If the issue persists, you can test with a mobile hotspot or create a new home structure and try to pair the Nest Connect.

Let me know how it goes.

Best,

Lance

[Jrubinoff]

Hi Lance,

I’ve tried all your suggestions while on the phone with support for over 2 hours.

I have the nest secure / guard system with many other nest devices and am trying to install the Nest Connect and immediately get error code NA013(4.8) and NA024(4.8). 

The only thing that worked was to create a “new home” and pair the nest connect. The original support tech assured me that while the nest connect is connected through a different “home” it is still acting like a bridge since it is part of the same wifi network. However, the tech is unable to provide me any form of proof that the device is acting like a bridge for the locks which are part of a different “home”. 

I was finally transferred to higher level support after asking for 20 minutes to be transferred and being told it was not possible and the same information would be told to me. 

Unsurprisingly, the higher level tech told me the locks need to be on the same home and therefore everything needs to be moved or just the locks. There seems to be a big disconnect in information here and neither of those options are great solutions. I sent the higher level tech an example of the communication I’ve received about my Nest Guard being deactivated and the need to use a Nest Connect moving forward with emphasis of doing so before the Nest Guard is deactivated.

This seems to be a known problem especially since the higher level tech said typically Nest Connects are installed first. 

[Lance_L]

Hey everyone,

@Crouton, I totally understand that troubleshooting can be frustrating, but these are the most helpful steps to get your devices back on track. Let's give them a try and keep me posted.

@Jrubinoff, thanks for circling back and sharing your experience with the Community. We’re delighted that this has been resolved despite the initial challenges. Also, we appreciate people who want to share their thoughts with us. We're always looking for ways to improve, and we'll take this as feedback. 

Let me know if you have other questions or concerns.

I appreciate your help, Zoe.

Regards,

Lance

[Jrubinoff]

@Lance_L - the problem was not resolved. Starting over from scratch when I probably have over 15+ devices (including cameras, locks, thermostats, etc. ) is not a valid solution. On top of settings in general… I can’t see the passcodes I have setup for my locks for my different guests, so how do I move all of this over to a “new home”?

This is beyond inconvenient and a free nest connect does not make up for it. Would have rather paid for it then be told the only way to keep everything working together was to start over from scratch. 

[JRuocco29]

Hi Lance, thank you for the reply. Much appreciated. None of those things worked.

I was able to contact Support Chat who walked me through the problem. The trick is that you have to REMOVE ALL NEST DEVICES FROM YOUR ORIGINAL HOME SPACE.  I assume this is because the Guard hub was the controller in the old space, and Connect conflicted with it.

You can't add a new Connect to a preexisting Home Space.

The Connect was finally added to the new home space. Then, all the devices had to be removed from the old home space, and added to the new space.

Improved error handling & messaging would have made this a lot easier. So would more complete instructions with the Connect. However, I was eventually able to hook up all the devices to the same home space.

[zoeuvre]

Hi there, 

I'm sorry to hear your confusion caused by the previous response. It appears that everything has been sorted out. If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to ask.

Thanks for your help, Lance. 

Regards,

Zoe

[JRuocco29]

Hi Zoe, I wasn't confused, it's simply that the suggestions in the post didn't work. None of them addressed the crux of the problem. I was eventually able to get through to support to sort it out.

Users who are switching from Guard to Connect should know that they need to create a new home space, otherwise they can't add Connect. Try that first-- you don't need any of the hassles of rebooting your router or turning off your cell service or any of that.

[Cl3m]

I'm adding a new yale lock but never had nest guard and getting the same error. What do you mean I need to add a new home space? I have multiple cameras, thermostats etc. Are you saying I have to remove them all and restart or do you mean something else? 

[JRuocco29]

What worked for me was to create a whole new Home Space -- on the Nest app home screen, tap the down-arrow in the upper right corner, then tap the "+" sign to create a new home space. Then I was able to add Connect to it. 

Then I had to remove the Yale Lock from the old home space, factory reset the lock, and add it fresh to the new home space. 

I had to repeat this for the doorbell, camera, & smoke alarm, too. Factory resetting everything was a hassle, but that's the only thing that worked. 

Putting my phone in Airplane mode, restarting the modem, etc., none of those suggestions worked. I had to erase the devices' memory of the old setup.

(And I was most frustrated that the error code was the only one that DOESN'T appear on the troubleshooting list!)

[zoeuvre]

Hello all, 

@JRuocco29, thanks for the clarification. I appreciate your sharing the steps you took to resolve this case. If you have questions or concerns in the future, feel free to start a new thread, and we'll be happy to help.

@Cl3m, have you tried to follow the workaround steps that Ruocco29 took? If so, how did it go? 

Thanks,

Zoe

[Crouton]

Are you serious? I just tried setting up the connect and getting same error.  Got the connect because I also have the guard.  I have so many devices (therm, lock, protects, and camera which some are not easy to get to). I have to re-add everyone?!?!  That's a lot of BS that I don't have time for.  So pissed, but thank you for the leg work.  

[Andrew_Kimpton]

The suggestion of removing all the devices (or moving them from one home space to another) is utterly ridiculous and not something that any customer should need to do.

I (and I expect many others here) have been lifelong Nest customers I now have 20 Nest devices in my home, including schedules for thermostats, labels on Nest Protects etc. Removing them, putting all the thermostats back into learning mode and/or reprogramming the schedules (especially when there is no export/import mechanism) is just not feasible! I do not have the time to conduct that work!

