Manually the switches work ok, connecting to the TV will only work some times. Chrome cast is a pain. I did a lot of work and is not paying off. I ask for a specific song and it only works on a single speaker, if I am using a group of speakers, google plays what ever it wants. I got three chrome cast and they were fine at first but after a few weeks voice commands to chrome cast stoped working on all three. Google says it doesn’t recognize that device, I reset to factory, start all over and nothing. I am getting board of this I am thinking of going back to apple TV. What a waste of money. I have 5 nest cams and they connect and disconnect constantly, that problem came after google took over. I am angry about that security problem. I tried everything to have the system recognize only my voice so people couldn’t open my garage or my front door, that does not work. I even had a google tech help me set that up, thats not safe, anyone who knows what I named the door can simply ask google loudly through my glass window or glass door and it opens anything. Google is not safe . I regret all the money spent on this worthless system.
Edited after a season's use. Just don't. An advance that is far worse, cumbersome and otherwise difficult to use. I would put the old t-stat back if I hadn't recycled it. Junk. Overall, feels a bit like an acquisition they now regret and will let die. Like others say, the app is cumbersome, slow, and awkward. Using this for an old-style Nest t-stat obtained from my electric utility. As an example of poorly thought-out operation (that is, privileging circuit design over utility) it took me longer to find out which device version it was than to put it on the wall. (A page of text would be much better than lots of fun bouncy graphics-we're installing things like thermostats, not playing). Yes the device is an improvement (and is the only reason this isn't a one-star review), but really, it's easier to set the thermostat manually if you are away than it is to do it here. Just more things to go wrong with no actual advance. PS I really, really dislike the lack of a sign out in this app. Update 3/23: Pleasantly surprised that it has operated more or less faultlessly since setup, so will add one star (now 3) as I add another device to a different furnace. Just my opinion, but the secret seems to be to keep it local only (don't attempt anything other than in home & on same network) and use a simple routine-the rest is just a problem in search of something to do aka unnecessary.
Excellent picture in day and night. Think the price is fair but if they could get the price down to $100 I’m not sure they’d be able to keep them in stock. The 2 way speaker works great I can hear people clearly even when they’re whispering about us having a doorbell camera. Lol. The camera runs off of the Google home app and install of camera and setup of app is very simple. Set up everyone in the home to work the app from their phone. Also has facial recognition in a sense. You can type the names of people that are viewed by camera and once you do and select that you know them the next time they’re seen on camera you get a smiley avatar along with there name. Camera isn’t backed up off sight but you can store All footage on your phone from the time it’s activated and go through it anytime you want or might need to if there’s a reason for the police to see the footage. Only thing I would improve is that I received the notifications when they were 10 to 15 yards from camera as opposed to 5 feet from camera.. If I lived in a bigger city I would have bought one that is monitored but I live in a very small town with a very low crime rate. Hope this helps anyone looking to purchase a doorbell camera
ALSO (see previous review) … where are you (Google Home/ the App Store) getting the 4.5 star rating from ???? From the hundreds of reviews I’ve read through, they’re certainly not 5’s and most people are experiencing the same or similar issues that I have been.
Is Google actually looking at these reviews? Are they reaching out to get input from the users on the app, especially the updated version? Am I missing something???
And reaching out to support is a waste. You don’t speak with an expert on the Google Home app, you speak to someone in India reading from a script!! So frustrating!!!
Google is a multi billion dollar business and I understand that have and offer TONS of different services but as we move into a more automated, voice activated world, than I would think that figuring out from the people using the services what works and what doesn’t (not just, I don’t like the platform kind of complaints but actual technical issues with the connection between app/device/user) seems really important to having and improving those services, no?
Just the thoughts of a consumer that’s really curious and frustrated and would love to continue to use the service but also feel like I shouldn’t be in a position to spend more time writing a review than enjoying the service.
I’ve had nest cameras for over 7 years and they’ve been great along with the nest app. 2 of my cameras are the original dropcam brands and google said they would replace those two cameras for free since they were phasing them out. Ok so I got the replacements and I installed one only to find out that I can’t use it through the nest app I have to use google home. Not a huge deal until I find out that I can see the live feed of all my cameras on the google home app but only the new replacement camera has the option to view the history of that camera. I can’t view the other cameras history unless I open the nest app. Also the new camera doesn’t show up in the nest app. I’m paying an annual subscription to be able to view the history of my cameras but for some idiotic reason I have to use two apps now? If you’re going to eventually phase out the nest app at least make the google home app compatible with all the cameras. Two of my outdoor cameras were bought within the last two years. I would hope that they aren’t trying to make me buy brand new cameras once this crossover takes place because I can tell you now it’s not going to happen. I’ll find another brand. Fix this app so all camera history can be viewed on one app.
i so in love the camera catch what i want and need with this system i should got a long time ago it secures of all i need and want and helps my depression and anxiety because i lives in a unsafe environment i have ring doorbell as well for outside protection someone tried to break into my home while my little girl was home i feel safe and secure and catch A individual boyfriend who live in my house was talking behind my back to family members that caused he’s evictions as well from my home which my daughter informed me because she was feeling very uncomfortable what he was doing behind our backs this been a while ago what he was doing in my house was inappropriate and disrespectful talking behind our back and deseeding me and others and The maintenance was entering in my home without my permission and no notice i overwhelmingly satisfied thank you google home you all so appreciate yeah I deserve an award and 10 plus stars god blessings y’all and staffing keep up the awesome work of keeping your commuters in community safe
I was just strongly encouraged to migrate from the Nest app to Google Home and while everything appears to work, the experience is a huge downgrade. The Nest app had a flow of devices with relevant content. For each thermostat, it showed the settings and current temp. I only had to click through to the device of I wanted to make changes. In Google, I have to select the category thermostats and then an individual device before I see any information. That's two additional clicks pet device instead of just being able to see it all at once. In Nest, I could invite anyone to join the home by entering their email address. It would send them an email invite with a link that would walk them through setting up their account. In Google, it simple tells me I can only add people with a Google account. I have to tell them to go setup an account on their own and then add them later. That is not a friendly experience. I can only see one camera at a time. In Nest, I could see them on a single page and then choose one to get a full page view. And finally, the color scheme is much more stark and less pleasing. This app is in every way worse than what I had with Nest. It works. But from a user experience standpoint, it is a huge disappointment.
