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Please don’t buy any Google Nest products

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David Artiss

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I have a house full of Google Nest products, adding a video doorbell to my collection only last year. And, yet, I would no longer recommend them and will be looking to find alternatives as my existing products need replacing.

Why? Well, it’s the usual thing of not being able to trust Google to just stop supporting your pricey bit of kit.

Google’s Nest Secure system, launched in 2017, has stopped working after Google announced 3 years ago that it would no longer support it. Yet, there are already strong suggestions that Google is partnering with ADT to produce an alternative product, which is a bit of a smack in the face for all those Nest Secure owners who have ended up with a useless product. Indeed, look at that timeline – it was written off after just 3 years, and stopped from working after 6.

For everything else in the Nest range it’s not look rosy. Google are no longer updating the Nest app and are pushing users to their Google Home app instead. Which would be fine, it it didn’t lack features that Nest has (and is why most users are not transferring).

Except.

If you have their Nest Protect smoke and CO2 detectors, they will remain on the Nest app, with no word as to whether they will ever more to Google Home. Why? They won’t say. But with no updates to the Nest App it seems pretty sure that Google are killing off the product – a product that they are still happily selling. I have 4 Nest Protects and there is no equivalent product on the market.

Even the Nest Hub series of smart speakers seems, according to many users, going rapidly downhill with little development occurring and more and more issues with them. Right now, it seems the cameras, routers and the thermostat are probably about the only things that seem secure to own. But I’m not sure I want to risk it any more.

 

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Comments

4 responses to “Please don’t buy any Google Nest products”

  1. John avatar
    John

    Google are not planning on killing Nest Protect. The likely cause of the delay in migrating them to the Home app (instead of Nest app) is federal regulations and bureaucratic red tape due to the safety features offered – they even have to get the CO2 and smoke sensors reauthorized for public release. Then there is all the “behind-the-scenes” coding that needs to be done (ability to turn on cameras when smoke alarm is activated, turn off HVAC system through Nest thermostats, etc)…even the monthly sound check is a difficult feature to recreate. Nest Protects have occasionally appeared in the Google Home app for some users (I can see mine, but only for presence sensing automations)…which suggests that they are running into coding/compatibility issues.
    Good have a long history of killing/merging products (Allo, Duo/Hangouts merged into Meet), but all of these products were offered free of charge. If they suddenly decided to kill Nest Protect, which are not cheap, they risk alienating a large group of users (especially given that the sensors are almost prohibitively expensive) as well as class-action lawsuits and governmental legal actions, again, given the type of device the Nest Protect is (and users would have no easy way of verifying the devices were still operational – Sound Check feature is MUCH quieter than a manual test run by a double-press of the Nest button).

    Reply
    1. David Artiss avatar
      David Artiss

      I don’t buy it. The Protect apps have been missing for quite some time and, if it was for regulatory reasons, I’m sure they’d just say that. Instead, they’ve remained silent.

      As for “Google have a long history of killing/merging products, but all of these products were offered free of charge”, then that doesn’t take into account Dropcam, Google OnHub, Stadia and Nest Secure. And that’s just a few of the paid-for hardware products that they’ve killed off. I haven’t even looked at the paid-for software.

      There’s more than enough evidence to suggest it’s a dead product and zero to say it’s for any other reason.

      Reply
    2. David Artiss avatar
      David Artiss

      It got me wondering too about firmware releases.

      Between 2018 and 2020 there was a long release between firmware updated, during which time it jumped from v3.1 to 3.3, because of the re-organisation at the time of Nest into Google. Since there’s been a steady stream of updates. Which then stopped in February 2023. Since that re-organisation, the device hasn’t gone so long without a software update. A recent release would make me think it was still being actively worked on but, again, the evidence suggests otherwise.

      Reply
  2. Kirk S. avatar
    Kirk S.

    I can’t recall a product I’ve hated as much as Google’s Nest Protect and the Nest App. Here are my top 2complaints, but I could go on.

    1. The product is expensive to purchase and maintain. Maintenance is expensive because Google only allows the use of the most expensive Energizer batteries available – AND they don’t last (according to the Next Devices), and you need 8 per device. You are lucky if the batteries last a year or two, when they are supposed to last 5 years (BUT, the batteries usually still test well even though the Nest will beep annoyingly until they are replaced). Neither Energizer or Google will take responsibility.

    2. Google failed to solve the problem of extremely loud “low battery” chirps. Nest claimed to have solved” the issue by connecting to the web so it can give you low battery notifications in the App. In fact, they made it worse than with any other device. The Nest App has NEVER alerted us to “low battery” and instead the frequently dying batteries set off the very loud “low battery” chirping. For us, this happens at least once per year (with 4 Nest devices). So we are too regularly searching for a ladder in the middle of the night while we should be sleeping and while our poor dog is having a panic attack due to the piercing chirps.

    Reply

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