Nest App Gains Automatic Door Detection and Better Notifications With Animated Previews

[MacRumors]

An update to the Nest app is rolling out today, bringing with it a new feature that lets Nest Cam Indoor and Nest Cam Outdoor automatically detect doors within their field of view, further allowing users to set these thresholds as "Activity Zones" with warning-based notifications attached to them. The feature will be available only to those who have the company's $10/month subscription service Nest Aware.

Specified Activity Zones have been part of Nest for years, but required users to manually draw the areas that they wanted a Nest Camera to detect. With the door detection, Nest will intelligently find and mark a new door-based Activity Zone and then notify the owner, who can then choose to keep or get rid of the zone. Nest said that the new door detection abilities have been made possible thanks to the company's deep learning algorithms that have recognized patterns over time.

Nest Protect owners will also receive improved alerts -- with a connected Nest Cam, owners will get live video notifications when smoke or dangerous levels of carbon monoxide are detected. The company said the update is "another way Nest products work better together."

An example of Nest's new automatic door detection feature​

Another part of the update, also exclusive to Nest Aware subscribers, is the introduction of rich notifications on iOS 10, letting Nest Cam owners glimpse an animated preview of the camera's video clip whenever action happens in the Activity Zone of a door. Android owners are also getting preview notifications, as well as a way to add shortcuts to favorite Nest products on the Android desktop.

Nest said that it hopes these feature tweaks and updates will "cut down on unwanted alerts and make the ones you do get more helpful." Nest is available on the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Nest App Gains Automatic Door Detection and Better Notifications With Animated Previews

 

[mdelvecchio]

how about these boneheads implement HomeKit in their product line? i want my stuff secure, thanks, and theres no reason not to except Google.

 

[farewelwilliams]

they already had the animated previews in notifications for a while now.

 

[tliede20]

how about these boneheads implement HomeKit in their product line? i want my stuff secure, thanks, and theres no reason not to except Google.

Agreed... I love my NEST visually, if the next iteration doesn't have HomeKit, I'm going over to the Ecobee! I'm digging the room sensors doubling as motion detectors too. Just wish the ecobee was as pretty as the Nest.

 

[nutmac]

Zones will be very useful for me. I manage a property and the couple of Nest cameras are installed in common areas. Some of the tenants abuse the area by storing personal items. I can now create zones and get an alert.

It's unfortunate that the website and app continues to suffer from usability issues. Finding clips from these alerts is a lot more painful than it needs to be.

And would it kill Nest to integrate HomeKit? I realize it is part of Google but consumer's needs should come first.

 

[Fozziebear71]

how about these boneheads implement HomeKit in their product line? i want my stuff secure, thanks, and theres no reason not to except Google.

Agreed. I am getting ready to start purchasing smart home products and thermostats are on the list. I would purchase Nest if it was HomeKit compatible. Since it isn't, I am probably going to purchase the Ecobee.

 

[imola.zhp]

Indoor cloud based camera? No thanks!

 

[Mike Oxard]

how about these boneheads implement HomeKit in their product line? i want my stuff secure, thanks, and theres no reason not to except Google.

Yep it's annoying, I've got two nest thermostats , two protects and over a dozen hue lights, I need a third nest thermostat and two more protects but I've not done it because of this. Using two apps to control is annoying, as is the lack of Siri for the nest. ( I've tried home bridge and it works but I don't have a mac on all the time)

 

[az431]

how about these boneheads implement HomeKit in their product line? i want my stuff secure, thanks, and theres no reason not to except Google.

Won't happen (because of Google).

 

[Robert.Walter]

No HomeKit and a subscription model are deal breakers.