I am just disappointed at this point Google is a multi million company but yet they managed to make me hate a service and product like never before. Where should I start the app that hasn’t changed for years with many bugs or the product that also hasn’t changed with many bugs. The app is a horible experience it’s like I bought a cheap smart home device and only one person designed the app. I have a google nest thermostat now tell me why I have to open the app click on thermostat for it only to go into a loading loop click out of it go back to it and change the temperature JUST for it to change it back to its original state and then i have to keep fidiling with it until it decides to stay on the desire temputure next I have a google home mini 2 of them and a smrart display why when I speak to my smart display it answers from across the halway even tough i changed the sensetivity settings why does it have to think for 3 minutes straight when i say turn the __ lights off why does it do what it sposed to do after 3 minutes of thinking and then couple minutes after just screams something went wring try again later now i could keep going but i dont have the time just like i dont have to time to deal with a broken products that I spent my money on.
Google youre a disgrace
the app is NOT user friendly. the help center is a joke. the talk help is an even bigger joke. if you click on some of the default question you “could” ask, some answer will be “i don’t understand”. how don’t you understand your own question. link devices is impossible to figure out. the help center just says to open setting. that’s all it ever says “open google home app and go to setting”. when setting doesn’t even let you do anything. the instructions for next step are super unclear. my google home wasn’t connected to wifi. google said to change it on the app. the app said to make sure in i’m on the same wifi. how can i be on the same wifi as my google home, if my google home isn’t connecting to wifi. then come to find out they meant go to the seething on your phone and change the wifi. so i did. change to wifi to my google home wifi (which isn’t really a wifi but i guess that’s how to access things??? idk). when i switches over now the app doesn’t work because it isn’t a real wifi connection. so i’m conclusion: i have a google speaker that can’t access wifi. a google home app that can’t access the speaker to change the wifi because it can’t connect to wifi. and when i try to “connect to the same wifi as the speaker” i can’t access the app. help center is a joke. the app is unintuitive. wouldn’t buy it for my enemy.
The overall app is solid, functions as it should. However, I am having great difficulty and frustration when it comes to the routines. There is only one routine option that allows for “non-voice starters” (aka times you choose to have something done like turning on a thermostat), which is the workday routine. I find it quite silly that even a custom routine category I created still cannot have more than one time slot (starter) where I don’t have to tell google to do it, but instead have it automatically done in the background. To add to my frustration, the one routine (workday) that does allow more than one time slot bugs out every time I try to add a time now. It will let me proceed to pick the time & action, but when it goes to save it cuts for a second and takes me back to the start of the routine—time and action unsaved. It sometimes allows me to do one or two after I’ve hard restarted my phone, but I’m unwilling to do that for every time slot I want to create. The app does work well otherwise, but I find that to be quite a silly feature. The entire point of having “starters” and automatic actions is so that I don’t have to tell google to tell my devices when to do.
The app has always been slow, but in the last few months, the notifications don’t work. They sometimes pop up, but then immediately disappear from the Lock Screen. If unlocked, the banner notification will pop up and stay indefinitely until it is manually dismissed, even though settings are set for the banner to dismiss itself. There are no longer previews in the notifications for cameras (note: the old Nest app still has camera image previews in notifications and works as designed. It’s also much better for reviewing 24/7 footage, and has always moved quickly as compared to Google Home).
Another issue I have is the Smoke/Carbon Dioxide detector support. I purchased these pre-Google Home, and there is still no way for me to add them to Google Home. I still have to use Nest to monitor smoke/carbon alarms. Annoying and interesting since Google has owned Nest for a while now.
There are blogs full of posts from people with the notification issues, and all say they have had a lot of trouble getting this issue acknowledged by Google.
Fix these basic things, and this app is back to being slow and clunky, but would at least not make our monitoring products ineffective for timely monitoring.
Google home always shows Google mesh routers to be offline when they are not. I have tried getting help, but the response from support is that it is a bug in the google home software. There is no way to communicate with anyone at google home who can fix the problem. This appears to be poorly written and poorly supported software. If anyone in the Google Home team would like to respond, that would be great, but it’s unlikely. Stay away from this app if you can.
Update in response to developer’s comments:
Suggestion to turn off IPV6 is a red herring (I don’t use it). Restarting and reconfiguring from scratch also does not work to fix this problem. If you read the google home forum messages, you will find many people have the same problem and have tried the same useless suggestions. The problem is recognized by support as a google home software issue, but I can not rule out google nest nest router firmware issues. After at least 4-5 months of complaints, nothing has been done to fix this. I would like to believe the suggestion that Google is “looking into it” but I a skeptical at this point. A number of Google forum members are starting to abandon google devices due to the poor response to this problem.
Oh my god in 40 years as a system programmer this is the worst crap I have ever seen.
