I recently sold my house that had some Nest cameras which I was very happy with. I’m closing on a new place and had planned to get new Nest cameras for it, but this morning I received an email from Google with the following text. I don’t want AI integration for my cameras, so will be looking for a different solution.
Nest Aware is being upgraded to become Google Home Premium, evolving from a camera subscription into a service for your whole home. We’re unlocking the power of AI to make your home smarter, safer, and more effortless with Gemini for Home.1,2
With Gemini for Home, your Nest Cams and Doorbells, and compatible smart home devices get more powerful AI security features, and your Google and Nest speakers and displays get a more helpful voice assistant.1,3
What’s new?
Google Home Premium unlocks a range of new capabilities with Gemini for Home across your smart home devices. We’ve also brought new improvements to all Nest Cams.1
Standard plan (formerly known as Nest Aware)
- Gemini Live immersive conversational AI1,3
- Easy home automations with Help me create1,3,4
- Intelligent alerts with zoomed-in previews1
- 30 days of full event video history1,5
Advanced plan (formerly known as Nest Aware Plus)
- AI descriptions explain each camera event1,3,6
- AI notifications update alerts with a description1,3,6
- Ask Home video history search1,3,6
- 60 days of event-based history and up to 10 days of continuous video recording1,5
Learn more about Google Home Premium, device eligibility, and new features here.
1 Some features available initially on select devices in select countries and languages, and expanding through early 2026. Learn more.
2 Subscription services may be required for certain content.
3 Requires Google Home app, Wi-Fi, and internet connection. Features subject to change; available in select countries and languages. Gemini features work independently of Gemini apps. Check responses for accuracy; results may vary.
4 Home automations may require additional enrollment and setup, and depend on working internet, Wi-Fi and service availability for compatible smart home devices (sold separately) included in the automations.
5 Some features, including mobile and browser notifications, remote control, and sound detection, video recording, video streaming and video history require the Google Home app and working internet and Wi-Fi.
6 Requires Google Home Premium Advanced plan.
Sounds lime you will need new equipment…
As always do your diligence but event then corpos are parasites so can’t really trust them. They all turn on your eventuality
Get any RTSP camera, install Frigate and give it a lowish end graphics card or a Google Coral USB tpu for processing.
Bingo, totally local object detection without subscriptions.
Just to offer another solution, I’m currently using BlueIris with Reolink for PoE cameras and Tapo for wifi cameras. The Tapo cameras have been fantastic in terms of uptime for a wifi camera and they also support ONVIF. BI is a bit annoying to learn but it seems to support everything I want so far. I’ve been using this setup for 3 years now and I don’t really have any complaints which is probably a good thing.
It’s been a set it up once and forget it experience for me. Adding new cameras is as easy as copying a configuration for an old camera and reusing it for new cameras.
With how reliable Tapo wifi cameras have been I’ve just been grabbing one whenever I wanted to monitor anything and then just set it up and forget it and it just works. In contrast I’ve had issues with wifi cameras disconnecting in the past. I’ve only tried reolink and wyze though.
Or OpenVINO on an Intel CPU, works great and no extra hardware.
Old 1060 supporting 4 reolink 4k cameras perfectly over here 👋
This is the way.
Local ONVIF/RTSP || GTFO for my cameras.
To elaborate, what he means ONVIF is a standard for network cameras. Get any camera with the features you like that support it. Use them with any of the many easy to run home services like zoneminder or frigate. Block the cameras at your router so you don’t have to worry about their security.
If you absolutely can’t do it yourself, get ubiquity’s cameras/NVR.
I just bought a Reolink camera, as opposed to the cloud-only ones. It’s quite nice, requires no account anywhere for it to work including person/pet/vehicle detection. Has FTP configuration so you can have the device upload footage to an FTP server of your choosing, or just leave it on the MicroSD card.
While I don’t have a home assistant center, I’m sure this one has those capabilities.
Yep, Reolink integrates really well with Home Assistant.
Okay, thanks (you and others).
I’ve heard great things about them
UniFi camera hands down are quite popular and work well.
I like mine. They are really easy to set up for people not well equipped to set up more standard IP cameras. They also have a great feature set and no subscriptions required. Home storage is safer in today’s anti-privacy climate.
What’s the problem really? You already gave them 24/7 access to your home.
My cameras are only outside. I have (had) speakers and lights inside. I’m against most of this kind of AI use. It’s a ridiculous energy waste for little benefit (I do think there are a number of good ML applications).
There were many red flags about using nest over the years, long before AI entered the picture. The AI integration is the least concerning about Nest doorbells imo.
I hear you. I had the original doorbell cam, and early outdoor cam, well before google bought them. I was happy with them and knew I’d be selling the house.
