This article is for homes that use the Home app (Home & Away Routines) or Nest app (Home/Away Assist) to automatically switch their devices between Home and Away modes as people come and go.
Here are some troubleshooting steps if your home, or specific products in your home, aren't automatically switching their behavior as you expect.
General troubleshooting tips
Check your location
Your home won't switch to Away the second you walk through the door to leave. So you may need to be a bit further away from your home for it to switch to Away.
For example, If you only walked over to your next door neighbor's home, your home may not automatically switch to Away.
Don't share your account sign-in credentials
Don't share your email and password with other people who have access to your home. Instead, you should invite other people to share access with their own email and password. When more than one person uses the same credentials to sign into the app, it can cause unexpected behavior with your home and Nest products.
Pets can affect home switching
Most homes that have Nest thermostats don't have issues with their pets keeping their home from switching to Away. This is because thermostats are typically mounted high enough on the wall that the Nest thermostat's sensors won't sense your pet. But if you have pets that jump, climb or fly, your thermostat may sense them and think that you're still at home.
Nest Protect sensors can usually sense motion from dogs and other pets, so your furry friends may keep your home from switching to Away when all the humans are gone.
If you suspect that your devices are sensing your pets, you can disable the device being triggered from helping with presence sensing. Refer to the following articles for detailed instructions.
Check your phone's power, settings, and signal strength
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Make sure cellular data (also called mobile data) and Wi-Fi are enabled.
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Note: Your home rarely needs to use GPS data to decide whether you've left or come home with your phone. It only uses it to sync your phone's location if it has been out of touch for 2 days. It doesn't continually track your location and is engineered to have a minimal impact on your phone's battery charge.
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Check that your phone isn't in airplane mode.
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If your phone is running very low on power, cellular data and Wi-Fi may have been automatically disabled to preserve the battery charge. Connect it to a charger.
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If you're in an area that has a weak cellular signal, your home may not know you've left, but your home should switch to Away when the signal gets better.
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Check the Home app's or Nest app's notifications and data permissions in your phone's OS Settings. Usually, there will be a list of all installed apps somewhere in your phone's Settings menu. Select the Home app or Nest app from the list and check that it can use cellular, Wi-Fi and GPS data, and send notifications.
Troubleshoot phone location
Your phone's settings can affect how well your home switches between Home and Away. For example, if Wi-Fi is turned off on your phone, your home may not be able to tell when you leave home with your phone.
Check Home & Away activity in history
A quick look in the app can tell you why and when your home switched between Home and Away, and give you some guidance on what to troubleshoot.
Home history in the Home app
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On the home screen, go to Activity
Recent Events
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Tap on a day to find activity events that caused switching to Home or Away for that day.
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Check times you think that your home switched incorrectly.
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For example, you might find "Switched to Home • Phone location 9:35 am," which means that your home automatically switched out of Away because someone arrived with their phone.
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Once you know what caused your home to switch incorrectly, you can try to prevent it in the future.
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For example, you might move a device that senses too much activity, or turn off motion sensing for that device using the app.
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Recent Events Activity history in the Nest app
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Go to Settings
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The last 10 days of activity history will show. Tap on a day to find activity events that caused switching to Home or Away for that day.
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Check times you think that your home switched incorrectly.
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For example, you might find "Home: Activity in the house. Living Room Thermostat 7:30 PM," which means that your home automatically switched out of Away because your thermostat sensed activity.
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Once you know what caused your home to switch incorrectly, you can try to prevent it in the future.
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For example, you might move a product that senses too much activity, or turn off motion sensing for that product using the app.
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Your Home
Your home switched to Home when it should be in Away
Your home will always automatically switch to Home whenever the following occurs:
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Your Google Nest products sense activity.
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A phone that's set up to help with Home & Away Routines or Home/Away Assist enters your home.
So if someone enters your home, your home should quickly switch to Home.
Your home may unexpectedly switch back to Home if your Nest products sense pets that roam around your house or anything that moves while giving off heat.
Your home may also switch to Home a bit early to prepare for your arrival. So you may notice it's set to Home before you walk in the door. How early it switches can vary a bit depending on your phone's cellular and Wi-Fi connections, which affect your location accuracy.
Quick fix
As a quick fix, manually switch to Away in the Home app or Nest app. Your home will switch back to Home if there's activity or a participating phone arrives.
Troubleshoot recurring problems
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To learn why your home was set to Home and get some guidance on what to troubleshoot, check activity history in the Home app or Nest app.
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In the Nest app, go to Settings
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In the Home app, go to Activity
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If you have pets, try to remove specific Nest devices in rooms your pets use often from the list of devices that help with presence sensing in settings.
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If you have a Nest thermostat, move any heaters out of the thermostat's view. If you're unable to move a heater that your thermostat might be able to sense, try to remove your thermostat from helping with presence sensing in settings.