I have 2 3 node google matrix router sets. One in my home one in my vacation house. Went to make a change in router setup but the old command to setup router now only provides info and I have to go to google home to make router changes. Ok I hit the migrate button and I get a list of devices that does not include any google matrix routers. Now I would think that since the command I was using knows what devices I own it would bring up the correct devices in google home. Or at the very least document what I would need to do to set up google home. I thought I bought a google product but this crap is as bad as a Microsoft solution. Now I have 500 dollars of routers that will need to be replaced.
This is a disgrace. And not the quality of a software solution I would expect for spending over 500 dollars for routers.
If you ever have the misfortune of purchasing a nest product and are now forced to use this app, I pity your soul. When nest was acquired by Google, the seemed to believe their app (non-functional) should replace the much more feature rich and totally functional app (nest app). We now get to enjoy staring at a camera loading screen for several seconds, way past when we got the notification, and by the time the person or vehicle is gone, we get about a flash of who or what was there before losing image again. Get ready to be plagued with “Live Video Unavailable. The camera may be unreachable or saving battery.” Because that will be what you’ll get 90% of the time. I haven’t been able to stream more than 20-30 seconds without it erroring out with that. And the cherry on top, not just the streams are messed up, but the history too! It is so frustrating trying to find a little video from days ago without just giving up from the absolute horrific lag and instability. At times it feels like they’re just taking 4 second captures at a time, transcoding that snippet in the cloud, streaming that to the app, then beginning to transfer the next 4 seconds after the video is fully received from the app. Insanity.
This is my last review. I have posted a few since the IOS 17 updates. Not satisfied with the response from Google regarding the quiet camera notifications. We’ve missed many important events since the update and since my original contact with Google. By events, I mean people coming to our house and packages being delivered etc. The camera sees the activity, it just doesn’t alert us with adequate sound. No solution has been given for the quiet notifications, no acknowledgment that it needs corrected. I haven’t even mentioned the bad night vision that occurred at 1:15 am several weeks ago, that has remained. Like other reviewers, I too, could enjoy full color video in low light at night, but not any more. In fact, I had to buy an illuminator to see clearly at night even with the camera in night vision mode. I was sent an invite to the public preview, but much to my amazement, I didn’t see anything that I hadn’t seen before. Wish you would just address the actual complaint: camera alerts that can’t be customized and nighttime video degradation. Although, the alert issue is critical. The illuminator helped the camera see effectively at night.
I have Home Mini speakers in both of my young children’s rooms. I play calm, quiet sleep music all night for them. I specifically and deliberately set the volume to 40-50% depending on the playlist.
For months, more and more frequently I’ll notice in the middle of the night (around midnight, weirdly) the volume on both of their speakers will completely randomly shoot up to 100%. I have no idea why it’s happening, but it’s the most infuriating quirk about these speakers. I noticed my youngest tends to wake up every single night around midnight, and this has got to be why.
A while back I thought I fixed it setting Night Mode from 7p-7a supposedly limiting volume to 40%, yet just 15 min ago my child woke up so I went in and the speaker was ABSOLUTELY BLARING. My child is crying awake and now scared. I am so mad at this product. What kind of a weird glitch could this be? Almost seems intentional how routinely this happens. If it weren’t for my children’s sake I wouldn’t be so upset about it, but it’s like someone is intentionally making these speakers blare in the dead middle of the night. Unbelievable. Please make a setting that ACTUALLY prevents speakers from changing volume at night. PLEASE FIX THIS!
This app is terrible. I have been a Nest customer for years. Forcing migration to this app is fine but the layout is absolutely awful. Forcing customers with older products into new products because of the lack in features from the old app to this one is seriously enough to make me want to invest in something else! I own a oldschool dropcam, a new battery cam, doorbell, thermostat, and thermostat sensor. I also subscribe to membership monthly for video history. I’m telling you I’m really disappointed in this app. You can’t view all cameras in one feed (have to click on one by one individually), you can’t access settings for doorbell (ie. bandwidth preference, alerts, etc), no ability to customize thermostat schedule, and on the old app once you click on the camera from the live feed (OF ALL CAMERAS AT ONCE), it displays screenshots of every motion/sound alert so you can easily scroll through the “events” for the day. If you have an old camera, you won’t be able to see history without clicking on a ton of buttons. Yet, I purchase the new battery cam and I CAN view history easily with a timeline feed?? I could go on about my disappointment in Google for the lack of care in this app compared to the old.
Google Home is the best home-management ecosystem I’ve used (and I’ve used others). It makes integration with other systems generally very easy and useful. Today, in fact, I had some motorized screens installed and was able to easily integrate the screen system with Google Home and now all of my routines are richer b/c they involve the screens now too (in addition to the lights, music settings, thermostat I already had set up). I’m particularly a fan of the ability to include the google home speakers into multiple groups - allows so much more flexibility that other home systems which operate only on a one-to-one basis for speaker/group. I’m a total fan and will keep enriching my home ecosystem as we make improvements.
One thing I’d like to see them improve is to “see” the state of the system more robustly. If someone else starts music on our home system and I later look at my already-opened Home app it doesn’t show music playing - I have to fully close the app and re-open, at which point it recognizes that music is playing.
