Is your Nest Cam Outdoor (Wired, 2nd Gen) not saving recordings or showing gaps in video history? Here are the checks you can carry out before contacting support.
What This Problem Means
The camera is online but video is not being saved to history — usually caused by a recording setting being disabled, a subscription limitation or the camera going offline intermittently.
Common Symptoms
- No video clips appearing in event history in the Google Home app
- Motion alerts are received but no video clip is available to view
- Video history shows unexplained gaps when the camera should have been recording
- Recording was working previously but has stopped without any obvious change
Safe Checks You Can Try
1. Check Video Recording Is Enabled
Open the Google Home app, go to your camera’s settings and confirm that Video Recording is switched on. Without this enabled, the camera will detect motion and send alerts but will not save any video clips to your history.
2. Check Your Event Video History Plan
Without a Google Home Premium subscription, the Nest Cam Outdoor provides 6 hours of free event video previews (10-second clips). Clips older than this will not appear in history. To access up to 30 days (Standard) or 60 days (Advanced) of full event video, a Google Home Premium subscription is required.
3. Check the Camera Is Staying Online
Outdoor cameras can drop connection intermittently without triggering a visible alert in the app. In the Google Home app, check Device Health for any connection warnings. A camera that goes offline during activity will not record those events.
4. Check Motion Detection Is Active
Open the Google Home app, go to your camera’s settings and confirm that motion detection is active. If motion alerts and recording have both stopped simultaneously, the most common cause is motion detection being switched off.
5. Restart the Camera
Unplug the power cable from the outdoor socket for 10 seconds, then plug it back in. Allow the camera two minutes to fully restart and reconnect before testing event recording again.
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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