A new update for Nest cameras in the Google Home app now makes it easier than ever to view the surveillance devices’ history. The changes, rolling out starting this week, appear to be part of a server-side update, reports indicate. Meaning that users won’t need to download anything to gain access. Instead, it should update on its own over the coming days, although it hasn’t been spotted just yet on any Android Headlines devices.
What does this update for Nest cameras in the Google Home app change?
In terms of exactly how the new update for Google Home improves Nest cameras, that’s fairly straightforward. Prior to the update, users needed to first select the Nest camera they wanted to view history for. Then, using the three-dot menu at the top right-hand side of the UI, users needed to select “full history.”
After following those steps, the app would show the history. And that came complete with descriptors for events and timestamps, in a vertically scrolling orientation. Albeit, with thumbnails instead of a real-time scrolling view.
That’s entirely different from how the Nest app itself handles history viewing. Instead of featuring a separate page, the Nest app simply allows users to tap and then scroll up and down through history. The UI showcases colored segments, showing on a semi-transparent vertical bar, indicating where activity was spotted. Scrolling through the footage, the Nest app shows a real-time view of what was happening at the time.
With the update, the experience won’t be identical to the Nest app. But it will be much more similar in terms of functionality, if not aesthetically to that other smart home app.
As shown in the sample images below, provided by the source, Google has added a new “History” chip in the bottom bar UI. That allows scrolling, skipping between events, and a more Nest-like timeline scrub bar. There’s also a helpful button for viewing event details, a descriptor at the top of the UI, and a button to view the full history as before.
2021-12-18 15:05:09