After couple of years of using Googles Home gadgets I still trying to understand the way they work. Speakers - your Mac literally wouldn’t see them in Bluetooth list. And, you can buy as many as you can speakers from Google, link them on one sound system, but remember, you won’t be able to play the music from your iPhone/iPad/Mac on all of this speakers, but just only on one of them, which is stupid. Google Nest Hub - extremely slow “tablet”, after iPad you will feel seek of how slow this screen works. Don’t understand how it’s even possible to make such primitive tablets this time. Music in general - even after linking your Apple Music account you won’t be able to see the app on your Google Nest Hub, only the way you can play your music from Apple Music it’s just ask Hey Google… but no way to choose the album, playlist etc from your Apple Music using screen. So, typical Google - stupid, slow-working gadgets which are working in absolutely non-logical and not user-friendly way. Al I want to do - just grab all this Google Home gadgets scrap and bring it to the Googles front door.
Just commit suicide from this sphere, and stop torturing people with your dumb illogical service and extremely glitching gadgets.
In a nutshell, not good, but then again it was released just yesterday. Most of the negative is with the video history and the lack of options to delete. If you look at something that was detected, there’s no way to delete that particular video from the screen where you watch it. The ONLY way to delete videos at this time is to delete all of them at one time, you cannot delete single videos. With Ring, and I have an app version that’s working fairly well and you can at least select which ones to delete. Also with Ring you could get a preview upon opening the app. With the new Nest doorbell, it just says the camera is “Idle” and you have to go to live view to see what is currently happening. So, Nest doorbell developers, this system needs some work. Also, the doorbell has a built in battery, so what happens in about 2-3 years when the battery gives out, can the battery be replaced or would I need to buy a new $180 doorbell ???
UPDATE 9/2/21: Returning the Nest doorbell battery. Tech support is worthless, the interaction with Google Home is terrible. and the lack of a replaceable battery just caps it off. Too bad, I expected better.
Just okay.. There is a lot of room for improvement.
TLDR[[ things that could be improved (simplier/intuitive menu, reorder/hide roommates devices that i don't want/need to see, so the ones i actually use aren't at the bottom) ]]
this review started because i'm having to keep factory resetting my smart speaker so it shows up in my new office and not my bedroom at my old house)
i've used this app with google products (speakers, mesh networks, chromecast, etc) for over a year now. I spend more time googling how to move devices/troubleshoot connection problems, etc than i would like. this is especially true since i moved into a new home with other users who have their own devices. i'm constantly paranoid about turning on my roommates lights off or on when they're sleeping because i can't hide their devices or even reorder them so they're bot at the top. the menu options are spread too thin, across too much menu. it's hard to find the function that i want, but you cam only do one or two things for a device in a certain menu. just put it all in one with a '...' for the less commonly needed functions. 😒😤
Google acquired Nest a couple of years back. If you log into the Nest website or use the original Nest app it accomplishes to do what the current Google Home app doesn’t: deliver a quick and snappy interface with 99% of the functionality that any user would want. You want to save a clip? Easy; slide the section of timeline and save it, upload it to social media, or even download it to your device. The sliding timeline interface is amazingly quick and snappy. Great app!
This app leaves a lot to be desired. If you want to save a clip you’re forced to do either of two things: hope the AI is able to tag the event properly and at the perfect time OR fork over the 15+ bucks a month for the 24/7 recording and Screen Record the video off a device. The old functionality from Nest is nonexistent. I’m writing this review because someone suspicious drove into my property and the AI failed to tag it correctly. I suspected this was gonna happen so thankfully I had already paid for the 24/7 recording and screen recorded off my iPad.
For a multinational corporation to buy a company/product, revamp the product line, and then not do a 1:1 product feature release is bonkers in this day and age.
As with just about all of my nest products I’m mortified at how horrible this app performs. I’m so invested with nest at this point I feel stuck after buying a massive bundle package a year or so ago. They’re app crashes constantly and takes forever to load anything. They’re notifications would rather focus on shadows and bugs then the mail man or cars in my driveway. Their previews never load and instead I get a blank screen. While using the app or in between opening the app I am constantly logged out as is my wife on her phone. The quality of my WiFi doesn’t seem to matter but cameras are co stay my offline. The smoke detectors are constantly giving false smoke detections giving me a heart attack. They’re support is horrible and says use the google home app. Well that apps worse as you can’t open the app and see your cameras. You have to click on every camera to see it and it loads just as slowly and horribly as the nest app. I’m about to just throw it all in the trash and drop a bunch of money on a better product. You’d think a massive company like google would be on top of their tech and have something as sought after as this preforming like the public would expect it to do. So yourself a favor and look into other security options.
Home mostly works but it still has lots of bugs. It stops playing streams at least once or twice a day. It looses connection to the internet. When I place a phone call, it thinks it is the first time I have used it, and reads me a boring script. It is difficult to manage notifications. A Reminder is easy to miss because it does not include an alarm sound. Although Google has access to my every word, they never seem to push software updates. It drives me crazy that it is not user configurable. If you speak to it it sometimes doesn’t respond, if you yell at it, two speakers respond. If you start a stream on one speaker, there is no way to add a new speaker when you move to a new room. There is no way to group lights and or speaker into a scene, So you have to turn them on one at a time or turn on all lights in a room. There are still limits to wireless switch and bulb configurations on the market. This is not Google’s fault but some smart rocker switches are incompatible with standard cover plates. There is no two gang switch yet. All wireless outlet units stick out of the wall and make the plug hit furniture, etc.