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Check your phone's location settings for Android.
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Check that your home's location is correct in the Home app or Nest app.
Your home doesn't automatically switch to Away when you expect it to
Your home will not automatically switch to Away as soon as you walk out the door. This is because the app doesn't constantly track your exact location.
Instead, it checks whether you're home or not, and there needs to be a good distance between you and your home before it switches to Away. So, if you're visiting a neighbor, your home may not switch to Away.
If your cellular and/or Wi-Fi signals aren't strong at your home's location, Nest may not know you've left until your phone gets a good connection.
Solution:
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Go to history for your home to check whether your home is reporting whether you're Home or Away.
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In the Nest app, go to Settings
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In the Home app, go to Activity
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Check that there are no people (or their phones) still in your home. They will keep your home from switching to Away.
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If you have pets and a Nest Protect, the Protect may have noticed them and prevented your home from switching. If so, remove your Protect from the list of devices that are helping with presence sensing.
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Troubleshoot possible phone location issues. If there are other people who are using the Nest app for shared access to your home, they should check that their phone's location is correct in the app too.
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Check that your home's location is correct in the Home app or Nest app.
Nest thermostats
If you've just installed a Nest thermostat
Nest thermostats need about a week to learn about your home and your typical daily schedule.
While your thermostat is learning, it will use your phone's location and activity sensed from other products to automatically switch to Eco Temperatures.
Your thermostat's sensors won't be used to automatically switch your home to Home or Away during the learning period.
After several days of learning, your thermostat will use its sensor data to help determine whether you're home or not and when to switch to Eco Temperatures. So you may notice the timing of Eco Temperatures switching change a bit.
Your home is in Away but your thermostat didn't switch to Eco Temperatures
When your home automatically switches to Away, your thermostat should also switch to Eco Temperatures. If your thermostat doesn't switch to Eco Temperatures when your home switches to Away, your thermostat may not be set to switch to Eco Temperatures automatically.
Solution:
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Make sure your thermostat is set to automatically switch to Eco Temperatures.
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If you want your thermostat to switch right away to Eco Temperatures, manually switch your thermostat to Eco Temperatures. It will maintain in Eco Temperatures until you manually switch it to a heating or cooling mode.
Your thermostat isn't staying in Eco Temperatures while your home is set to Away
If your thermostat switches to Eco Temperatures automatically when your home is in Away but switches off Eco Temperatures unexpectedly while you are still away, here are some possible causes:
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You or someone with shared access has manually changed the temperature.
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You or someone with shared access has turned off the option for your thermostat to automatically switch to Eco Temperatures.
Solution:
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If you want your thermostat to stay in Eco Temperatures, manually set your thermostat to Eco Temperatures. It will then maintain Eco Temperatures until you manually switch it to a heating or cooling mode.
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Go to activity history to check whether someone in your home changed the temperature. This can cause your thermostat to switch out of Eco Temperatures.
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Check that automatic switching to Eco Temperatures for your thermostat hasn't been disabled.
Your thermostat didn't switch out of Eco Temperatures when you came home
If you arrive home and you find that your home's status has switched to Home, but your thermostat still says it's in Eco mode, your thermostat was probably manually set to Eco Temperatures.
Solution:
Set your thermostat to your preferred heating or cooling mode, and it will resume automatically switching again.
Nest cameras and Nest doorbells
Your camera didn't switch on or off as expected
Quick fix
As a quick fix, use the app to manually switch off your camera or doorbell.
Troubleshoot recurring problems
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Choose either a manual schedule or automated on or off switching. Do not use both at the same time as this can cause unexpected behavior. Check settings for your camera or doorbell in each of the links below.
Note: If you have more than one camera, you'll need to change this setting for each camera in your home.
Change camera schedule
Home app: Change Home & Away Routines settings
Nest app: Change Home/Away Assist settings -
Check that your current location is correct in the app. For example, if you and everyone in your home has left home, the app should say that your home is set to Away.
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In the Home app, tap Settings
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In the Nest app, go to Settings
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If there are other people who share access to your home and control devices, they should check that their phone's location is correct in the app too.
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Go to settings to check that automatic switching to Home and Away as you come and go for your camera hasn't been disabled.
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To check Home & Away Routines settings for your camera, open the Home app
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To check Home/Away Assist settings for your camera, open the Nest app
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Cameras are automatically turned on or off only by your phone's location, so inaccurate phone location can affect automatic switching as you come and go. Try the troubleshooting steps for Android phone location.
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If you need more help, refer to the General troubleshooting tips for more steps you can try.
Other things to check
Use only one phone for presence sensing
Each person who shares access to a home with the app should have only one phone with Presence sensing enabled. If you use more than one device with presence sensing, it can cause switching between Home and Away modes to not work as expected.
