Nest Thermostat

The original Nest thermostat and app has been abandonware since 2017, as far as I can tell. [...] A couple years into my use of it, the iPhone X came out, with the notch and taller screen. The Nest app eventually got updated to fill the whole screen, and that's it.

[...] This is one of the reasons I am working on an enclosure-compatible open-source version of the 2nd gen Nest thermostat over at . It reuses the enclosure, encoder ring, display, and mounts of the Nest but replaces the "thinking" part with an open-source PCB that can interact with Home Assistant. [...]

This is one of the reasons I am working on an enclosure-compatible open-source version of the 2nd gen Nest thermostat. It reuses the enclosure, encoder ring, display, and mounts of the Nest but replaces the "thinking" part with an open-source PCB that can interact with Home Assistant. [...] I've got the faceplate PCB done and working; the rotary encoder and ring working; and the display working but with terrible code with a low refresh rate. [...] It's open source, and uses ESP32-C6 so it can be Wifi, BLE, or Zigbee, whatever software you intend to load onto it.

This is one of the reasons I am working on an enclosure-compatible open-source version of the 2nd gen Nest thermostat. It reuses the enclosure, encoder ring, display, and mounts of the Nest but replaces the "thinking" part with an open-source PCB that can interact with Home Assistant. Nest Thermostats of the 1st and 2nd generation will no longer be supported by Google starting October 25, 2025. [...] However, these thermostats will no longer receive software or security updates, will not have any Nest app or Home app controls, and Google will end support for other connected features like Home/Away Assist. [...] I've got the faceplate PCB done and working; the rotary encoder and ring working; and the display working but with terrible code with a low refresh rate. [...] It's open source, and uses ESP32-C6 so it can be Wifi, BLE, or Zigbee, whatever software you intend to load onto it.

Still working on: an enclosure-compatible open-source version of the 2nd gen Nest thermostat. It reuses the enclosure, encoder ring, display, and mounts of the Nest but replaces the "thinking" part with an open-source PCB that can interact with Home Assistant. [...] Nest Thermostats of the 1st and 2nd generation will no longer be supported by Google starting October 25, 2025. [...] However, these thermostats will no longer receive software or security updates, will not have any Nest app or Home app controls, and Google will end support for other connected features like Home/Away Assist. [...]

[...] We got second-gen nest thermostats when they first came out (2012) thinking they were neat. [...] You’d be sleeping during the day for a night shift, only to find yourself freezing because it decided no one was home.

[...] When I first married and moved in with my wife a decade ago, she had Nest thermostats and those things annoyed the hell out of me, using eco settings by default, requiring access to WiFi, trying to learn my living patterns. [...]

[...] I was reverse-engineering Nest thermostats a year ago by hand, and now I feel like a month worth of my work could be done with 22 cents and an LLM. Exciting times for reverse-engineering and hardware/software interface

Google home, nest thermostat, Alexa, roomba, Apple Watch, iPad. [...] Nest has many notifications to enable eco modes making me uncomfortable in own home. [...] iPad usage not worth the cost. [...]

Always thought round LCDs (and rounded corners on displays and now GUI windows) were stupid If you've ever used a Nest thermostat before, you'd understand why a square display would be stupider. [...] force a larger interface so the square display could have its diagonal fully enclosed by the diameter of the radial control (i.e., oafishly large thermostat too big for a human hand to easily manipulate) 2. [...]

It's wild to see how for no reason other than marketing, we're seeing devices with a static feature set being bricked. I remember older Nest thermostats being similarly crippled or bricked. By "static feature set" I mean to draw a contrast between these plugs and light switches, and say, a device that has to have a web browser or which needs to access an external API that may need to change to reflect changing external factors. [...] All these "cloud" and "mobile app" integrations that 100% of them have are what makes these EOLs happen, since the company needs to maintain servers speaking a certain API version, or push firmware updates out for every device ever made, and keep updating a mobile "app" just to keep it running. [...]

Few years ago I had a Nest thermostat and Google did an update. [...] I called their help desk and they said no way that the device was bricked but I was able to prove that an update was pushed out that likely was the culprit. Then, years later there was the push to move people to the Google Home app from the Nest app. [...] I had better customer service when I called them for help wiring my thermostat.

[...] I still can't "cast" YouTube audio to my Google Home Mini unless I use the Home Mini in Bluetooth mode (I have more reliable Bluetooth speakers for that) even as a YouTube Premium user. [...] I refuse to upgrade my Nest Thermostat 1, even though it doesn't support needed features like the temperature sensors. I've also had to turn off all the learning because it decides I'm not home, and doesn't infer that I am home from my Google Wifi hubs.

One project I worked on was to track indoor temperature and AC settings (via a Nest thermostat) and outdoor temperature (via weather report). [...]