The apps is on to something good but still has major connection and WiFi problems. I have kids and have them on a usage schedule through the Google Home app. I’m also using the google WiFi router as well. I constantly have issues where the WiFi will stop working for one of the computers or other device. The “pause” or “not pause” option (which is confusing anyways) always gets stuck or shows “paused” when it’s not or vice versa. This wouldn’t be a big deal if Covid didn’t have my kids schooling from home. I’ve stayed on top of updating the app but I still have problems. Another issue I have is connecting to 3rd party smart media. The interface is always confusing with too many options and flowcharts. Make it simple guys. I went to school for computer information systems and I get stuck sometimes, think about all those elderly folks, they probably have to hire someone to set up google products. Google has never been like Apple where it’s user interface is super easy to adapt to. The programmers need a separate user interface team for just about all of their software. You guys are good but you need some big changes.
I originally picked nest because I was avoiding ADT and any other huge companies for over charging us a service! I love that I open the Nest app and i can see everything from nest smartdoor, all cameras, thermostats and sensors. I was so happy with it for 5 years, but when google bought it, everything is changing. The Nest app is slower and now its saying there will be no future updates after April 8 of this year and also whenever I buy new cameras, it doesn’t show on Nest app anymore, only on google home app. Even the yearly price with Nest aware went up, this is so sad! Everything i used to love with Nest is all going away because of google. The sensors for the door and windows is now going to be non functional because google wants to sell us ADT service. We had it good and now it’s being ruined by google. I love the new camera google is adding, but that would have been great if that shows up on Nest App as well, we can continue using the nest app because most customers love the look and how easy it is to navigate, and pls dont remove our home sensors!!!!! We dont want ADT, if this all continues, im leaving Nest and switching to other companies similar to Nest.
Smartest computer company in the world with the dumbest app I’ve ever seen
Hey, I’ve got an idea let’s make an app to monitor home cameras, but anyone who has access to these cameras can change ownership of the cameras, and lock others out, no matter what there role in the household is. Seriously if you want anyone in your house to watch these cameras, or have access to them, they have admin level access, there is no other option. They are then able to delete everyone else’s access. It is beyond stupid and shortsighted. What are you guys thinking at google ?!?
Hey, guess what if you want to change the password on your Wi-Fi net work you are now required to reprogram every single one of your cameras individually by powering it off at the actual camera and resetting it, which I still have yet to figure out how to do. I’m a novice with electronics, but this is the dumbest system I’ve ever seen that is two major stripes on the Google Home like I can’t imagine this thing being any worse than it is. Who the heck is running this app?
It’s a good thing they bought 30% of AT&T because now the same security system I’ve always had is technologically being run into the ground by foolishness.
Cumbersome; limited controls. I expect more from Google
I have a Google Chromecast and Google Nest Mini, latest generation. Even though my Apple devices can readily find and pair with this hardware via BT and WiFi, the Google Home App consistently has trouble finding and pairing. There is no useful error message; Google Home simply displays an irritating graphic of falling shapes and suggests to “try resetting”. Useless!
Further, Google Home has very limited controls. I can select devices and turn them on and off. That’s it. To cast, I must do this from individual apps. There is no reasonable way to use Google Home to adjust settings on the devices or help them to work together. Yes, I created “Rooms” and “Groups”, but these structures do not enable the most basic of features such as syncing audio/video from Google Chromecast across multiple devices (TVs, Speakers). And heaven forbid I want to Cast something from Chromecast directly to the Nest speaker while doing something independently with my phone: the Google Home app prevents this from happening by stopping the active cast from the Chrome device. Why the heck would you have this? At least add a toggle switch to selectively enable this feature.
Since the recent updates I have experienced nothing but issues with the Google Home app. Many of my devices say “not connected” when I try to use features through the app…even though they indeed are connected. Cameras have shown offline, devices such as my Roomba unable to operate (through the Home app - work just fine if I give an audible command to a speaker). I’ll have music streaming through a speaker, go to adjust the volume through the app instead of barking a command in to the air only for the app to tell me the device is not connected even though music is playing through it. At first, I went through the steps of disconnecting/ forgetting the device and adding it again (troubleshooting tip offered by Google). It didn’t solve the problem. I have speakers, hubs, cameras and a security system set up to operate through the app. All Google brands. I am familiar with how to use them and hardly a layman when it comes to set up, use, troubleshooting etc. Prior to the redesign/ update, I did not have complaints with the G Home app. I am hoping the issues are fixed quickly. Seriously disappointed at the moment.
There’s a lot wrong with this app, but what really infuriates me is how poorly the cameras work. For example zones. I have 2 zones on one my my cameras. Basically one is for the driveway close to my house and one zone is for street/sidewalk. I have different notification settings for each zone. For example I want to be notified if someone is in my driveway but if a car passes by on in the street zone it should record but not notify. There’s a giant area separating these zones. It defies logic then why no matter what the camera sees, it places it in the Driveway zone when it clearly has no motion in that area. I’m just dumbfounded. It’s like they added features but never really checked to see if they actually work correctly. Also the face recognition rarely works. It has not saved a face in weeks. Support said to reboot the camera, guess what you can’t from the app (WTH!) so up the ladder I go because you can’t just cut power because of the internal battery. Guess what, no change! I work in IT and site security so I’m well versed in this stuff. Don’t expect a real security solution when you purchase a nest camera from Google.
Severely lacking, poor integration with Nest products
I like the idea of having all my google products in one app but the execution is poor. I have a few Nest products since we loved them at our last house and decided to get newer ones when we moved into our new place. However, the Nest Protects are in their own separate app for some reason and in the Google Home app they’re labeled as inactive when they are indeed active and working fine. Despite excellent wifi (Fios, using Google Wifi, 3 points of mesh network in a 2300 sq ft house) the app lags a LOT. For example I’ll get notifications there’s someone at my house so I go to check the app and… it just spins and spins and spins. I did not have this problem with cameras and doorbells not loading when they were on the Nest app. When we had the Nest app for all our products I could even look them up on the desktop which was helpful since I have an iPhone mini, without that desktop feature I can’t even check the videos on there if the app decides it’s going to have a 30-60+ sec lag if it ever does decide to load at all.
