Google is bringing older Nest Cams back into the fold

If you’re using older and newer Nest Cams in the same household, your life is about to get much easier. 

Making good on a promise it made more than a year ago, Google has announced that all its older Nest Cam models can now be transferred to the Google Home app, meaning that all Nest Cams–including those made as early as 2015–can be managed and controlled from one spot. 

Specifically, the Nest Cam IQ Indoor, the Nest Cam IQ Outdoor, and even the camera embedded in the Nest Hub Max smart display can now be moved over to Google Home. 

This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best security cameras.

Those cameras join the legacy Nest Cam Indoor and Nest Cam Outdoor, which made the leap to Google Home last year. The first-gen Nest Doorbell also works with Google Home. 

Previously, owners of older Nest Cams could only control them with the aging Nest app, meaning that if you had a collection of both newer and earlier-gen Nest Cams, you needed two apps to manage all of them.

Besides being able to join newer Nest Cams within the Google Home app, older Nest Cams will be getting several new features, including the ability to browse their camera feeds from the Favorites tab on Google Home, on the web, on the Pixel Watch 3, and on the new Google TV Streamer. 

Even better, old Nest Cams will be able to take advantage of the latest Google Gemini-powered features, such as the ability for Gemini AI to generate descriptions of what’s going on in a captured video event.  

You’ll also be able to use natural-language queries (such as “Did I get any packages today?) to search video clips, including those recorded by older Nest Cams. 

One caveat is that you must be a member of Google’s Public Preview program, which offers new and experimental features to willing Google users, to move your older Nest Cams to the Google Home app. Luckily, anyone can sign up for the Public Preview program. 

Also worth noting is that if decide to move your older Nest Cams to the Google App, the legacy Nest app will lose access to live feeds for those cameras, and it won’t be able to save new video events from the cams, according to Google.  

And while you will be able to move most older Nest Cams back to the Nest app if you change your mind, the same doesn’t go for the camera on the Nest Hub Max. For that device, it’s a one-way trip to Google Home, Google says.