There was a serious failing of product management at Nest in thinking that 'just ship all the guard users a connect' would just work as a replacement. It clearly does NOT!

[ryannemeth]

I really hope you are all joking.

I also have a home with 50+ devices, with nest secure. Google sent me a nest connect for my yale locks, so they work after the secure shutdown, but i cannot add it to my home. I get an error every time with android and apple phones.

Please provide a tenable solution or have an engineer fix the root issue. Escalate as needed.

Creating a new home and moving dozens of devices is not an acceptable user experience. Especially for a product we are being forced to implement.

Thank you,

[JMLee]

I am having the same issue, just bought a Yale x Nest lock and wanting to add it to an existing Home.  However the nest connect device won’t connect to my existing home.  Support says just add it to another home and toggle between the homes in the Nest and Google Home app… no that is not a solution.  I am not willing to have two homes in the apps simply to control the lock.  This is is even by far worse than the cameras only being able to be added in the google home app but at least you can add all those old nest cams and new google cams to the google home app in a single home… this is completely a horrible situation.

[JMLee]

So after 3 calls to google / nest support the Nest Connect has to be the first item in your “Home Structure” so the solution is to create a new Home.  However in doing that if you use google home app all automations and other integrations will not be in the same home as your nest products.  Not to mention if you have nest aware it’s a whole process to move that from one home to another.  For nest aware support was willing to give a free subscription for the remaining time in my original home structure if i moved my cameras.
Removing and re-adding all nest devices to a new home did indeed fix the issue.  But that would mean re-creating all my google home app automations and moving over 60 more devices.  
The solution…
Move the 5 cameras, 5 smoke detectors, thermostat, doorbell all out of the original home.  Leaving Google Home app alone.  Adding the Nest connect into the original home then re-adding the nest devices back in.  When they are added back into the original home all the other works with google devices stayed intact and everything was working.

This is an absolute horrible process.  Especially if you have a bunch of nest devices.  At this time there appears to be no other solution than removing and re-adding Nest devices which will cause you to loose all historical video footage from your cameras.

[JMLee]

And one more note on the why this works... It appears when adding nest products they talk to one another in their own mesh network to pre configure the setup and deploy wifi settings to the new nest devices. Without a nest connect your nest devices can do this connection with one another, however the Yale lock and other non direct wifi devices do that thru the nest connect.

Because the nest connect for what ever reason has to be the primary it cannot become configured by existing devices and fails to join the home. By it being the first device all other devices initially connect to it first and then build the mesh nest network from there. 

What is failing in the app is the process of the nest connect talking to any other existing device and getting the instructions to join the Wi-Fi network which causes the setup to fail.

Again this process is horrible... But I can confirm removing all nest devices from a home l, setting up the nest connect first then re adding all nest devices back (via the nest connect) does work amd leaves the Google home works with google config intact. 

[ryannemeth]

When moving all devices to a new home then back to the original one, did you need to do any factory resets? or was it all in the app? Did you lose any camera recordings?

Thank you!

[JMLee]

Yes had to factory reset all devices... Twice.. Once to move to the new home and once to move back 

And yes lost all recordings but wasn't aware of that detail until we got the cameras added back in... The support agent made no mention of that ahead of time 😡

[cb2206]

There is an easier solution. https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Security/Nest-Connect-out-of-box-error-NA013-4-7-while-adding...

[cb2206]

I have the same issue as everyone else. Have a friend on the extended Nest team at Google who narrowed the issue down in a specific area and is trying to get to the right people internally.

[cb2206]

Crouton’s solution worked for me and was also confirmed by my friend on the Nest team:

1. Remove the Nest Secure devices (base station + sensors) from your account in the Nest app

2. If you have a Nest Doorbell, remove that from your Nest account as well (Just taking it offline by cutting power to it does not work! You need to remove it from your account)

3. Add the Nest Connect; for me it then onboarded via Nest Protects

4. Re-add the Nest Doorbell back to your account. You will need the QR code from the back of the doorbell and likely also need to factory reset by putting something sharp into the pinhole on the back and pushing the bell button on the front (I tried without the factory reset and the Nest app requested a reset during the enrollment process)

[Crouton]

All,  I found an easier way to do this, for those who are still struggling.  It's a little vague, and once I got it working, I didnt test out variations, so it might be different for different scenarios.

I did this last week, after my Nest secure was already removed from my Nest app.  My yale lock showed as offline as well.  This should be at least everyone's scenario.  

When I tried to add the connect, it was using my Nest doorbell as the connecting piece.  I did attempt the "create a new house" option weeks ago, so I thought if it didnt have the doorbell, then maybe it would try to connect on its own like it did when I had it in it's own "home".  So I removed the doorbell from my "home" and the Connect tried to connect to the Nest Protect.  At this point, removing everything would be the same as the "create a new home" option, so I took the connect (which had been plugged in for weeks, so I was able to unplug it and still have it working on its' battery backup) and held it next to the protect.  This worked, and the connect was added to my existing home.  At the point, I just had to re-add my doorbell back.  The Yale lock connected automatically maybe an hour or two later.

Here is my one thought, which I'm not going to test:

1) Did I have to remove the doorbell?  Could I have just had the connect touching the nest doorbell (i.e. get it as close as possible like I did with the Protect) and it would have still connected?