Video history in the Nest app

Video history is Nest’s cloud-based video recording and storage service. Your Google Nest camera or doorbell automatically stores video securely to the cloud so you can access it anytime. Use this article to learn more about how to access video history for your cameras in the Nest app.

Start here if you have an older Nest camera or doorbell model that had to be set up in the Nest app, and you want to review video history.

Note: If you have a Newer camera or doorbell model that had to be set up in the Home app only, use the Home app to review video history instead.

You can also find recorded events for any Nest camera model you have in the Home app in the Feed and home history.

Find your camera’s video history

Here’s how to access your camera’s video history:

1. Open the Nest app.
2. On the home screen, select your camera.
3. Your camera’s video history will appear below the live video stream.

Switch between different views in video history

The video history timeline and event history are two different views of your Google Nest camera’s video history in the Nest app.

• In the timeline, you’ll get an activity track that’s marked with activity your camera has picked up.
• In the event history, you’ll get a list of events your camera has picked up.

To switch between these views, tap the timeline or event history icon in your camera’s video history.

Review recorded video

Video history timeline

Whenever your camera detects sound or motion, the following happens in the video history timeline:

• A dot or bar on the activity track highlights when the activity was detected.
• A snapshot of what your camera captured at the beginning of the activity is shown.

Tap any dot, bar, or snapshot in the timeline to jump to the beginning of the recorded event.

What different dots mean

• A dot usually means your camera noticed a short event.
• A longer bar means it noticed activity over a longer period of time.
• A gray dot or bar means that your camera detected motion or sound outside of your camera’s Activity Zones.
• A colored dot or bar can mean different things:
  • Your camera detected motion in one of its Activity Zones. The color matches the color given to the Activity Zone when it was created.
  • Your camera detected sound or motion it thought was important, like a person talking or walking into view.

Gaps with no activity

If you see gaps in your camera’s video history timeline, it will tell you whether it was because the camera was off or offline, or because there was no activity detected.

• If you have event video history (Nest Aware or Nest Aware Plus), you’ll see dark gray gaps in your camera’s timeline between events. This is normal.
• If you have a Nest Aware Plus subscription, after 10 days you’ll see gaps in your camera’s timeline. This is because the app will remove video that contains no activity, so you’ll only see video clips of activity.
• If you have a 1st gen Nest Aware subscription, you’ll only see gaps in your camera’s timeline if your camera was turned off or was offline.

Learn about Event-Based Recording and 24/7 video history

Event history

Event history shows you an overview of what your camera has detected, like motion, sound, or doorbell rings, so that you can easily review what has happened at a glance. 

You’ll see a video snapshot, activity name, and time the event occurred.

If you only want to see certain kinds of events, you can set a filter:

1. Open the Nest app.
2. On the home screen, select your camera.
3. If needed, switch from the timeline to event history . Then, tap Filter  . Note: The kind of events you can filter will depend on the kind of camera you have, the kind of activity your camera has detected, and whether you have a Nest Aware subscription.
4. Select the types of events you want to see.
5. Tap Done. There may be a short delay until events are filtered.

Useful camera options and tips 

Create and save video clips

You can create and save video clips and timelapses from your video history in the Nest app.

You can share the video clips with friends and family on social media. You can also download clips to store them on your computer or send them to anyone in an email.

You can store up to 3 hours of video clips in the clip library of home.nest.com for as long as you like.

Go live

Go live appears when you’re reviewing your saved video. Tap it to switch to your camera’s live video stream.

Talk and Listen

When the live video stream is on for your camera, you can tap the microphone icon to talk to others near your camera. For more information on how this works, check out our Talk and Listen with Nest cameras article.

Note: If you don’t see this button, Tap Go live and it should appear along with the live video stream.