The Nest You Knew Is Dead – Now We Know What The Google Home Era Really Looks Like

The Nest brand has been built up for years as it was a pioneer of the smart home, but Google has slowly moved away from what so many people bought into as it has built up the Google Home ecosystem. Now, the Nest you knew is gone for good, and we know what the future looks like.

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The transition from “Nest” to “Google Nest” really started in 2021 with the launch of a new batch of Nest Cam devices. That was the first move away from the Nest app, and the first real push for users to get into the Home app for anything and everything in their smart home. Over the years, Google has really solidified the Home app as an excellent option for just that by building out a better experience both for Nest Cams and for everything else you use in your home. Between powerful automations, customization options, and the promise of compelling AI-powered features to come, the Home app has truly turned into something great – and mostly good enough to ignoring the crumbling Google Assistant that surrounds it.

But all the while, the bones of the Nest of old have put question marks on Google’s ambitions as far as hardware goes, and left many to wonder what they should invest in.

One of those was answered last year, as Google killed off Nest Secure entirely, its only alarm system. Google had previously ended sales of the device, but it wasn’t until last year’s disabling of existing systems combined with the arrival of an ADT system that could actually mimic Secure’s functionality that we finally got the full picture.

This week, Google similarly announced the end of Nest Protect (a fire and CO2 detector/alarm) and Nest x Yale lock (a smart door deadbolt), but learned its lesson from the mistakes of Nest Secure.

For both of these products, Google has immediately announced what’s coming next, with a full vision laid out. Nest Protect’s use case, which has been overdue for a refresh for years now, will be replaced by a new First Alert smoke/CO2 detector that’s designed with Google Home in mind. Meanwhile, a new Yale lock designed to match the style of the Nest Doorbell, but work over Matter, will replace the Nest-branded lock that launched in 2018.

This also paints a pretty clear picture, I think, of the future of Google Nest and Google Home.

For its core services, Google will continue to produce hardware. Nest Cams are a fit for this as they integrate with Nest Aware which, in turn, will soon leverage Gemini for an experience that only a Google product could deliver. The Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen) fits into the picture similarly, as Google reinvented the product with AI as its backbone. Google also reiterated in an FAQ that the Nest brand is responsible for other hardware, such as Google TV Streamer, which is the company’s main showcase of the Google TV platform.

But as far as the more niche products, Google seems happy to pass that along to other brands, and particularly the brands you get to choose. In that same FAQ, Google lists out a bunch of other smart locks that work with the Home app, again signaling that Google wants users to pick the devices that work for them.

While I’m a bit saddened that Nest’s ecosystem is fading away, I think this sets the stage for a relatively bright future, so long as Google actually works with these brands to build products that really work with Home. Hopefully, that will one day also include more cameras that work right alongside Nest ones. And, even more so, I hope that Google stops forgetting about the rest of the world, as these latest announcements again simply strip options from users outside of the US while only providing replacements in the States.

What do you think?

This Week’s Top Stories

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‘Pixie’ and the story of the Pixel assistant that never was

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• Report: ‘Pixie’ was a canceled Pixel assistant that became Pixel Screenshots, more

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• Google reminds Pixel owners that the handy ‘Palm Timer’ works with the rear camera
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• Some Google Pixel owners reporting failed alarm clocks
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