I just replaced my old drop cam with the new model provided free by google. To install the new camera I had to migrate to the new google home app. I uninstalled and threw away the old drop cam that was still working flawlessly after ten years on the nest app due to its upcoming end of support. The new camera and app are a big step backwards, most particularly the live streaming. The new system will only provide a live stream for about 6 seconds before it spools and them blacks out and says camera unavailable. The new camera is installed in the exact same location as the old camera that would live stream indefinitely. I have high speed commercial comcast internet and strong router. There is plenty of bandwidth as demonstrated by the previous drop cam working flawlessly for ten years. Don’t try to tell me the problem is my wifi signal or band width. Also, I migrated the paid up camera subscription. Without a live feed for more than 6 seconds at a time the new app and camera are useless to me. It seems a number of new camera users are experiencing the same problem with no acknowledgement, solution, or fix provided.
First, let me say my experience on the phone with customer service (Michael) was outstanding. He helped me fix the original issue. I had every item in our home set up, but I was unable to set up the Living Room. After hours of failed attempts, I got in contact with support. Michael walked me through a few different troubleshooting ideas to no avail. When he realized I was using the iPhone XR, he told me that was the issue. I had to get my son’s iPhone 6 to complete the set up. Great. Problem solved. An hour and a half later, all of the items in our household crashed. I attempted to walk through the steps Michael had provided. It all seemed fine, until it came to the last step (connecting to Wi-Fi), at which point, the TV showed my the screen with the 4 digit code...again. I went in circles for 2 more hours. I requested replacement Chromecast devices and Michael said he would definitely pass the word up. For everything in our house to crash and not reboot, I am guessing it has something to do with the update. After all, the last question it asked before I had to start over was, “Set up some smart lights”, which is actually more of a command than a question.
This app does not play nice with the older nest cameras… Not only can you not use certain cameras on the Nest app itself“nest camera with spotlight“ you can only use them on this Google home app, but when you try to view the older nest cameras on this app, 80% of the time the app either freezes up and shuts down or you have to delete the app and then reinstall it just the view all the other cameras, except for the ones that are specifically designed for this app, it is completely useless If you have any of the older cameras “1st GEN“ of nest… Google had claimed over a year ago that they would do the integration of the newer style cameras with the nest app and vice versa, so far “as usual” that has not happened, and because of this, they will be losing almost $1000 sale from me…. You can’t even view “full” history, meaning if the camera is continuously recording you can only view that clip, so if something happened before or after the actual clip you cannot view it, but if the camera is on the Nest app you can view before and after that clip, so once again, they are very “restricted” on this app
I feel like you lose privacy but google nest mini is awesome to have as an assistant. I just purchased my boss the google hub max with zoom video and google duo. Otherwise the device is great. Google should really send confirmation that your data is purged after time with proof and certification. Just meet a middle ground with privacy and we will have the new standard top AI interface. Most people get upset with google home / past nest and device compatibility issues but things got a lot better in this year with less hardware to home and nest issues. Google communicates better as 3rd party is now open to interface to google home with their software. You have to be tech savvy to run any complicated networks. I have google controlling thermostats, security cams, lights, air conditioning smart tv and blue tooth speakers. If you aren’t a general expert in networking you will struggle. You need professional IT because all my stuff works great.
The app has some major advantages over its competitors which is nice to see a change of pace but it’s not without its shortcomings, this app allows for a wide variety of products to use and sync with virtually no cost other then an assistant and the product itself but that’s to say how other more costly products are not so useable with this interface and the app is very restrictive when it comes to customization. I’ve written reviews for a few smart home interfaces and just would wish to see more connectivity among my products and services instead of having to result to expensive complex hubs and servers and huge data work which if your not a computer programmer is almost impossible to get into I wish the rivalry between companies would end and focus on bettering their own systems instead of blocking each other out I wish it was up to the consumer to be able to choose and build their ecosystem how they choose and not what the customer can afford and knowledge capacity allows for.
I’ve had Dropcam, turned Nest, cameras for over ten years using the Nest app and Nest website to view the footage. I recently bought a few more cameras and learned that I had to view all of my new cameras through the Google Home app. No problem. It seemed kind of cool to have all of my smart plugs, cameras, etc in one app. Then, I started using it regularly to view the cameras and holy cow is this interface terrible. Let me freely scroll, without buffering, through my videos. Please. I do this regularly on my Nest app for my old cameras. Also, I can’t believe I’m even having to say this but let me view my cameras on a desktop. I was blown away when I went to view my cameras on a desktop (because the scrolling feature on my phone is such garbage on Google Home) only to discover that there’s no way to review my footage on a desktop. Google, you were given a perfect app when you acquired Nest. How did you mess it up so badly? Please, please play around on the Nest app and match your Google Home app exactly. They did the hard work for you. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Nest app is far superior to Google Home.
Why do we still have to use the Nest app to set scheduling for thermostats and configure features on security cameras? We have been forced to use this Google home app, because newer nest products will only work with it. This app crashes daily, and has missing features. With the resources, Google has at its disposal, I am shocked and disappointed. This is such a poorly executed transition from nest to Google for app support. A while back, this app had a pop up, encouraging sending a report when it is opened up after a previous crash. Now that option has disappeared so either the app is automatically reporting in the background or Google has given up on taking feedback because there’s too much of it. It is frustrating at best especially when you’ve made a significant investment in these products. In my case, three thermostats and 11 cameras. This isn’t cheap and it needs to work properly.