For instance, if you have 2 phones (work and personal) and you're the last person to leave home with your personal phone, but you leave behind your work phone, your home will think you're still there and won't switch to Away.
Home app
- Open the Google Home app
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- Tap Settings
Presence sensing.
- Select the devices that you want to use for presence sensing. These devices help determine if everyone's away or someone's home.
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Presence sensing.Nest app
If you also use the Nest app, you should check Home/Away Assist settings as well.
Check that someone else didn't change the settings
Anyone that you've invited to share control of your home can also change the following settings:
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Enable or disable your home from using phones' locations to help your home automatically switch.
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Choose which devices can automatically switch as you come and go.
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Enable or disable activity sensors for specific devices.
Changes made in any feature that uses presence sensing can affect other features that rely on presence sensing. For example, turning off presence sensing with Only Ring When Home can also affect Home/Away Assist or if a home that uses Home & Away Routines turns off presence sensing for your phone, Only Ring When Home will no longer work.
Check these settings in the app to make sure they're set how you want. If something was changed, let other people who've been invited to your home know to leave the settings alone.
Check that Nest products have power and are connected to Wi-Fi
If one or more of your Nest products is listed as "Offline" or are disconnected from Wi-Fi, this can affect what happens when your home switches between Home and Away.
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One or more of your Nest products may have lost power. Make sure they're plugged in and charged.
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If some or all your Nest products are still listed as "Offline," refer to the following article to troubleshoot: Troubleshoot Wi-Fi and connection issues for Nest products
Check that your home's location is correct
Incorrect home location can affect accuracy and timing with automatic switching between Home and Away. If your home is not switching to Home when you expect it to, check that your home's location is correct in the app.
In the Home app
Change your address:
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Tap Settings
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Select Home information.
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Tap Home address.
In the Nest app
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On the home screen, tap Settings
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Select Home info.
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Tap on Address.
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Tap the current address to edit it if you need to. Then tap Next.
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You can then drag the map to move the pin that marks your home's location.
Things to know about presence sensing behaviors with Nest Products
The basics
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Presence sensing uses phone location and activity sensors to know when you leave or come home so that your connected devices can automatically switch to Home or Away. You can set up Home & Away Routines in the Home app or Home/Away Assist in the Nest app.
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Presence sensing will only use your phone's location if you give the app permission to use it. If you ever change your mind, you can disable or enable access to your phone's location in app settings.
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You can also set your current location to either Home or Away manually in the Home app under Settings
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You can disable activity sensors for specific Nest devices at any time in settings. If you disable all connected home devices from helping with presence sensing, your devices may only use phone location to automatically switch as you come and go.
Home behaviors
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Your phone's location doesn't override your Nest product sensors, so if your Nest thermostat or Protect senses activity, your home will switch out of Away to Home even if your phone is not at home.
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Automatic switching to Home or Away can override manual switching. So even if you manually set your home to either mode, it will switch after everyone leaves or when someone comes back home.
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The time it takes to automatically set your Nest products as you come and go can vary. The delay depends on how regularly you and other members of your household leave and come home. For example, if you have a consistent daily schedule, the delay will be shorter.
Nest thermostat behaviors
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If you manually set your home to Away, your thermostat will automatically switch to Eco Temperatures. When someone comes home and your home switches to Home, your thermostat will automatically switch back to heating or cooling mode.
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If you manually set your thermostat to Eco Temperatures, it won't automatically switch back to heating or cooling when someone comes home. Manually set it to your preferred heating or cooling mode, and it will resume automatically switching again.
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The time it takes for your thermostat to switch your home to Away (and switch itself to Eco Temperatures) can vary. The delay is based on how regularly you leave and come home, and how often your thermostat senses activity in your home.
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Manually setting your thermostat to Eco Temperatures will not switch your home to Away.
Nest camera behaviors
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Cameras can only be automatically turned on or off by your phone's location. However, you can manually switch your camera off with the Nest or Home app, or manually set your home to Home or Away, which will also switch your camera.
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Your camera doesn't use sensors to help decide if you're Home or Away. So if you simply walk in front of your camera, your home won't switch to Home.
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Activity sensed by other Nest products won't turn off cameras because they can't be sure if it's an intruder, you, or a family member. Cameras in your home won't switch on automatically until all phones set to help with presence sensing are gone, and they won't turn off automatically until one comes home.
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Confusing camera switching behaviors can happen if your camera both automatically switches as you come and go and has a camera schedule. It's recommended that you use one or the other.
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You can find more details about how Nest cameras work with presence sensing in our help center.
Protect behaviors
Nest Protect behavior is not affected by switching between Home and Away. However, wired Nest Protects can prevent your home from switching to Away if their sensors sensed activity.