Nest

Review by eFreeware

The Nest app is the piece of software that ties a house full of Nest hardware together. One app handles the thermostat, the Secure alarm system, the Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm, the indoor and outdoor cameras, the Hello doorbell and the Yale lock. Rather than opening a different tool for each device, you check and adjust everything from the same place, with notifications arriving on your Android phone or tablet.

That single point of control is the whole idea, and it explains who the app is for. If your home already runs on Nest devices, this is the app that makes them useful when you are not standing in front of them. If you own none of that hardware, there is nothing here to manage, so the app is best understood as the companion for a specific set of products rather than a general smart-home hub.

It is free to download and carries no advertising and no in-app purchases. The app has been around a long time, with more than 10 million installs and a 3.8 average from over 447,000 ratings, and the most recent update is described simply as bug fixes and enhancements.

Climate control and energy, from wherever you are

The thermostat side is where most people will spend their time. You can change the temperature from your phone instead of walking to the wall unit, whether you are upstairs, out running errands or away for the weekend. The app also shows how much energy the home has used and why, which turns an abstract bill into something you can look at and reason about.

Schedules are viewable and editable in the app, so adjusting the weekly routine does not mean standing at the thermostat. The developer describes the thermostats as programming themselves to help save energy, and the app is where you see the result of that behavior and intervene when it gets something wrong.

There is also a safety net for cold weather. Extreme temperature alerts arrive before the house gets too cold, which matters most for a second home, a rental or anywhere you are not present every day to notice a problem. That kind of warning is the difference between a minor annoyance and a serious repair.

Security alerts that name the trigger

With Nest Secure, the app arms and disarms the system remotely, so forgetting to set it on the way out is no longer final. If you do leave without setting it, a Remind Me alert tells you, and you can fix the oversight from the phone rather than turning around.

When the alarm does go off, the notification explains what set it off. The app tells you whether a door or window opened or whether someone entered a room, which is far more useful than a generic siren notice and lets you judge whether the alert deserves a response.

Nest Protect covers smoke and carbon monoxide, and the app alerts your phone if either is detected. That alert depends on Wi-Fi and a working internet connection, so the phone notification is a supplement to the alarm itself rather than a replacement for it. You can also check the status of the alarm's batteries, sensors and Wi-Fi connection, and review Safety History to see when alerts happened and what caused them. Silencing an alarm from the phone through App Silence and running a Safety Checkup across all alarms are both limited to the second-generation Protect.

Cameras, the doorbell and the lock

The camera lineup, covering the IQ indoor and outdoor models, the standard indoor and outdoor cameras and Dropcam, streams to your phone so you can look in from elsewhere. Activity triggers an alert, and two-way audio lets you speak to whoever is there. Snapshots of the last three hours show what you missed, and crisp 1080p HD video is available on Nest Cam and Dropcam Pro. Person alerts, and familiar face alerts on the IQ camera, along with up to 30 days of video history, come with a Nest Aware subscription sold separately.

Nest Hello handles the front door. It streams around the clock, is built to show people head to toe and packages on the ground, and distinguishes a person from an object, so you are not alerted every time a branch moves. It notifies you about visitors even when they do not ring the bell, and HD Talk and Listen lets you hold a conversation with whoever is outside. Prerecorded audio replies can be sent when you are not able to reach the door.

The Nest x Yale lock removes some of the friction of keys. You assign passcodes to people you trust through the app instead of handing out copies, get an alert whenever the door is locked or unlocked, and Home/Away Assist with Auto-Lock can lock the door for you as you leave.

What you need before any of this works

The app itself installs in the ordinary way, but its usefulness depends on hardware you buy separately. Each device in the list above is a physical product, and the app is the remote for them. Going through the setup for a thermostat, a camera or a lock is the point at which the app starts doing anything at all.

Connectivity is the other requirement. The developer notes that some features need a working internet connection, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and the smoke and carbon monoxide alerts specifically require Wi-Fi and a working internet connection. That is worth weighing if the place you want to monitor has unreliable service.

One subscription sits alongside the free app. The app has no ads and no in-app purchases of its own, so the paid element here is a service tied to the cameras rather than something bought inside the app.

Automation that fills in the gaps

What separates this from a simple remote control is the automatic behavior. The developer says sensors, algorithms and your phone's location let the system act on its own, switching off the heat and turning on the camera as you leave.

The Remind Me alerts fit the same pattern. Rather than assuming you will always arm the system or adjust the temperature, the app notices the omission and tells you, which is a more forgiving design than one that simply waits for instructions.

That combination is what I would weigh against the cost of buying into the ecosystem. The app rewards a household that owns several Nest devices, because the automation and the alerts get more useful the more of the home is covered. With one device it is convenient; with a full set it becomes the place where the house reports back to you.

A companion for an existing Nest home

This app makes the most sense for someone who already owns Nest hardware or is planning to buy into it. The thermostat owner gets remote temperature control, energy history and schedule editing. The camera owner gets live views, activity alerts and two-way talk. The Secure owner gets remote arming and alerts that explain what triggered the alarm.

It is a narrower proposition than a general smart-home app, because it is built around one company's products rather than a broad range of brands. That focus is also its strength: everything is in one place, with notifications arriving on the same phone or tablet, and no need to juggle several apps to check on the house.

The free price and the absence of ads make it easy to try alongside the hardware. The main ongoing cost to keep in mind is Nest Aware if you want the camera features that depend on it. For a household that has already committed to these devices, the app is the natural way to run them.

A straightforward pick for Nest households

I would recommend the Nest app to anyone whose home already includes Nest devices, or who is considering them. It puts the thermostat, the alarm system, the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm, the cameras, the doorbell and the lock in one place, and the automation means the house keeps working when you forget to give it instructions. The free download, the lack of ads and the absence of in-app purchases make it an easy addition once the hardware is there.

The caveats are the ones the product itself sets. Some Protect functions are limited to the second-generation model.

For a household with a few Nest devices, that trade is reasonable, and the app is the piece that turns separate gadgets into something closer to a system. For anyone without that hardware, there is simply nothing here to control.

What's new in version 5.88.0.2

Bug fixes and enhancements