Considering A Google Nest doorbell? I’m sharing what we think of ours!
One of our first smart home purchases was a Nest thermostat and that was followed by a Nest smoke detector shortly after. I loved both Nest products so decided to take the next step and add a Google Nest doorbell.
We’ve now had it several years so I thought I’d share what I consider to be the pros and cons of Google Nest doorbell with you! (Note that my review is for the wired Nest doorbell, not the wireless which has less features). Post includes commissionable links; for more information, see my full disclosure statement {here}
As you probably already know, the Google Nest doorbell is a video doorbell that records everything going on outside your door and alerts you when it detects motion and when someone rings the doorbell. It connects to the Nest app on your phone so at any time you can go to the app to see what’s going on outside your front door.
There are lots of things to love about the Google Nest doorbell and a few things I don’t love too. Let’s start with the pros! These are four of my favorite things about my Google Nest video doorbell:
1. You Always Know Who’s on the Other Side of the Door
I hate opening up the front door not knowing who’s on the other side, partially due to safety reasons and also because I’m a girl who gets in her PJs at 5pm if I’m in for the night. 🙂 With my Google Nest doorbell, when someone walks up to my house, I get an alert on my iPhone that someone has been spotted at the front door.
I previously thought that the video only worked once the doorbell was rung but that’s not the case – you get an alert any time your doorbell senses motion or sees a person depending on how you set up your notifications. So what looks like this from the outside,
Front Porch Sources: Outdoor lanterns | Stone planters
looks like this on my phone:
The large image at the top is a live video of what’s going on outside my door and then below it is a snapshot of the person taken right when they walked up to the door. The video and quality is surprisingly good, even at night.
And do you see how it says “Familiar face” near the bottom? When you first start using the app, the Nest doorbell stores snapshots of every new person who comes to the door and you can mark whether you know them or not. If you mark that you know them, then every time they come back to the door you’ll be notified that it’s a familiar face (Note: this feature is only available on their paid monthly plan).
2. You Can Talk to Whoever’s At Your Door Through the App
Along with being able to see everything that’s going on outside our door, I can hear it too. And I can talk to whoever is at my door through my Nest app. I actually used this feature the very first day that my Google Nest doorbell was installed. I had been waiting ALL day for a delivery that I had to sign for and was told they’d call 30 minutes before arriving so I took off to run a ten minute errand and wouldn’t you know it… I was about three minutes away from my house when my app alerted me that someone was at my front door ringing the bell.
I pulled over and saw from the video on my app that it was a delivery person and I was able to talk to them through my doorbell and let them know that I would turn around and be back there in just a few minutes to sign for my package. It’s SUCH a nice feature!
It’s also a nice feature for when you don’t recognize the person at your door. Whether you’re inside the house and want to know who it is before opening the door or you’re away from home and want to ward off any suspicious characters (burglars often knock or ring the doorbell first to make sure no one is home), it provides valuable piece of mind.
3. You Know When Your Packages Arrive
I don’t know about your package deliveries, but our delivery people often don’t ring the doorbell. They just drop the package at the door and bolt. Since we typically come and go through the garage, sometimes packages ended up sitting at our front door overnight or longer without us knowing they’re there.
Now that we have our Google Nest doorbell, when packages are left at our front door like this,
I get a Nest alert on my phone that a person was seen outside my front door and one look at the live video feed on my phone app will show me that packages are outside waiting for us:
It’s also the best when we’re gone on vacation. Instead of asking someone to check our house for packages every day we’re gone, we can just shoot them a text if we see anything was delivered.
Nest also offers the option of adding a Nest Aware subscription which stores a longer history of your doorbell’s video feed. This allows you can scroll days back to look at the past video activity outside your door. If for example you were expecting a delivery that you never received and the delivery service claims that they left the package at your front door, you can scroll back in the app to see if the package was ever delivered and if so, who then took it.
4. You Can Keep Track of Your Kids Coming & Going
Before my girls headed off to college, if I wasn’t going to be home when they got off the bus after school, I loved getting an alert as they walked through the front door. Total peace of mind for worrier moms (and dads)!
And if you have older kids who stay out late on weekends, you no longer have to park yourself by the front door so that you’re sure to hear them come home because your Nest app will alert you whether you’re in bed reading a book or hanging out in the family room watching TV.
While Nest Hello has several other great features too, those are the ones that have me hooked. What are the negatives of the Google Nest doorbell? These are the two that I found after years of using it:
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1. You Have to Pay a Monthly Fee to Take Advantage of All of Its Features
The Nest Hello video doorbell comes with 24/7 live streaming so you can go on the app at any time and see what’s happening outside your front door. You also have the ability to see a 3-hour snapshot history outside your front door. However you have to subscribe to Nest Aware or Nest Aware Plus, which are paid monthly services (you can also pay annually to save), if you want to be able to scroll back in time and see what was happening outside your front door more than three hours ago and if you want “familiar face” and other smart alerts.
The pricing for Nest Aware (30 days of event video history) or Nest Aware Plus (60 days of event video history & 10 days of 24/7 streaming history) covers ALL of the Google Nest devices in your home. At the time of this post, Nest Aware is $8/month and Nest Aware Plus is $15/month. So if you also have Google Nest indoor and outdoor cameras along with your Nest Hello video doorbell, the price is pretty reasonable since it includes these extra features on all devices. If a Nest Hello video doorbell is the only device you have, the price seems a bit steep.
2. It Can Suck Away Some of Your Wifi Juice
After we installed our Google Nest doorbell, at times I noticed that my laptop wasn’t responding as quickly as I’m used to. I didn’t put 2+2 together for a while, but we finally realized it was because our Nest Hello video camera was taking up a chunk of our wifi bandwidth. We ended up installing {this Orbi mesh system} which not only solved the problem but made our devices much faster than before we installed our video camera.
We also realized after the fact that our camera was set at the highest possible resolution. We probably could have lowered the resolution of the video a bit (which you can change in settings) and that would have taken care of the issue too.
Google Nest Installation
And if you’re wondering about compatibility and installation like I was before I got it, Nest has an easy to follow guide {here} that will help you determine if your doorbell wiring is compatible with Nest Hello. And for installation, detailed instructions are included with the Nest Hello video doorbell to make it easy to install on your own (they even supply you with the exact drill bit you’ll need) or you can go {here} to find a local pro installer.
As you guys know, I’m normally a DIYer but I had also just bought a Nest camera for outside our garage that was going to be a tricky installation because of the location so I had a pro come and install both at the same time. He had my new Google Nest doorbell installed in under 15 minutes. I watched each step and it seemed very easy and doable for the average DIYer.
And I’m happy with the look of it too – it’s narrower than other video doorbells I’ve seen (including the Ring doorbell_ and has a more clean-lined design. If you’ve ever spied my ratty old doorbell in pics of my front porch, you know that my Nest Hello video doorbell is a huge improvement from what was once there!
So what do you all think? If you’ve decided you want to buy Nest Hello for your own home, you can find the 2nd generation Google Nest doorbell {HERE} and {HERE}. Want to know what other smart home devices we have and love in our home? Check out my post on our favorite smart home products.
Have a great week,
