Ben Schoon of 9to5Google reported on Nov. 6 that Live View in the Google Home app is failing for many owners of the original wired Nest Doorbell, the model Google lists as Nest Doorbell (wired, 1st gen) and many still call Nest Hello. Google had not confirmed the problem or given a repair date by the time of that report. It had offered only generic troubleshooting messages. The failure started spreading over the preceding few days.
Tech news in one quick read: Get the most interesting stories in startups, tech and programming, each with a short TLDR, in one daily email from TLDR.
We may earn a commission if you sign up.
Notifications on Nest Hub displays still work, so the doorbell is not dead, only blind in the app. Some first-generation Nest cameras are reportedly affected too, though Schoon found far fewer reports of that. Some owners suspect Google’s switch to WebRTC streaming, a theory that remains unconfirmed.
Owner reports and the WebRTC theory
Schoon’s article, published at 3:15 p.m. Pacific, gathers complaints from threads on the r/googlehome forum and a dozen posts on the Google Nest Community. Post names in that list include a doorbell camera that will not show live video since the Google Home migration, a loss of live view on a wired doorbell, and a report that live view fails on first and second generation devices but works on the third. WebRTC-based workarounds that owners have tried do not work consistently, and the article names no reliable fix.
A Google Nest Community thread from an owner with two Gen 1 wired doorbells shows what the official response looks like. Community Specialist EmersonB suggested restarting the cameras and, if that failed, a factory reset. The page carries no dates, and the poster said the freezing had gone on for “the past couple months,” so it cannot be tied to the current wave. In that thread, home.google.com reported the doorbells as unavailable to live view on iOS, live view still worked in the older Nest app, and a wired Nest Cam Battery streamed normally in Google Home, a pattern that points at the wired first-generation hardware rather than the whole app.
Google’s October update and what it left out
Google did ship something for these devices shortly before the complaints spread. A summary of Google’s camera release notes dated Oct. 29, published by remio.ai, describes fixes for five older models already migrated to Google Home: the first-generation Nest Cam Indoor and Outdoor, the wired first-generation doorbell, and the Nest Cam IQ Indoor and Outdoor. For the wired doorbell the fixes target audio and video falling out of sync and unexpected restarts. Neither that summary nor Schoon’s article says the update touches Live View, and Schoon links to it without claiming it fixes anything.
Owners also cannot force the issue. Google’s page on updating Nest products and apps says updates install automatically when a device is connected to Wi-Fi and the internet, that manual updates are not available, and that releases roll out in stages, so a device may wait some time for a new version.
The one concrete step Google documents is a restart. Its connection troubleshooting page says the wired first-generation doorbell restarts when the reset button is held until the light turns off, about 10 seconds, while holding it past 20 seconds resets the doorbell to factory defaults. The page is written for setup problems and does not mention Live View, which fits the generic messages owners say they received. The same page treats other models differently: the wired second and third generation doorbells and the battery models restart with a single press that sounds a chime and turns the front light white.
Older Nest hardware and the Google Home migration
Complaints about old Nest cameras in Google Home are not new. Nickolas Diaz reported for Android Central on Dec. 1, 2025 that owners of first-generation doorbells and cameras saw their devices shown as offline after moving to Google Home, which removed live video while notifications and recorded clips kept working. One user said a hard reset restored the cameras for a couple of days before they went offline again. The offline status also meant the doorbell chime did not play through a connected speaker when someone rang. A separate federal class action over voice command problems in several Nest and Home devices, mentioned in the same article, is unrelated to the camera issue. At that time Google had not answered the forum complaints, and the article noted that Google had promised a fix in July with timing that suggested the fall.
What Google has not said is which change is responsible: the WebRTC switch owners suspect, the migration, or the late-October update. It has also not said how many owners are affected, and the 9to5Google report puts no number on them. Owners who rely on the doorbell for package alerts or visitor screening are left with the features that survive in the reports reviewed, which are notifications and, per the 2025 coverage, recorded clips.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
Tech news in one quick read: Subscribe to TLDR →
We may earn a commission if you sign up.
More from Morning Overview
- Long use of a common prostate pill is tied to a higher chance of glaucoma
- Ford is recalling 223,472 F-150 pickups because the fuel tank can leak or detach
- Hybrids have 15% fewer problems than gas cars, while EVs and plug-in hybrids have about 80% more, Consumer Reports finds
- Regulators cleared the first U.S. small modular reactor, 4 months early
