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. [...]

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.

[...] 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. [...]

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. [...]

[...] 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!

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

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.

[...] 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.

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. [...]

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.

[...] It would save me an annual subscription cost, too, and it's a big upfront cost for when Kohler no longer wants to support it (a lot of people have Nest thermostats that are losing all of their useful functionality in a few days). [...]

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. [...]

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.

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. [...]

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

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 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.

[...] 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.

[...] 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.

[...] 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.

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. [...]

Sure, in this case. But I can’t use my family Gmail account for my Nest thermostat for the same reason.

[...] 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. [...]

I just spent $900 on Ziggy at the vet, $300 on my car, and had to go buy a phone because the previous Nest thermostat that was installed crapped out and the replacement required Google Home app and my phone was so old that I couldn't download it. I just spent over $600 on a new one. 🙃

Oh I inherited this Nest thermostat and heatlink when I bought this house. It has always intermittently disconnected its connection to the heatlink. [...]

I have a Google Nest thermostat in my home. It was tied to an app so I could control it from my phone. (The thermostat itself has no buttons 🤨.) I got a new phone - and the thermostat won’t make itself known to the phone. [...]

Installed my next gen nest thermostat I bought back in October finally. Took all of 15 minutes

I felt so proud installing a nest thermostat a couple days ago until I realized when the heat kicked on, the AC would run instead cause I got the setup on the app wrong and had the one wire selection switched in the settings of the app when I set it up 😕

I've been using HA to get my nest thermostat to play nice with apple HomeKit. [...]

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.

I had to replace my HVAC right after I bought my house (if I ever see that realtor and inspector in the streets, it’s on sight) and I had to pay EXTRA not to have the Nest thermostat thrown in

I bought my Nest thermostat before Google took it over. Every single damn thing they've done to it or the app since has made it worse

I love having a Nest thermostat so when family members turn up the heat at home, I can be in Starbucks and, on my phone, turn it back down.

To clarify (and maybe add urgency?) I've woken up to a cold house probably a dozen times now in the last few months because my phone thinks I've magically moved across town. Despite being plugged into a charger all night AND being on the same damn WiFi network as the Nest thermostat. C'mon, guys.

I have a nest thermostat, but the strongly worded warnings are scary. [...]

[...] Another hurdle is that the Nest thermostat is tied into the local electricity co-op's peak-time usage reduction rebate program. [...]

[...] If you give utility companies access to your NEST thermostat in exchange for a discount on power bills, they'll turn up your temperature on summer days automatically. [...]

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

Getting my Nest thermostat to work with Home Assistant was a lot of work. [...]