Roger Fingas
Google's Nest division updated its iOS app with several important features, most notably the ability to control its flagship Thermostat via the Apple Watch.
The Watch extension lets Thermostat owners adjust temperature without picking up their iPhone or another iOS device. Nest hasn't said whether its cameras or smoke protectors will eventually be controllable this way.
In the meantime, however, the Nest iOS app has received several other upgrades, all focused on camera support. Chief is the addition of "Spaces," which allows HomeKit-style grouping of devices by room — Nest products don't currenly support HomeKit. The feature lets people see all of their Nest cameras at once, although simultaneous live views require that an iPhone or iPad be on Wi-Fi.
The update also adds 1080p support for the Dropcam Pro, and automatic video quality, which can scale back if necessary to maintain a continuous stream.
Finally users can choose to share password-protected live feeds with friends and family. People granted access to a camera can watch on the Web via video.nest.com.
The Nest iOS app is a free download, and runs on any device with iOS 8 or later. On top of any hardware costs, though, video archival features require a Nest Aware subscription starting at $10 per month.
Malcolm Owen
Wesley Hilliard
Marko Zivkovic
Christine McKee
17 Comments
Finally!
yeah, and I meant it! :-p
It's about time. Nest is really slow to add new features to their products through software updates. Especially the thermostat. It has a lot of problems. It allows the temperature to go way above the set point when it is set to cool. I have woke up in the middle of the night sweating way too often. Will open the app and the temp is 70 when I have it set on 67. I will be switching to an Ecobee 3 very soon.
Honestly it doesn't need to be this hard.
Using 3rd party home automation solutions on iPhone and Apple Watch has led me to one conclusion with future purchases: If it doesn't support homekit, then I'm not going to buy it.
Apps are best suited when there is more to do than changing a solitary number or flicking a single virtual switch. Homekit with Siri has always made a lot of sense here and homekit's "scenes" furthers how effortless home automation should be - none of this mishmash of 3rd party apps for every kind of device you want to control.
3rd party apps, with their clumsy non-standard UIs and unusual bulk/functionality, are utter trash in comparison to the fluidity offered by native frameworks.
This evaluation is even before walking down the road of Nest which is owned by an advertising/surveillance company - seriously who could be comfortable using an always-on Nest indoor camera which sends a constant stream of your home for "advanced algorithms in the cloud" processing?
I tried the Nest thermostat, and found it to be a great unit. The reason I sent both of the back is because the support staff are complete idiots. They swore that my system would work with the Nests. After about 4 hours on the phone they gave up and so did I.