Google is still committed to adding Nest Protect to Home app
Nest products could be some of the best smart home devices out there, if it wasn't for some software woes. Google has been in the process of transitioning legacy Nest devices to its Home app for years now, and customers are frustrated with the slow pace and the lack of some key features. Nest Protect smoke and CO detectors are among the devices that still haven’t made the transition to the Home app, and it almost started to look like they were left in the dust. A Google community manager has now confirmed that they are still on the roadmap, though.
The manager joined a discussion in the Google Nest Community, saying that “We can confirm that supporting Nest Protect in Home App is indeed on our roadmap.” They explain that “We understand that this has been a long-desired capability and the team is fully committed to expanding Home App support to cover the much loved Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm.”
The commitment to adding Nest Protect to Home almost comes as a surprise, given that it looks like the project is all but abandoned. Three years ago, Google was spotted adding Nest Protect devices to some lucky users’ Home apps, though back then, they were missing their assigned rooms and customized names. If you had more than one, it could be difficult to tell them apart. It’s likely that they just showed up in the app as part of Google Home’s support for generic smoke detectors back then, which was introduced a few months earlier than that.
Customers in the support forum are unhappy about the lack of a proper timeline and the long wait they’ve already had to endure. People are asking for a more exact timeline or roadmap for the addition of Nest Protect, and complain that three years later, they still haven’t received a definite answer on when and how Nest Protect will be added to Home.
The 2nd generation Nest Protect has been available since 2015, shortly after Google purchased Nest. Its CO detector expires after 10 years. It's supposed to make smoke and CO detection more intelligent by integrating with your smart home, allowing it to send low-battery warnings and fire alarms via app, even when you're not at home. There are some more smarts to it, like a night light.
Google’s transition from the Nest infrastructure to Google Home has been rocky, to say the least, with many features taken away in the process and only slowly being reintroduced. Making matters worse, switching from Nest to Google Home is a one-way street, so once you’ve decided to move a device over, you can’t go back even when you realize that it doesn’t work the way you like it to anymore.
Source: Android Police
