Nest Cam Outdoor (Wired, 2nd Gen) Not Detecting Motion
Is your Nest Cam Outdoor (Wired, 2nd Gen) failing to detect motion or send alerts when people or vehicles enter its field of view? Here are the checks you can carry out before contacting support.
What This Problem Means
The camera is online but not triggering recordings or sending notifications — most commonly caused by a notification or recording setting being disabled, or the activity zone not covering the correct area.
Common Symptoms
- People and vehicles pass in view with no alert or recording triggered
- Event history shows no or very few recent events
- Motion alerts stopped suddenly without any settings change
- Alerts are being received by other household members but not on your device
Safe Checks You Can Try
1. Check Notifications Are Turned On
Open the Google Home app, tap your Profile picture or Initial in the top right, then tap Home settings → Notifications. Ensure the relevant event types (People, Vehicles, Animals, Other Motion) are switched on for your account. Household members manage notifications independently, so one person’s settings do not affect others.
2. Check Phone Notification Permissions
Confirm that notifications are allowed for the Google Home app in your phone’s system settings. On iOS: Settings → Apps → Google Home → Notifications. On Android: Settings → Apps → Google Home → Notifications. Also check that Do Not Disturb and Focus modes are not active.
3. Check Activity Zones
If activity zones are set up, confirm they cover the area you are monitoring. Zones that are too small or angled incorrectly will miss motion that occurs outside them. Remove zones temporarily to test whether detection improves without zone restrictions.
4. Check Video Recording Is Enabled
In the Google Home app, go to the camera’s settings and confirm Video Recording is switched on. When this setting is off, the camera does not save event clips even when motion is detected.
5. Reinstall the Google Home App
If alerts are working for other users in your household but not for you, uninstall and reinstall the Google Home app on your device. This resolves notification delivery issues that are specific to one phone rather than the camera.
When To Contact Support
If none of the checks above have resolved the issue, contact Google Nest support at support.google.com/googlenest. Your device serial number is available in Device Info in the Google Home app.
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