Routine triggered via presence trigger by touch screen controls on Nest Hub every night

[MartinodF]

I am experiencing the same issue reported at least twice here:

• https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Speakers-and-Displays/Home-Routine-Triggered-by-Hub-Max-touch...
• https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Speakers-and-Displays/Home-Routine-Triggered-by-Hub-Max-touch...

I have an automation set up to turn on some lights when someone comes home after sunset. Every night, when nobody's home, the routine triggers once between roughly 2 and 5 AM. The sequence of events reported in the Activity screen of Google Home:

• Routine started: [name of the routine]. Because the first person arrived home
• The first person arrived home. Because a device was touch controlled: [name of my Nest Hub]
• [Name of my home] switched to home. Because the first person arrived home

A few hours later (around 8 AM usually) the home switches back to away due to inactivity. Obviously, nobody's home and nobody's touching the Nest Hub screen at 3AM.

This has been happening consistently every day for two weeks while we were on holiday. Some example times: 04:20, 04:04, 02:30, 04:50, 03:53, 02:04, 02:31, 03:29, 02:31, ...

I've already tried power cycling the device, though I haven't tried factory resetting it yet. Any idea how to debug this further?

[NestJoke]

i had the same issue , random "ghost'" presence triggered by a device when nobody home. 

Once a night more or less

[rpbyett]

Hi, i am also experiencing this issue. It relates solely to my Hub Max. It occurs consistently when we are away form home, and between 2am and 3am each night. I have the same sequence of events showing in my Home App activity feed:

• Routine started: [name of the routine]. Because the first person arrived home
• The first person arrived home. Because a device was touch controlled: [name of my Nest Hub]
• [Name of my home] switched to home. Because the first person arrived home

[NestJoke]

For my own knowledge, did you put a screen protector on your nest hub max ? 
( i did and i have the same behavior) 

[rpbyett]

Hi, no - no screen protector. 

[MartinodF]

Also no screen protector here

[Dan_A]

Hi folks,

@MartinodF, @NestJoke, @rpbyett, this is not the experience we want you to have, let us help you. A few questions: aside from the Nest Hub Max, which Nest speakers are we working with? Do you have a Nest Hub or Nest Hub (2nd  Gen)? When did your issue begin? Were there any recent changes made? Is there an error message?

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.

We could also check the Home and Away routine and remove it to see if the behavior is the same without it. Follow these steps:

1. Open the Google Home app.
2. On the Home screen, tap Routines.
3. Under "Household Routines," select Home or Away.
4. Tap Edit.
5. Tap Delete  next to the devices you want to remove all actions for.
6. Tap Save to save any changes.
   • You can also tap Close near the top of the screen to discard any changes you've made.

For more information and troubleshooting about Home and Away routines, see this guide.

Best,

Dan

[MartinodF]

Hey Dan, thank you for getting back to me.

• I am using an original Nest Hub
• I have a mix of Google Home Minis and Nest Minis, 4 in total, a pair of Nest Audios, two Chromecast Audios and a Chromecast with Google TV.
• The issue was definitely not present on July 26th and was definitely present on August 4th. It's hard to pinpoint this further because everybody needs to be out of the home at night for this to happen (otherwise it's already in "Home" mode because of the phone locations).
• No significant changes that I'm aware of in that span of time, and no error message shown anywhere.

All devices where already power cycled at least once between August 4th and now, since I had to do some electrical work and I pulled the power from the entire home.

I can delete the Home/Away routines, but the next opportunity for me to see if this happens is on September 15th (next time both me and my wife will be away for a few days). Is there any way of logging touch events for a Nest Hub that we can use to monitor this behavior without relying on the Home/Away setting?

[Dan_A]

Hey everyone,

@MartinodF, sounds like a plan! We’ll keep this thread open and let us know the results once you’ve tried the steps.

@NestJoke, @rpbyett, have you tried the steps above? If so, how was it?

Keep us posted.

Regards,

Dan

[NestJoke]

no luck i m afraid , same exact behavior

[Dan_A]

Hello everyone,

Apologies for the delay! Have you all tried doing a factory reset? If so, how was it? Also, kindly send us the firmware version of your Nest display.

