You can delete your Google Nest camera or doorbell’s entire video history at any time. This will also delete any photo snapshots in video history. Deleted video history and snapshots are unrecoverable.
Manually delete history and snapshots
Here are some important things to know before you delete your camera or doorbell’s video history:
- When you delete your camera’s video history, all video history and snapshots recorded up to this point will be erased.
- Once your video history and snapshots are deleted, they cannot be recovered. We do not keep backups.
- Keep in mind that this only affects the camera you selected. Your other cameras will keep their video history and snapshots.
- Create and save video clips of any parts that you’d like to keep before you delete your camera’s video history.
Tip: If you don’t have a Nest Aware subscription and you’d like to stop getting activity snapshots in your camera’s video history, you can turn snapshots off.
Home app
- Open the Home app .
- Tap and hold your device's tile.
- Tap Settings Delete video history.
- Tap Delete to confirm. All of your camera’s video history and snapshots will be permanently deleted.
Nest app
- Open the Nest app .
- Select your camera.
- Tap Settings .
- Scroll down and tap Delete video history.
- Tap Delete history to confirm. All of your camera’s video history and snapshots will be permanently deleted.
Turn off video history
For the Nest Cam (wired), Nest Cam (battery), and Nest Doorbell (battery), you can turn off video history for your camera anytime in the Home app.
Important: When you turn off video history for your camera, any saved video history and snapshots will be deleted.
- Open the Home app .
- Tap and hold your device's tile.
- Tap Settings Video Video History.
- Select No video history to turn off history for your camera and delete any of its saved footage and snapshots in the app.
History and snapshots are deleted automatically
Video history and snapshots expire and are automatically deleted during normal use. Here’s more information about when you should expect this to happen.
- Video history expires on a rolling basis.
- Depending on which Nest Aware subscription you have, your camera’s older footage and snapshots automatically expire and are deleted after a certain number of days.
- If you don’t have a subscription, your camera can save activity for up to 3 hours before it expires and is deleted. Newer cameras offer up to 3 hours of Event-Based Recording (EBR), while older cameras offer up to 3 hours of photo snapshots instead.
- Video history is deleted when you remove a camera from the app or cancel a Nest Aware subscription.
- Nest Aware video history will be deleted at the end of your last billing period, or if you remove all cameras from your account.
- 1st gen Nest Aware video history and snapshots are erased if you remove a camera from your account, or if you cancel your subscription.