Compared to Alexa:
(1) home hub doesn’t show the time at night (the “ambient light sensor” turns the screen 100% black) (2) can’t call a specific room (3) can’t play a song without blabbering for a minute about every artist and service involved (4) can’t set family reminders that go off for everyone (5) the hub devices can’t hear anyone speak well (6) google can’t play popular songs like the Lion King (featured in their own commercials) without manual intervention otherwise they play knockoffs (7) will only play white noise for an hour unless specified (8) don’t have a quiet mode so if you ask something at night have to listen to it scream across your house nonsense like “this is what white noise sounds like” (9) assistant only sometimes connects to the devices and when it does it can’t even perform the same tasks (eg play white noise) (10) Hub doesn’t display the time if the hub is doing anything besides nothing which makes it a terrible bedside device -even white noise turns off the clock which is stupid by every measure
I bought the Google Home for a convenient and fun way to stay connected and try something new. Only after using it for two days did it dawn on me that everything my 5 year old was saying to it was being recorded and stored on Google servers. He loved it. “Hi Google” could have gone on for hours if I let it. I work in software development and decided to look further into where things stand with smart speakers and Child Online Privacy and Protection - COPPA (including the collection of children’s personal information, audio, video and images). Bottom line - I couldn’t find anything addressing it. Some concerns have been raised that might lead to legal action at some point, I also saw articles alluding to future patents that could make the listening tech even more invasive. Imagine ads targeting your kids based on conversations you’ve had with them at dinner. These have somehow been sold into millions of homes with a loophole. For now I decided retire the Google Home. I deleted the multiple voice recordings of my son that had been stored via the Google Home app and can only hope that they are permanently gone from Google servers too.
Nowhere as useful as the Alexa app! So frustrating.
No ability to use the app the see what’s been playing on speakers lately. No ability to play music or a station from the app to a speaker or speaker group. Setting up speaker groups is easy enough but getting the ai to actually play to a specific group is frustratingly hard / impossible some days. With Alexa I can go into the app and teach the ai what was incorrect when translating voice commands - no such capability here. Renaming speaker groups is hit and miss. Changing the internet password requires all speakers to be re-programmed instead of simply entering the new password into the app. And re-programming isn’t simply changing the password, each speaker needs to go through a lengthy setup requiring ten minutes each. So for five speakers it’s an hour by the time your done, just to change a password or network. I’ve been using the Google ai with this app for three weeks now and if I could swap for Alexa, I’d do it in a heartbeat but unfortunately, the rooms have google mini speakers built into the ceilings.
I don’t know what it is anymore and i’m going crazy literally crazy trouble shooting for hours a day just so i can watch tv. My chrome cast has never really had issues over the years but Then 2023 happened. My chrome cast disconnects from my wifi constantly and i’m talking 5-10 times a day it’s actually ridiculous. So i try all the typical restarting my router, my modem, factory reset the chrome cast. I contacted my internet company to see what was wrong with my wifi they said nothing but i didn’t believe them so i got a new router and modem and we were working again!! for about a day…. then the cycle started again. I have even tried to creating its own personal ip address because i thought my routers ip may have blocked the chrome cast due to unstable network and not even that worked and that always works. So today i have come to the conclusion that the chrome cast was and is a waste of money do not do it to yourself your sanity is more important. if i could post this review with zero stars i would but i can’t so at least they get a star for existing. Going to get my new roku today!!
This product was obviously rushed and is a total mess. It kind of works. But there are so many problems with it. First of all, routines are totally broken. Not all of my cameras show up in the list. If you want to automate your nest thermostat, you need to do that in another app. it takes a really long time to connect to my cameras to the point where it’s not useful in a intruder situation. Honestly this is just embarrassing for google and the only reason this has 4.5 stars is probably because they have tens of thousands of employees giving it a 5.
Edit: I just updated this from 2 to 1 star. Someone rang my doorbell and I tried to connect. it took about 30 seconds, completely defeating the purpose of the device. the google home ecosystem is a buggy broken mess, and I wasted hundreds of dollars.
At first Google home was amazing. It was reliable and my music subscription would always work.
However, a few months ago something happened. I’m not sure if it was a new update or the introduction of an additional google home, but everything started failing.
At first it started with my music subscription. On occasion it would disconnect and I would either get a notification that too many people are in the account or the music would just stop without explanation.
The issues progressed to connectivity. Now my app was not able to discover one of my two google homes. The device was constantly “out of range” or “not on the same network” but in reality it was just the apps inability to establish connection.
I went through the motions of resetting my network, resetting my devices and even starting fresh and deleting my google home and recreating it. Nothing worked.
Creating a new home in the app made thins particularly bad because now the app doesn’t discover any of my google home devices and my music accounts will no longer sync.
The device have turned into nothing more than glorified Bluetooth speakers and that only when the Bluetooth function decides to work.
All in all this started off great and I was super excited about being able to create a mesh network of speakers in my home. However once I started experiencing issues there had not been a solution and the troubleshooting attempted have all been extremely time consuming.
Google home app worked ok for 8 months. It is somewhat clunky, like a prototype design. Starting in Sept of 2023, when reviewing prior video the app frequently and randomly crashes. This happens when using either my iPhone or iPad. I have not been able to use the app one day for more than 2 minutes before it crashes.
