Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Users who migrate their Nest cameras to the Google Home app will lose a lot of features.
- Zoom and enhance, shared livestreams, and timelapses are some of the missing items.
- Users are upset enough that many are switching to alternative services.
Recently, Google started allowing all Nest cameras from 2015 onwards to be added to the Google Home app. The transition hasn’t been smooth. An embarrassing number of features are missing once you migrate, and it appears that as a result, many users are now looking elsewhere for their security camera needs.
Google’s support page that details how to transfer from Nest to Google Home lists which features are missing from the latter, and it’s a longer list than it should be. The missing features that stand out are time lapses, safety clips, supersight close-up tracking, microphone sensitivity, zoom and enhance, changing Wi-FI networks without resetting, and more. Here’s the complete list:
- Change Wi-Fi without resetting the device
- Talk and Listen Tone setting
- Save camera clip to Nest library
- Social sharing of a saved camera clip
- Public livestream sharing
- Password protected livestream sharing
- Email notifications
- Assistant on device
- Zoom & Enhance
- Adjustable microphone sensitivity
- Safety clip
- Timelapses
- Supersight close-up tracking
That’s a particularly annoying one right up top, there. If you want to change your Wi-Fi network for any reason, you’ll need to factory reset your cameras and set them up from scratch. Owners are understandably upset and looking for alternatives, taking to forums like Reddit’s Nest sub, where user sysadmin420 is one of many posting about moving to UniFi cameras.
Google should do better, but it shouldn’t be a surprise that this transition hasn’t been smooth. When users of the old Google Wi-Fi app were forced to switch to Google Home, they faced a similar situation, with some features taking years to finally make it into the Google Home app. Likewise, the discontinuation of Google Play Music in favor of YouTube Music still stings. Google has made a habit of forcing users to switch from one app to another that lacks all of the features they use and, in the case of Nest cameras, have been paying a subscription for.
Do you prefer using the Nest App or the Google Home app for your Nest cameras?
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Are you a Nest camera user who has switched to the Home app? If so, how has the transition been for you? Let us know in the poll above, and leave some more detailed comments below.
