If you’re having trouble with your Nest Camera just coming on whenever it wants to, you’re either an unknowing guest on Paranormal Investigators or there’s a feature in the background you need to figure out.
The former is highly unlikely, as cool as that might be but the latter is definitely more commonplace.
Depending on how you’ve set up your Nest Camera, it may appear to have a mind of its own and randomly turn on and off all by itself.
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Why Does My Nest Camera Turn on By Itself?
There are a few features that can cause Nest Cameras to turn on by themselves, especially if you’re a first-time user and unfamiliar with the settings. The Home and Away feature is the culprit more often than not and there is a feature that shows you camera triggers and history.
If you have the Home and Away feature turned on, turning it off will probably stop your Nest camera from turning on by itself.
When Home and Away mode is on and you or everyone with shared access leaves with their phones, your Nest Camera will turn on by itself. The camera will switch back off when you or the first person with shared access returns home.
Back in 2015, Nest found itself in quite the pickle over this very thing. There was a bit of confusion over whether or not the camera was running around the clock since its power consumption didn’t dip when turned off. The report was released by ABI Research and was a blow to Nest.
The Nest Aware portion of the app is where you want to focus because that’s where your extended video history is located. If your Nest Camera is turning on by itself, Nest Aware will let you know what it’s up to.
But that’s only a part of the problem and not the solution. You need to figure out how to turn it off so that it doesn’t come back on outside of your control.
Presence Settings/Home and Away
The way the Nest Camera operates is often a little confusing. You can either manually set your Nest Camera to come on or go off or you can set it to do so automatically, depending on the location of your phone at the time.
This is called Presence Sensing. If you walk too far away from your house, with the Presence Sensing turned on, your Nest Camera will activate without your direct intervention.
Related Article: Can I Have A Home Security System Without Internet? (And How To)
Also, just because you are actively using Home and Away, doesn’t mean the Nest Camera will no longer come on to sense movement when you are home.
This is especially true if you have more than one family member or friend connected to the app and the Home and Away feature.
Nest May Not Accurately Detect Home and Away
If you have two people on your account, Nest may not be able to determine if both of you have left the home. When one person leaves, it’s possible that the Nest Camera will come on without you turning it on.
Not only is this possible, Nest directly confirms and addresses it in the Google Nest Help section of Google Support. The camera is supposed to start operating only when every person on the account has left the home.
Unfortunately, Nest Home Security Cameras are not high-tech enough to handle two people on one account. Google’s suggestion is to create two, separate accounts. Since the Nest Camera has difficulty dealing with two phone locations on a single account, this solution will often stop the camera from turning on by itself.
Finally, you can check your camera history quickly and easily in the app. Open the Nest app > select your camera > view your history.
All Things Considered
If you have cleared up any issues with dual-account holders and video history and the camera is still coming on by itself, it’s a good idea to go to the Google Nest Help site.
You can chat with an agent there and either get the camera replaced or narrow down the issue further.