Tech support is not helpful. Each time they ask me to do the same steps. It is now November and I get an email asking me for proof of my iPad and iPhone SW version and asking me to upload the latest GOOGLE HOME APP sw version. I can’t tell you how many times I have deleted the app and installed whatever is the latest available.
Unfortunately I can “google” search and find way too many people having similar app crash issues. I suggested to their support to google search all the problems. I also have offer to have engineering contact me directly to help troubleshoot. What do i get, but another email asking me to ensure my software is the latest and to raise yet another feedback and include photos of the sw version. ARGH !
The Google home App worked fine until I had a Feit smart plug go bad. The only way I could remove it was to unlink Feit which would delete every Feit device connected to Google home. I had multiple devices installed and would have to reinstall all of them. I search the internet in vain trying to find out how to delete a single device. In the help I just says to select the device and the select settings and then remove device, but there is no option in settings to remove a device. I removed the device from the Feit App, but it still showed up in Google home. I finally created a new home transferred the Feit plug and and deleted the new home. Now I have duplicates of all my rooms and devices in my original home. What a mess no smart home App should be deployed without a method to remove a device that is no longer needed or no longer working. I am seriously thinking of moving Amazon’s or some other smart home App. What a total waste of money!!!!!
Change of UI in may 2023 worse than older 2022 UI no option to change back worse than iOS
november 2023; now the google home crashes on iOS and makes the apple device go back to lock screen and fails to load or playback👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻
Change of UI in may 2023 worse than older UI no option to change back worse than iOS redesign from scratch by google home, no way to revert .. not a theme, not what we paid for in 2023. No one asked you to redesign your app on every device, harder to use, harder to navigate, harder to understand.. wrong notifications, wrong alerts, we never asked for it..this was created by google, poorer design aesthetics in 2023 :( hey even home devices are disconnecting, slower slower, if you are a real person difficult to use. stream issue , camera , issue. hub issue, some congestion, some disconnection. ok what is loading on your new UI? I cannot get enough quality and i paid you for the best service , highest quality, still need to find a way to restore the 2022 google home, this is rubbish in 2023, google undo your software bug update
Worst thing that ever happened to people who loved their Nest devices was Google buying Nest. I never had a problem with Nest devices before Google bought them. They try to make it look easy but everything is a pain in the a**. Nothing works like it should. When you look for help the customer service people have no idea about anything but what they read on their computer screen and you darn lucky to understand a word they say. A major problem is when you look for an online solution is what you see in the video is not what you see on your own app (and my apps ARE updated). Just trying to change your WiFi settings is a major hassle, you’d think it would be easy, just look in settings, and that’s what CS tells you but when you go to settings there is nothing about WiFi. It was there when I installed it, but no longer.
‘ BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH GOOGLE IS THAT NO ONE WHO WORKS THERE CARES IF THEY ACTUALLY HELP ANYONE, YOU’RE JUST A NUMBER, YOU’RE JUST AN EQUATION THAT THEIR BEAN COUNTERS FIGURED YOU IN, AND THAT HOW THEY TREAT YOU’.
Are used to use regular nest cameras and they were just fantastic I love them so much unfortunately I needed another 15 cameras to install in my work and they were no more nest camera now they are Google nest cameras
Man that thing don’t work the application is not working properly nothing compared like a nest app the cameras are not working not recording if you trying to look at the history it’s loading forever sometimes we do don’t play you have to download it to your device so you can see it I tired to call in google Nest customer service they telling me to restart cameras which been installed 10 feet from the ground I paid money to install them to have a problem every single day and every single time this is worst cameras you can get! I wish they had regular nest cam that they had before
So the integration with Nest is horrible. The feature to set up sound detection for Nest Aware worked ok, but now that option is missing under settings. I wasted 2.5 hours with chat support, passed between 6 people . They had me try all sorts of things that could not have anything to do with the app not having the option. I asked to be escalated to a supervisor and always got the run around that I just needed to try a few things more first. I asked for the case to be escalated at least 10 times. When “Wendy” asked me to go borrow a phone from someone and test on it, I lost it . When she asked me to send a screenshot of my account info, which has personal identifying information, I finally ended the chat. If you are not in the Google echo system and expect their Nest products to work with their Google Home products, run away quick. If you expect any sort of functional support for their products, run away quick. I would strongly suggest avoiding Google for your smart home solution. They are definitely a monopoly who could care less about their customers.
Create a more organized and personalized smart home with Google Home. Set up, manage, and control your Google Nest, Wifi, and Chromecast devices, plus thousands of compatible smart home products like lights, cameras, thermostats, and more – all from the Google Home app.
Personalize your home view.
Pin your most-used devices, automations, and actions to the Favorites tab for easy access right when you open the app. View your Nest cameras and doorbell live feeds, and easily scan through event history. Set up and manage Routines in the Automations tab. And quickly edit any permissions in the consolidated Settings tab.
Understand what’s going on at home with a glance.
The Google Home app is designed to show you the status of your home and keep you up to date with what you may have missed. Check in on your home anytime and see a recap of recent events.
Control your home from anywhere.
Turn on the lights, adjust the thermostat, or get an alert when there’s a person or package at your front door. With Google Home for Wear OS, you can control your home right from your compatible smartwatch.
A helpful home is a private home.
Protecting your privacy starts with one of the world’s most advanced security infrastructures, which we build directly into Google products so they’re secure by default. And Google uses your compatible devices and data to make your home helpful, but only in the ways you allow. Visit the Google Nest Safety Center at safety.google/nest to learn more about how we protect your information and respect your privacy.
* Some products and features may not be available in all regions. Compatible devices required.
