Google Home app support for first-gen Nest Cam Indoor rolling out

Abner Li | Aug 24 2023 - 10:43 am PT

As promised, the first-generation Nest Cam Indoor launched in 2015 is now supported by the Google Home app, starting in the Public Preview.

That security camera launched in 2015 as the “Nest Cam” following the acquisition of Dropcam, and was rebranded a year later to the “Nest Cam Indoor.”

You’ll be able to manage that device in the Google Home app with support for live feeds in the Favorites tab and the updated camera history UI that allows you to quickly switch between the event and timeline views, as well as “fine-level” video feed scrubbing. There’s also expanded Household Routine support and support for viewing using the Google Home website.

A small number of camera features that are currently in the Nest app, including the ability to share a link with others to view your live video stream, will not be available in the Home app. More Nest app features will come to the Home app later this year, such as the ability to create and download custom video clips.

After transferring to Google Home, the Nest Cam Indoor will not be available in the Nest app: “The camera live view is removed from the app and no new history accumulates in the app. Your camera history before the transfer stays there until it expires.” However, you “can reverse transfer your camera and exit the Public Preview at any time.” Google says there is “no change to the Nest app today.”

You first have to sign-up for the Google Home Public Preview by going to the Settings tap and then Public Preview at the bottom. Following the instructions provided there to proceed.

Afterwards, you’ll be prompted to transfer the camera in the Favorites tab. Google says this will “take a couple of weeks as we slowly add more Nest Cam Indoor users each week.” The company will email users upon wide availability.

Google will migrate the Nest Cam Outdoor next and there is “more to come”:

Beyond cameras, we’ll continue to bring support for many Nest devices and features to the Home app, one device at a time, while maintaining privacy, security, and experiences for our customers. Each device has its own complexity and requires migrating infrastructure, updates to device software, and evaluating if the hardware can be supported.