Nest Protect now (barely) shows up in Google Home app, years after it was promised

Ben Schoon | Sep 16 2024 - 11:35 am PT

The Nest Protect smoke detector is one of the few products that hasn’t been renewed under Google’s umbrella, and beyond that it hasn’t even been integrated into this new era, as it still doesn’t really work in the Google Home app, but there’s finally some progress.

Nest Protect first launched a decade ago this month, way back in September 2014. The smart smoke alarm is able to detect smoke and CO2 and offers a handful of smart features such as offering a verbal warning before the full siren goes off and telling you where in the home smoke is detected along with being able to dismiss the alarm from your phone. The second-generation version of the product, launched in 2015, is still sold in the Google Store for $149 all these years later.

But one thing Nest Protect has been lacking is support for the Google Home app.

Google promised back in 2020, not long after it started migrating Nest accounts to Google accounts, that Nest Protect would “eventually” be fully migrated to the Home app, just as legacy Nest Cam models have. But, five years later, that promise remains unfulfilled.

Suddenly, though, there is some sign of Nest Protect in the Google Home app. Two Nest Protect owners on Reddit noticed integration with Nest Protect in Google Home routines, being able to use the device as a trigger. The trigger actions don’t actually make any sense as of now, with options including when the device “starts or stops charging” or when it is “plugged in or unplugged.” None of those options are relevant to a smoke detector, but one of the users says the Google Home routine editor on the web can properly use the motion sensor in Nest Protect and use sensor states for the detection of smoke.

This doesn’t appear to be brand new, as one user says it showed up a while ago, but it’s still progress we hadn’t seen until recently. Back in 2020, Nest Protect was briefly spotted in the Home app for some users, but it was later removed.

Google hasn’t announced plans to migrate Nest Protect to the new app beyond what was said back in 2020 and later reiterated in 2023. But this integration, even if minimal, is certainly a glimmer of hope.

However, the clock is ticking. The CO detector in Nest Protect expires after 10 years, meaning that some of the original buyers of this product are set to need a replacement pretty soon.