You can change a variety of settings for your Google Nest cameras and doorbells: video quality, notifications, battery usage, the name of your device and more.
Depending on which Nest camera or doorbell model that you have, you can change its settings in the Home app, the Nest app or both.
- If you set up your camera or doorbell in the Home app, use the Home app to change its settings.
- If you first set up your camera or doorbell in the Nest app, most of its settings are in the Nest app, but you can also change some settings in the Home app.
- Camera settings that appear in both the Home app and Nest app (for example, turning the camera on or off) look different. However, if you change one of these settings in one app, it is also reflected in the other app.
Home app settings
Here’s how to find your camera settings:
- Open the Home app
.
- Tap Favorites
or Devices
- Tap and hold your device's tile
More
.
Find more information about different settings below.
Device information
This menu shows you basic information about your Nest camera or doorbell. You can also tap to change some of these settings.
- The type of mount it uses (cameras only)
- The name of your device, the home it’s in and the room it’s in
- Spoken language for Quick responses (doorbells only)
- Technical information, like your camera’s serial number and software version
Notifications
Notifications let you know what your camera or doorbell detected. You can customise these by selecting the type of alerts that you want and when you want them.
To learn more about notifications, go to our Camera alerts article
Battery
Note: This setting is only available for the Nest Cam (battery) and Nest Doorbell (battery).
The ring at the top of the screen tells you how much charge is left (months, days, etc.). To check the charge in per cent (90%, 52%, etc.), swipe left on the ring.
The automatic Battery Saver is especially useful if your device uses battery power only and you might be away for a long time.
Battery usage lets you quickly customise performance and battery life:
- Default is a good choice for most people, but you can also opt for higher video quality and longer clips or try to preserve the battery with lower settings.
- Custom appears if you’ve changed settings in the Events and video settings that affect battery life and are part of battery usage options.
For more information, go to our Nest camera battery savings article.
Events
Choose which events your camera or doorbell can detect and record (people, motion, package, etc.). From there, you and each member of your home can decide which of those events to get notifications for.
Note: If an event is turned off, you won’t get notifications for that kind of activity.
Event options can vary depending on your camera or doorbell model and whether you have a Nest Aware subscription.
You can also create custom Activity Zones that send specific alerts for activities seen within a selected area of your camera’s view.
Doorbell
Change different settings for your doorbell such as visitor announcements on a Google Assistant-enabled speaker or display, or the indoor chime.
Doorbell visitor announcements on a speaker or display
Indoor chime settings
Doorbell theme
In addition to standard themes, seasonal doorbell themes are available around some holidays. You can change the theme or set a different chime sound in the app’s doorbell settings.
When you turn on a seasonal theme, a unique sound greets visitors when they ring the doorbell. If you use visitor announcements for your Google Nest or Home speaker or display, the sound plays on the doorbell and in your home.
After the holiday, your doorbell automatically goes back to the default tone, and the seasonal theme disappears in the app.
Video
Here you can change a broad range of settings for video history, video quality, Night Vision and more. Find more information about the video topics below in our Help Centre.
Video history in the Home app
Change Nest camera video quality
Night Vision
Internet speed and bandwidth requirements for Nest cameras
Audio
Audio settings let you turn the microphone on or off, or disable audio recording so that you can hear people on the live video stream, but the sound won’t be saved in video history. You can also change the volume for selected cameras and doorbells.
Delete video history
Remove device
Nest app settings
Note: The Nest app is not compatible with the Nest Cam (wired), Nest Cam (battery) or Nest Doorbell (battery). Use the Home app to change settings for those devices instead.
Here’s how to find your Nest Doorbell settings:
- Open the Nest app
.
- Tap your doorbell on the Nest app home screen.
- Tap Settings
.
Find more information about different settings below.
Camera on/off
This option lets you manually turn your camera on or off, regardless of your Home/Away Assist settings or schedule.
