Google Nest cam suffers outage, live video streams unavailable
What's the story
Google's dedicated platform for home security cameras or the Nest Cams has suffered from an outage. The service went down for users around the world, with camera connectivity being affected for the most part. Google says it's working to fix the glitch and will soon restore the working of the devices back to normal. Here's all you need to know about it.
Issue
Issue affecting camera connectivity
Around five hours back, a number of Nest cam users reported 'camera connectivity' issues with their devices. Google took note of the matter and issued a series of tweets indicating that the problem is associated with Nest Cam Live Video, Video History, notifications, Sightline, and clips features. Apart from that, all other capabilities, including Nest apps, thermostat, and store, appeared to be working normally.
Information
Which devices have been affected?
As per 9to5Google, the devices affected by this glitch are Nest Cam and Nest Cam IQ line-up of Indoor and Outdoor cameras, Nest Hello Doorbell, and the Nest Hub Max smart display. Other Nest products remain unaffected.
Fix
Google has been working on a fix
As soon as the complaints started surfacing, Google began fixing the issue. It claims to have solved the live camera connectivity and notification problems for some users but the status page still shows issues with video history, which means many people are still facing the glitch. Notably, the video history feature is critical to the basic functioning of Nest cameras.
Details
Slightline in the process of being re-enabled
As per Google's most recent update on Twitter, its teams are in the process of fixing and re-enabling Sightline. This feature is similar to a timelapse which makes it easier for users to quickly review a recorded video and find out key moments within it. "We will update you again when the issue is fully resolved," the company added in the tweet.
Twitter Post
Here is Google's tweet
Update: Notifications should now be restored for all customers, and we’re continuing to work on re-enabling Sightline. We’ll update you again when the issue is fully resolved.
— Google Nest (@googlenest) February 25, 2020
Second outage
Second outage for Nest cams in three months
Even though Google is working to resolve the glitch, it's not the first time a problem like this has occurred. A similar issue had also plagued Nest cams a couple of months ago in December, according to the "Issue & Maintenance History" of Google. Before that, camera connectivity issues were reported in October 2018.