[...] Exhibit A: Pixel getting shittier by the year Exhibit B: Android wearables Exhibit C: Android tablets Exhibit D: Nest thermostats Exhibit E: Google Home products not being able to properly work with each other despite being on the same WLAN and made by the same company Exhibit F,G,H,I,J,K,ELEMENOPE The weirdest one to me is the introduction of the IR temperature sensor on the Pixel 8 Pro, without the possibility to read skin temperature, which was added months later, this year. [...]

[...] With my outdoor reset properly tuned, my Nest thermostat will run 22+ hours of every day and sometimes 24 out of 24. [...] This has the effect of using the lowest possible water temperatures (most efficient), which ends up being the most comfortable for the occupants because there's very little overheat/shutoff/overcool/turn-on cycling.

[...] I ended up replacing everything with Nest thermostats within a few months so I could adjust them from my phone if necessary. [...]

[...] I violated this rule once when I bought a Nest thermostat because it was elegantly designed (this was pre-Google). Then Nest started forcing random updates that not only bricked the device a couple of times (fortunately not permanently) but also changed the UI so that at random times when I wanted to fiddle with a setting I had to relearn how to work the thing. Finally I got smart and changed my wifi password so the thermostat couldn't talk to the Internet any more, at which point I had a very elegant, unconnected thermostat that eventually became unreliable because it couldn't draw enough current from my two-wire system to keep itself reliably charged up. [...] You do not get to make demands on my time to re-learn your UI, download software updates, advertise things to me, or sign new EULAs whenever you so desire. [...]

[...] My 6-month-old Nest thermostat died. In the week it is taking to get a new one under warranty, we wouldn't have heat. So I bought the cheapest one to cover for the week. [...]

Before you throw shade at Apple you should remember the original creators of the Nest Thermostat were Apple engineers which explains the similar aesthetic. I just got 2 near mint condition used Learning 3rd Gen for $60 each and they work fine with my 2 wire gas furnace and 3 wire air conditioning because I like the glass display and metal ring which feels much more solid than all the other models

Recently went through a similar kick in the pants with both Apple (photos, videos, etc.) and Google (Nest thermostats). [...] You could conceivably create a relatively robust homelab + NAS that will be able to host photos and videos (check out Immich), run a Plex server, and host other services probably using something like ProxMox. It won't necessarily be easy, or cheap, and you'll be on the hook to keep everything running. [...] Prior to this, I had like seven apps on my phone to manage all our devices and it was a PITA. [...] Next up on my list is pulling in our extensive photo/video library from various locations like Google Photos, iCloud, two primary iPhones into Immich. The wife and I are both running into storage issues on our phones because we have so many photos and videos of our kids. [...] Right now in the mean time, we're exporting photos from our iPhones to the Photos app in macOS, and then archiving them on a 1TB SSD. It works, but there's friction in actually viewing the photos after that.

I was thinking the other day about how seeing as my apartment has a Nest thermostat, it would be nice to have a second thermostat in the bedroom that turns on the (apartment-wide) fan if the bedroom is too warm but the main thermostat isn't, turns on the air conditioning if the whole place is too warm and it's warm outside, and (something that I don't have the hardware for) maybe even controlled windows and curtains depending on outside vs inside temperatures. [...] Home automation is of course a completely unnecessary luxury, but it's also a little silly that we have access to such powerful computers and sophisticated software and it's still somehow an entire hobby just to get your lights to turn off at night, or your place to regulate your temperature in an energy efficient way. [...]

The main thing is that the nest thermostat doesn't learn. [...] I had the nest learning thermostat in my old house, but when I moved, I got the nest thermostat. I'm at least as happy with it--I like its aesthetics better, and it was cheap. [...]

[...] It works with the Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen) and the Nest Thermostat E.[1] along with a picture of just the Nest Learning and the NestE, but NOT the cheapest Nest Thermostat. [...]

[...] My use case was to run one shell script that got my burglar alarms status, and if it was “armed/away” to simply set my nest thermostat as away, too. [...] where I differ is that I’m not sending an RF signal to the boiler, I just have to close an NO contact to engage mine (and I’m lazily going to use the nest for that.) If anyone knows of a better thermostat that has its own API I can set, read sensors, turn hvac on and off without using google/nest account or having a dependency on the goodwill of their API existing forever , I’ll come back and glean any responses thanks in advance. [...]

I have a Sonos Play:1 speaker from 2013 still working perfectly with no plans from Sonos to change that. My Nest thermostat from same year will lose app and home/away features which I would say is over 50% of its current functionality, for a device that I bought for 250€. I wonder what Tony Fadell thinks about this.

[...] I have a pre-Google Nest thermostat which I like quite a bit ... [...]

The seller left a Nest thermostat behind when I bought my house seven years ago and I still hate everything about it

I bought a nest thermostat like 5 years ago. I stopped using it 2 years ago, disconnected it, put it in a box. [...]

I got a nest thermostat a few years ago for some reason and while it is nice to be able to control the temp from anywhere in the house, I have learned to NEVER give it any sort of adaptive control. I set it at 72 why the FUCK is it now set to 75 with a +2 degree trigger to turn on the AC.

