Hub Max Camera Cannot Setup

[Toddcjackson]

I recently moved and could not find any way to take my Hub out of privacy mode to use the camera for a video call. I have now factory reset the device, factory reset the google wifi, deleted my entire home and tried to reset everything twice. The set up of the camera on the hub still fails every time. Any ideas if this hub is good for anything other than a paperweight as I only bought it for video calls. 

[Dan_A]

Hi Toddcjackson,

I’m sorry that you’re having trouble with your Nest Hub Max being on privacy mode.

In this mode, the camera and microphones are off and an amber LED light is displayed to the user. That LED light is also electrically hardwired to the device being in privacy mode (Example: If the camera is on, the LED light can never be amber as long as the device is functioning properly). In privacy mode, the Google Nest Hub Max cannot record and cannot save video on-device and to the Cloud.

Privacy mode is enabled when a user toggles the mute switch on the back of the Google Nest Hub Max to the left.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Dan

[Toddcjackson]

Dan:

Thanks for checking up. I can confirm it is not the physical switch. I have gone as far as deleting my home. Factory restring the google wifi that the hub is on and multiple factory resets of the hub. The system still fails every time I try the “set up nest camera” from the device on the home app. The only error message it gives is to try again later. Is there any type of geo restriction on the device? The only thing that has changed with it is that I moved to Malaysia. 

Todd

[Dan_A]

Hi Toddcjackson,

Thank you for the information that you moved to Malaysia. You are correct; geo-restriction is at play here, and I’m sorry to say that this may highly likely not work since the country that you’re in doesn't support Nest devices. We can try some workarounds and see if it works. You need to change the language of your phone to EN-US and try the setup.

Let me know how it goes.

Regards,

Dan

[MelBannerman]

I too have this exact problem with my Nest hub camera not connecting due to being in privacy mode. It worked perfectly until I changed the location of the device within my house then stopped working. I factory reset the device which seemed to fix the issue for about a week then once again the camera switched off and won't reconnect saying its in privacy mode. I have been through my google account settings a dozen times and there is no restrictions to my Nest hub or camera. 

I live in Australia if that helps.

[Dan_A]

Hi MelBannerman,

This is not the experience we want you to have — have you already tried the steps above? How was it? When you did the factory rest, was it the same steps as what you see in this link?

It would help a lot if you could do a sequential reboot first: 

1. Unplug the power cord of your router, followed by your Nest speakers.
2. Plug them back in after 3 minutes.
3. Restarting your phone might also help.

To further isolate, have you tried changing back to the address that was working before? Also, if you don’t mind me asking,  why did you have to change the language? Where did you change the language and how did you change it?

Thanks,

Dan

[MelBannerman]

Thank you Dan for your reply.

Yes I did the above steps which did not help. I had to do a 2nd factory reset and sofar it has worked just fine.

No, I didn't change the language, I changed the LOCATION of the device from my living room to the kitchen. 

[Princesss]

Hi MelBannerman,

Thanks for trying the steps. Could you please provide the cast firmware version of your Google Nest Hub Max?

To check which firmware version you're on, follow these steps:

1. Make sure your mobile device or tablet is linked to the same account as your speaker or display.
2. Open the Google Home app .
3. Touch and hold your device's tile.
4. At the top right, tap Settings Device information.
5. Under "Technical information," find Cast firmware: X.XXX.XXXXX.

Looking forward to your response.

Best,
Princess

[Princesss]

Hi MelBannerman,

Due to inactivity, I'll go ahead and lock this thread in 24 hours. Feel free to start a new thread if you need assistance with your Google Nest devices and we'd be glad to assist you further.
 

Best,

Princess

[Princesss]

Hey there,

Chiming in to see if you still need assistance with this. Hope the previous post helped. Let us know if you have additional questions, otherwise we’ll be locking the thread.
 

Best,

Princess

[Princesss]

Hey there,

We just want to check if you have seen our response posted above. Let us know if you have additional questions, otherwise we'll be locking the thread.
 

Best,

Princess