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

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Touch and hold your device's tile.
3. Tap Settings Device information.
4. Under "Technical information," check for Cast firmware: "X.XXX.XXXXX." If the device is on Fuchsia, check for System firmware version: "X.XXXXXXXX.X.XXXXXXX"

Check the version on your Nest display:

1. Swipe up from the bottom of the display screen.
2. Tap Settings About device. You should find your "Cast firmware version."
   • For Nest Hub (1st gen) and Nest Hub Max: If “Fuchsia Version” is also listed, this means your device runs Fuchsia.

Looking forward to your responses.

Thanks,

Dan

[dogwoodleft]

I have not been able to favtory reset the device, as I am out of town, but here is the firmware:

12.20230611.1.59

I can restart the device and confirm if the behavior continues tonight.

[Dan_A]

Hi dogwoodleft,

Sounds good! Keep us posted. In the meantime, have a good day!

Best regards,

Dan

[MartinodF]

Nest Hub (1st gen)

• Fuchsia version 12.20230611.1.58
• Software version 53.110.0.549404370

[Dan_A]

Hello MartinodF,

Thanks for the information. If you could try to revert your Nest Hub to its default settings by doing a factory reset, that would help us a lot. To do so, follow the steps below:

1. On the back of Nest Hub, press and hold both volume buttons together for about 10 seconds. 
2. Your Nest Hub will let you know that it's resetting.
3. Set up your Google Nest or Home speaker or display. 

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers,

Dan

[rpbyett]

Hi Dan,

i have a 2nd Gen Nest Hub, and 2 Nest Mini's in addition to the Nest Hub Max. The routine is only triggered on the Hub Max and this has only been the case this month. As @MartinodF the issue only occurs when no-one is home; there have been no error messages; and the Hub Max was previously power cycled. I am unable to check again until the weekend of 15th September as until then someone will be home.

[dogwoodleft]

I went searching after I saw Google showed presence sensing had been triggered at almost 4 am while I was out of town.

The device in question has no screen protector and is a nest hub mini gen 2.

"The first person arrived home.

Because a device was touch controlled: Kitchen Display"

Freaked me out for obvious reasons!! 

[S2]

I've been having the exact problem too. I have 2 Nest Hub 2nd Gen displays and the setting the same sequence of activity log messages as others in this thread.

The "Touch control" interactive allegedly take place between 2AM & 5AM, and understandably had me worried the first time I noticed it - this routine would disable my cameras and I wondered how anybody could be interacting with the displays inside my house!

This doesn't appear to be an isolated issue, so an update from Google on what causes this phantom interaction (and how to prevent it) would be greatly appreciated!

[Dan_A]

Hi S2,

We’re sorry to hear that you’re also having the same concern. Could you try the steps above and see if the behavior persists? Also, send us the firmware version of your Nest Hub (2nd Gen). Follow the given steps and keep us posted.

Best regards,

Dan

[Jardilio]

I have also long experienced this same issue. I have 3 homes (house, cottage, condo) each of which has a combination of Google/Nest devices connected with presence sensing. I’ve had this issue also happening after 2a  and before 5a in all locations. I have tried factory resets, changing the dimming options…none of which worked at home and cottage. I can’t factory condo as its remote in another state.

I’ve had to turn off presence sensing at the home and cottage for devices to use phone location only because of this, but the condo is a vacation rental and need presence sensing from the thermostat, smoke detectors, speakers, and display. Every night when there is no occupancy, the unit switches to “Home” mode “Because a device was touch controlled: Kitchen Display”. The last few nights this happened at 4:15a (9/7), 4:03a (9/6), 4:18a (9/5).

• Condo: Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen): 11.20230306.3.112018
• Home: Google Nest Hub (1st Gen): 12.20230611.1.58

• Cottage: Google Hub (1st Gen): 12.20230611.1.58


[kharris]

Same issue with approximately the same time of day.  Google Nest Hub - same thing, I have done everything except a factory reset.

As a note, this is the time away was the first time I experienced this behavior.

[Index]

Same behaviour.

Every night between 2am and 5am my Google Home switches into Home mode because the Nest Hub 2nd Gen apparently sensed touch usage.

This in return disables my cameras for several hours. At around 8am the home turns back into Away mode because of Inactivity.This is really bad.