I have had a nest thermostat for many years and must have been lucky because it’s been fine for me. I say this and I likely cursed it!!! But I like it when I leave and can make it pre warm for me when i come home.

[...] We were advised to get a Google nest thermostat, it has lasted three years, died, now need a replacement ££££. [...] I DO NOT WANT TO CONTROL MY HOUSE WITH MY PHONE! [...]

4 months in the new place and I still have no control of our Nest thermostat!

[...] For one year in an apartment complex no one could actually explain how to work this nest to ones advantage. [...]

[...] Just being able to send commands to my Nest thermostat (which I own, and is on the same LAN) involved creating a cloud account, a "project" (wtf is a project, I just want an API key damnit, this isn't JIRA), a billing account, enabling billing, enabling the billing account, creating another account somewhere else on some other Google site, doing through mountains of 2FA issues in the process where I had to tap "Yes" on another device instead of the device I was actually using, enabling the project in the other account, installing it, publishing it, paying $5 somewhere in between and I didn't understand exactly for what, ... [...]

Great move Bose Shame on you, Google. You disabled my Nest thermostat and Nest Secure alarm — I will never buy your products again.

[...] I lived in a building some years ago there where the landlord bragged about their Google Nest thermostat as an apartment amenity - I deliberately never connected it to my wifi while I lived there (and more modern smart devices connect to ambient cell phone networks in order to defeat this attack). In the building I currently live in, there are a bunch of elevators and locks that can be controlled by a smartphone app (so, something is gonna break when AWS goes down). [...]

Tangential but I was wondering if anyone knows of a thermostat that can work with a security system for the most simple and accurate location sensing possible- when I press away on the alarm it turns the HVAC to eco type settings to save energy. [...] I think I’d like to get away from location sensing entirely. Every time I leave the house I do the alarm, so that is all I need.

Google support actually did ask me for that code when I had them disable energy savings on my nest thermostat. (it's insane that this had to be done through support, it's the setting where the power company can essentially control your thermostat in exchange for savings) To their credit/discredit, when I said no I'm not giving that out it says not to they just moved on. Not sure why they even asked then.

Recent extreme frustration with Google products in mind, I'm tempted to read the crux of this post as, "Google engineers/designers are incompetent." It might be unfair, but on a day when Google Search, Youtube History Search, and (whaddya know) my Nest Thermostat have all failed me, the temptation is strong.

[...] See the original Google Nest thermostat failing to turn on the heat without an internet connection. [...]

My old pool pump used more energy than my new pool pump and it’s cheaper to pay me to replace it versus future generation and emissions by continuing to use a less efficient applicance. [...] The cheapest kWh is the one you didn’t have to generate and deliver. Very similar to demand response, where you pay consumers to shed non essential electrical loads (nest thermostat rush house rewards is an example of this) when the grid is at capacity. [...]

For those who find the notion of rejecting a computer in favour of a typewriter (or even the typewriter-spouse combo set), maybe pitch the essay in terms of current consumer options, such as WiFi-enabled, Internet-connected refrigerators, cookers, clothes-washers, driers, and the like. Or the trajectory of always-connected devices such as Nest thermostats (first editions now EoL'd and abandonware), Ring doorbells (part of state surveillance), or the question of mobile and/or smartphones by students in schools. [...] Displays were typically 640x480 pixels, at 256 colours of any (though monochrome displays were common as well). Even the "cruel twist of fate" pseudo-computers most people carry today (< have vastly greater raw performance and interactivity options. [...]

I threw my first-gen Nest thermostat in the trash about 5 years ago after one too many UI changes and at least one bricking incident (later fixed) after an unwanted update. I replaced it with a super basic Honeywell mercury thermometer, which will almost certainly still be working 100 years from now.

[...] And I actually like and use my Alexa devices quite a bit (nest thermostat, smart water heater, smart lights, timer, weather, use as a speaker for my laptop), so I think I'd be their target market.

[...] If you buy an appliance (refrigerator, washing machine, Nest thermostat, TV), it feels like it should be required to function regardless of internet connection, availability of servers? [...]

Does that mean I can talk with my Nest Thermostat without paying $5? [...]

[...] I just found out my heat pump was configured incorrectly in the Nest Thermostat bc I have a Rheem and their heat cool valves are reversed from typical. [...]

I've installed two Nest thermostats and there's industry standardized color-coding and functionality and Nest conforms to that. (I don't doubt that you had that problem, but I think that speaks more to the incompetence of the original installer than to the complexity of installing a thermostat with a screen.)

Yeah, it's not an innovative sector, though a lot of the blame belongs with the hardware manufacturers and not the installers. FWIW, the quotes I got for installation weren't that awful. But getting it hooked up to the Nest thermostat turned out to be a 2-day process and require a subcontractor to show up.