Google is still promising to add Nest Protect support to the Home app, but based on a recent update, we shouldn’t hold our breath.
In an AMA session on Reddit earlier this week (as relayed by 9to5Google), a Google product manager wrote that “the team is exploring how to bring support for Nest Protect to the Home App,” adding that “we can’t share timing just yet.”
Unsurprisingly, the response elicited groans from Nest Protect users, with one writing that the update “doesn’t really instill much confidence.”
It’s easy to understand the frustration of Nest Protect owners, who have been waiting years for the eight-year-old smoke alarm to be accessible within the Google Home app. For now, Nest Protect users must continue using the legacy Nest app to manage and control the device.
During the same AMA chat on Reddit, Google staffers said that they’re still working to add more first-generation Nest cameras to the Home app, following the announcement in August that the original Nest Cam Indoor had finally made the move (if only for Home users in the Public Preview program).
One Google Home product manager wrote that “it’s quite a challenge” to migrate older Nest cameras to the Home app, given that “each device has its own complexity and requires migrating infrastructure and updates to device software, to ensure that the hardware can be supported.”
Google has been promising that the Nest Protect smoke detector would be added to the Google Home app since 2020, saying at the time that Nest Protect integration would arrive “in the coming months.”
The Nest Protect is among the oldest Nest products still on sale in the Google store. The smoke and carbon-monoxide detector first went on sale in 2013, and a second-generation version arrived in 2015.
An oldie but a goodie, the second-gen Nest Protect remains among the most popular smart smoke detectors. We praised the alarm for its “clear and versatile alerts,” easy setup, and rapid smoke detection in our 2017 Nest Protect review.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he covers smart speakers, soundbars, and other smart and home-theater devices. You can follow Ben on Twitter.