Google announced this week that it’s rolling out support for its Nest Hello doorbell in the Google Home app. This allows you to transfer Google’s original video doorbell camera — aka the Nest Doorbell (wired, first-gen) — from the Nest app to Google’s Home app. Google is also bringing its garage door detection feature out of public preview, making it available to all users with compatible hardware. This uses a Nest Cam to alert you when your garage door is left open.
Garage door detection launched last fall in Google’s public preview — a public beta where users can try out upcoming features — but it’s now available to all Nest Aware subscribers in the US and Canada. (Nest Aware starts at $8 a month / $80 a year.)
The feature works with the Nest Cam (indoor, wired, second-gen) and Nest Cam (outdoor or indoor, battery) when wired for power to send a notification when your garage door opens, closes, or is left open.
The new feature sends alerts through the Google Home app when your door is open, closed, or left open.Image: Google
Garage door detection doesn't require additional hardware, unlike a smart garage door controller, which generally needs to be wired to your garage door’s electric. All you need to do is point your compatible Google Nest cam at your door, either from the inside or outside. (Google has instructions for setting it up.) However, it can’t control your door; it can only tell you its status.
The Google Home app has transitioned most of the Nest app's video playback features, including switching between timeline and event views.Image: Google
Nest Hello users in Google’s public preview will soon see an option in the Nest app to transfer their video doorbell to the Google Home app. (You can enroll here.) This will let you manage the doorbell and view recorded videos in the Home app (currently only available in the Nest app) and connect your doorbell to other devices in Google Home to use it with automations, including using camera events as triggers.
If you’ve migrated your Nest account to Google, the doorbell currently shows live video in the Home app. However, you still needed to use the Nest app to see recorded video and other features such as doorbell ring alerts. This transition should bring most of the doorbell’s functions to the Home app. You can transfer it back if you want, but you won’t be able to access it in both apps simultaneously.
Google has been moving its legacy Nest cameras to the Google Home app for a couple of years, but it’s been a slow process. So far, the Nest Cam Indoor (wired, first-gen) and Nest Cam Outdoor (wired, first-gen) have made it over. The addition of the Hello, which first launched in 2018, will be a welcome one for many users.
Google says it’s “actively working to transition additional Nest devices into the Home app.” Those still missing include the Nest Cam IQ indoor and the Nest Cam IQ outdoor, both of which can show live footage but require the Nest app to view recorded video. The Nest Protect smoke alarm is also still only accessible in the Nest app. Google will not be transitioning the OG Dropcams and Nest Secure system, as it ended support for those products earlier this year.
(Originally posted by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy)