10 Questions About Nest Aware Answered

Nest Aware is a Nest’s subscription service for the users of Nest Cam that permits you to record videos in the cloud for as long as 30 days with many different features.

The greatest feature of Nest Aware is the video recording for 24 hours, without Nest Aware, you can just view the short previews taken whenever movement is detected, but still, at the end of the day, those are just kept for as long as three hours.

Additionally, Nest Aware is pretty much a basic requirement if you have the new Nest Cam IQ and need to enjoy the benefits of its face-recognition feature because that’s the only way to get this amazing feature.

If you don’t know much about this incredible service then this article is for you because I’ve covered all the questions to clear your doubts so, that you can start taking advantage of its amazing features.

Is Nest Aware retroactive?

No, It’s not retroactive. It just stores the recordings when you’re subscribed. When you activate the subscription, it starts recording and provides you footage.

Nest Aware subscriptions start from the second you buy and connect this service to your camera(s). It does not have the option to retroactively restore any previous or old recording within the time period of the subscription plan you selected.

Generally, I always suggest people, buy it yet, some people won’t activate it until something occurs and puts them in a bad position.

Is Nest Aware per camera subscription?

Yes, today each camera needs its subscription. Even though, Google offers different discount packages for each camera beyond the first.

The Nest Aware subscription plan is accessible on three levels. 5$ per month for a video history of 5 days or 50$ per year,10$ per month for a video history of 10 days or 100 $ per year, and likewise 30$ per month for a video history of 30 days or 300$ if paid yearly.

When it comes to the new two-tiered plan, one part of the fee covers each Nest product in your home. At the beginning of 2020, the Nest Aware plan will charge you 6$ per month and record event-based video history for 30 days.

Although, the Nest Aware Plus plan extends this event-based video history plan to 60 days and even adds 10 days more of continuous video history recording for 24 hours.

Do I have to buy Nest Aware for each camera?

No, it’s not like that. Actually, it depends on some factors like your subscription will be on a basis of “per camera” according to its original service, though Aware 2.0 depends on a “per home” basis.

Many new features are already added to the new plans like Emergency Calls, Sound Detection, and EBR (Event-based recording). EBR starts recording simply after your Nest Cam has detected an action or activity, and is accessible with both the Standard and the Plus versions.

Outside of the “per home” based subscription plan, the new Nest Aware plans have changed the way of how they deal with your video history. Although, the cost of a standard Nest Aware plan is evaluated at either 6$ every month or 60$ every year.

This gives you 30 days of recording event-based video history with additional camera features like sound detection, emergency calls, and intelligent alerts.

Can I cancel Nest Aware anytime?

Yes, you can cancel it anytime. Google Nest Aware is directly accessible from the Nest, and also from the partners.

The cancellation of your subscription works very differently, depending upon how you initially bought it.

In case, you directly bought your subscription from Google Nest then you can cancel it in the Google Store. But if you bought it from one of the partners then you should contact the partner to cancel your subscription.

At the point, you cancel your subscription, you’ll still have access to the service until the charging cycle closes. But you can turn particular Nest Aware features off by changing the settings in your Home app at any time. Your video history and sound clips will be removed over time when your subscription ends.

Also, if you end your subscription between the trial period, you’ll still have the Nest Aware service until your trial ends and you won’t get charged when it ends. Before your trial period ends, you can always come back and reactivate your service.

You need to know that you’ll lose all of your sound detection videos and the videos you haven’t saved yet when you cancel your Nest Aware. So, ensure to save all the important clips before you cancel.

For new Nest Aware customers

In case you bought the new Nest Aware subscription, you can pause auto-renewal of your subscription and then your subscription will no longer renew consequently at the end of your charging cycle.

You can do this by pausing it from your Google Store account on the Google Store’s Subscription pages.

You will keep on getting the Nest Aware services until your charging cycle ends but you can select particular Nest Aware features to get turned off in the setting of the Google Home app at any time.

But the new Nest Aware subscription is non-refundable and you will not get a refund whether you quit utilizing the service or turn off some Nest Aware features.

For 1st generation Nest Aware customers

In case you bought the Nest Aware 1st generation, you can cancel its subscription at any time by signing into your Google account and clicking “Cancel Subscription.”

Note that only unpairing a Google Nest gadget from Nest Aware will not help the Nest Aware cancellation.

But with pre-paid subscriptions, when you cancel Nest Aware (1st generation), they will give a prorated refund for the specific time period, starting from the day after cancellation of Nest Aware to the remainder of your charging cycle.

How many cameras can Nest Aware support?

The new Nest Aware subscription can handle all of your Nest cameras whether you have 3 or 12. People having multiple cameras can take more benefit from this new plan & can save a lot of money. That’s good news for them.

Although, the new Nest Aware plan includes more new features like smart speakers, audio detection that uses your Nest cameras, and displays to hear the sound of a smoke detector alarm that will send you a notification if the alarm sounds.

Is Nest Aware free?

No, it’s not free and you have to pay for a Nest Aware subscription. But you can get a free 30-day trial when you buy any Nest Cam with the Hello video doorbell and if you like to continue using it after this free trial ends, you will start paying for it.

With a monthly Nest Aware subscription, you can cancel it anytime if you don’t want to use it or need it any longer.

However, you can pay yearly as well which will save you a bit of your cash.  It will cost you 50$ or 40£ for 5 days, 100$ or 80£ for 10 days, and it will cost you 300$ or 240£ for 30 days.

Is Nest Aware subscription necessary?

Yes, it’s necessary especially if you have Nest home security cameras, like the Nest Home IQ or the Nest cam IQ Outdoor. They continuously record videos for 24 hours.

So, you need to buy a Nest Aware subscription plan to record the history of your videos.

A subscription can likewise unlock more features of your camera like Familiar Face Recognition that can differentiate between strangers and the people you know.

These features aren’t available without a subscription.

Nest Aware also includes an “Intelligent Alert” feature on Nest cameras and the Nest Hello video doorbell.

Due to the Cloud-based algorithms, these devices analyze any sound or motion and detect it, for example, an individual approaching your doorstep or your dog barking, these devices will send a notification on your cell phone to let you know.

Do you need Nest Aware for Nest Hello?

It’s not necessary. As a standalone device, your Nest Hello video doorbell will be connected every time which allows you to listen, view, send voice commands remotely, and also receive alerts when sound or motion is detected.

But if you’re not paying for Nest Aware subscription, there’s no recording. You can only get the clips when you get an alert from Nest such as detecting a smoke alert.

Nest Aware is still an important feature to have for your Nest Hello. To lay it out simply, Nest Aware is a subscription service that includes a lot of valuable features for your Nest Hello.

Even though you can have your live footage with a Nest Hello video doorbell for 24 hours but it’s not recorded. This can be a major issue for many people, particularly relying upon how safe you feel concerning your surrounding area.

Most of you will argue for the point that Nest Hello will take screenshots of any significant events like someone coming inside your home. But those screenshots can only last for three hours. That’s clearly not enough time.

Nest Aware additionally includes a lot of smart features, all with the capability to alter in a way that’s suitable for you. For instance, you’ll have the option to make activity zones around significant areas that’ll tell your gadget to pay more attention to those areas.

You can likewise alter your Nest devices to inform you when they detect a familiar face or an unknown face. Although, it can recognize the difference between a human or an animal as well. Even if a cat chooses to perch at your door, you don’t need to get worried about it.

In case you get robbed by someone, not only the clip will be saved to your app, but you can also cut down the size of that clip to spot the exact moment and can share it online via the Nest app.

Without Nest Aware, the Nest Hello is just the monitoring device that will give alerts to let you know what’s going on outside when you receive them. But still, the decision of whether the Nest Hello is worth it without the Nest Aware subscription or not is completely yours.

How much are Nest Aware subscriptions?

According to the new Nest Aware subscription, it costs you 6$ per month or 60$ per year to handle all your devices.

Previously, there were just three different subscription plans available for you, ranging from 5$ to 30$ per month. With the arrival of Nest Aware 2.0, all of this has changed.

The most noteworthy advantage of the new Nest Aware subscription plan is that you won’t need to stress over paying for inclusion on a per-camera basis. Rather than that, all your Nest products including the Nest Hello, Nest Secure, and Nest Cam will be handled and you will approach all of the best features. Presently, there are just two subscriptions to choose from, rather than selecting between three different ones.

I feel it turns into much easier than Nest’s previous subscription plans in which subscription costs ranged from 5$ to 30$ per month (per camera basis), with different discounts to handle each device.

But the previous subscription plan as standard provides you 24/7 video recording, and now it becomes something you will pay extra for.

In case, you’re a current Nest Aware subscriber and you want to shift to the latest Nest Aware subscription, you can do this by using the Google Store. But be aware that you’ll need to shift to a Google Account as a major aspect of the process.

Concerning Nest Aware Plus, you’ll pay either 12$ every month or 120$ every year but are given a pretty significant advantage contrasted with the standard version.

Plus-subscribers will get 24/7 video history recording for 10 days, which was included as a part of any previous subscriptions for the original Nest Aware plans.

Also, Plus-subscribers can access the event-based video history up to 60 days, which is just recorded when movement is detected.

What is included in Nest Aware?

Nest awareness can add a lot of smart features like recording video history, saving video clips, sending advanced alerts, creating activity zones, taking close-ups, learning familiar faces, and much more to your Nest products.

Video history

One of the most important benefits of Nest Aware is video history. Nest Aware will allow you to save your video history for 5 days, 10 days, or even for 30 days through your subscription.

This implies you can generally access your camera’s content, even if your Nest camera is stolen. If there were notifications or alerts, you’ll have the option to take a gander at those alerts and find out what’s happening.

Video clips

It’s not only about security concerns. The Nest Hello and Nest cameras will also record funny things and the things you might want to share on your social media.

By having Nest Aware, you’ll be able to save your video clips in your Nest account as well as share them on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or even through messages or emails. But you can’t save or share video clips without Nest Aware.

Advanced audio alerts

For all dog owners, Nest Aware even includes something called Dog Barking alerts to your audio alerts. This can really differentiate between a dog barking and other noises.

Similarly, the capability of Nest Aware to send you notifications when it hears a person speaking is valuable without a doubt. This can be truly useful when somebody is simply behind the camera and speaking.

Activity zones

This is a very smart feature. If you want to look out for a specific area, then you can easily spot that zone and Nest Aware will let you know if something happens in that area.

Familiar face detection

Most of the Nest products like Nest Hello, Nest Cam IQ, and Nest Cam Outdoor IQ, offer face detection features, but you can also get a familiar face detection feature with Nest Aware subscription.

By that time, you can teach your Nest Hello or Nest Cam to know who is your friend or who is your partner by making their profile in the Nest app.

Close-ups

Nest Aware additionally offers a feature called Close-ups for the Nest Hello and Nest Cam cameras. For every event you are alarmed about, Nest will choose a photograph and zoom in on the activity for you.

Is Nest Aware worth it?

Absolutely, I believe it is. If you are searching for the most flawlessly awesome quality smart home video camera, Nest Cam is the smartest option.

Also, the additional features that Nest Aware brings are actually worth it because Nest brought down their monthly fee per camera.

The greatest benefit of Nest is the capability to have full movement recording of all of your Nest Cam activities.

Basically, all other camera systems in the market will either give you snapshots of events or record short motion clips and sound events for as long as a moment but with Nest Cam and Nest aware, you can record videos for like 24 hours. That’s great!

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