You can turn off your doorbell chime so that it won’t ring when someone presses the button. For example, indoor chime on/off can come in handy during sick days when you don’t want to be disturbed by a doorbell ring for an extended period of time.
Your doorbell still sends notifications to your phone when someone rings the doorbell. The visitor should then hear a tone when they press the button, but your indoor chime won't sound and you won't get visitor announcements from your Google Assistant.
If you only want to temporarily mute your doorbell chime, you can select quiet time 
Important: If your indoor chime doesn't sound after quiet time has ended, check your settings. Make sure that the Indoor chime on/off setting is on.
Change your Google Nest camera’s microphone, speaker and audio settings
Tip: If your doorbell loses its Wi-Fi connection, the indoor chime automatically turns back on regardless of its setting in the Nest app. That way, your chime still works while you’re troubleshooting Wi-Fi and connection issues.
When Home/Away Assist is on, your camera can automatically turn itself on when you’re away and turn back off when you get home.
If you want your Nest Doorbell’s camera to turn on and off at specific times, you can set a schedule.
When your camera notices activity, you can get it to send an alert to your phone, send an email or both. You can choose what types of activity your camera looks for and whether to get notifications all the time or only when you’re away.
If you have a Google Assistant-enabled speaker or display, you can get it to announce when a visitor rings your Nest Doorbell. It can even announce them by name if you have a Nest Aware subscription and you’ve saved your visitor’s name in your familiar faces. You can set this up in the Google Home app.
Get Nest Doorbell visitor announcements on a Google Assistant-enabled speaker or display
If your Internet connection is slow or if your Internet Service Provider limits how much data you can use in a month, change this setting so that your camera uses less data.
Night Vision lets your camera look for activity when there’s little or no light.
This option lets you check whether you’ve chosen to share your camera’s video stream with others.
If you don’t have a Nest Aware subscription, the Nest app displays snapshots of activity spotted by your camera over the last few hours.
If you choose to turn off activity history, your camera won't capture snapshots and all your existing snapshots will be deleted.
Nest Doorbell includes a small status light that turns on whenever your camera captures video or when someone watches the live feed. This option lets you adjust the brightness of the light.
In addition, Nest Doorbell’s status light and light ring always turn on for certain activities.
This option lets you adjust how long your doorbell rings when someone presses the button on Nest Doorbell.
Note: This option is only available if you have an electric chime. It won’t work for mechanical chimes.
You can turn Nest Doorbell’s microphone on or off. If the microphone is off, it won’t pick up sounds and you won’t be able to hear what people are doing at your door.
Note: Before you turn on the microphone or audio recording, make sure that doing so complies with all applicable privacy laws.
Whenever someone rings the doorbell, you can tell Nest Doorbell to reply with a pre-recorded quick response in the language of your choice.
Seasonal doorbell themes are available for your doorbell around the holidays. The app lets you know when a seasonal doorbell theme is available. You can change the theme or set a different chime sound in the app’s doorbell settings.
When you turn on a seasonal theme, a unique sound greets visitors when they ring the doorbell. If you use visitor announcements for your Google Nest or Home speaker or display, the sound plays on the doorbell and in your home.
After the holiday, your doorbell automatically goes back to the default tone, and the seasonal theme disappears in the app.
This option lets you choose a different Wi-Fi network for your camera.
Note: Don’t change this option unless you need to. For example, you might need to change this option if you’ve updated your Wi-Fi password, got a new router or given your Wi-Fi network a new name.
This lets you name your Nest Doorbell with its location, for example, 'Porch'. You can choose the location from a list during initial setup, but you can change it or add a custom label.
If you want, you can permanently delete your camera’s entire video history, including any snapshots that your camera recorded. However, this will not delete any clips saved to your account.
Important: When you delete your camera’s video history, everything captured up to this point will be erased. Once your video history and snapshots are deleted, they’re gone forever. They cannot be recovered. We do not keep backups.
If you need to, you can remove your Nest Doorbell from your account and start again.