Here’s how Nest Doorbell notifications work on Google TV [Video]

Ben Schoon | Sep 25 2024 - 6:25 am PT

One of the long-awaited features debuting with the Google TV Streamer is the ability to get Nest Doorbell notifications up on the big screen. Here’s how that works.

While you can view a live feed from Nest cameras through Google TV and have been able to for some time, you don’t get alerts. For video doorbells, that’s functionality that Google’s competitors have supported for a while, such as Fire TV with Ring, and even Roku offering the functionality with its rebranded Wyze hardware.

Google TV’s new “Home Panel” makes your TV a new hub for the home, though, including support for seeing doorbell notifications. And, thankfully, it works very simply.

When someone rings your Nest Doorbell you’ll get a notification on devices such as the new Google TV Streamer which shows a preview of who’s at the door and lets you quickly jump over to view the live feed.

This notification appears in the top-right corner of the screen for a few seconds – arguably going away a little too quickly – before going away. It doesn’t interrupt content unless you interact with it.

This simple but overdue functionality has been in the works for years, first appearing in a leak of promotional materials ahead of the launch of Chromecast with Google TV in 2020.

The actual implementation of the feature is also well done from our perspective, not getting in the way, but delivering that useful information in a convenient way.

This functionality is available now on the Google TV Streamer, but should be available on all Google TV devices as Home Panel begins to roll out over the “coming weeks.”