Problems find Google's Nest doorbells: users say Live is 'broken' and there's no clear cause

Homeowners with Google's O.G. Nest Doorbell are reporting problems with the device, which is leaving users in a state of limbo.

Recently, on the Google Home subreddit, users have started voicing their frustrations and experiences with a string of Nest Doorbell problems (via 9to5Google). The OP (original post) states the doorbell's Live View has been broken "for over a week now for older Nest doorbell cams." The user tested their newer (wired) outdoor cam, and that's working fine.

The user states they've raised this issue with Google, only to receive a "we are aware of many issues" response. After reaching out, many others have recounted their troublesome experiences. One user says their Nest Doorbell quit in the past few days; however, they're still receiving "movement alerts and clips, but no live video." Then comes a user who tried to troubleshoot the problem, only to wind up with a more serious issue.

The user reports that their Live View broke on their older Nest Cam. They proceeded to reset the device using the pinhole on the back; however, they say, "...now the unit is dead." There was also a reported instance of an Arlo camera suffering from this Live View bug.

Google has responded to the thread, asking users to follow these troubleshooting steps. It hasn't appeared to work, though. Curiously, at the time of writing this post, one report says Live View has started working again. It's unclear if Google has rolled out an update. If it did, it didn't list it in its changelog.

We've run into this issue with faulty Nest doorbells and cameras before. At one point, users encountered an "offline bug." Users of first-gen Nest doorbells and cameras reported issues shortly after migrating from the Nest app to the Google Home app. The devices showed an offline error, which removed many features. Live video feeds were dismantled, as were the doorbell's ringers with connected speakers.

Alternatively, Google Home and Nest speakers and displays became unresponsive, failing to answer the most basic of questions.

Google's recent Google Home, Nest, and Gemini for Home update arrived late in October. The patch offered a lengthy list of fixes, most of which concerned Gemini and Matter devices. Google's changelog highlighted a few Nest fixes, but they concerned Nest Wi-Fi and speakers.