We recently switched from Ring to Google Nest Doorbell, but the migration wasn’t easy. What should have taken minutes took hours of frustrating guesswork. The poor and incorrect documentation made it a miracle that I was able to get the Nest Doorbell working. The biggest challenge was giving my wife access to the feed, so she could be notified on her phone and see the activity. Even that should have been a simple process, but it wasn’t.
Eventually, I was able to get her access to the Nest Doorbell feed. It took a few tries to get the process right, and I found the official documentation to be of little use. I want to share with you how I managed to get everything working as expected.
To make this trick work, you’ll need a Google Nest Doorbell and a valid Google account. First, you need to name your home in Google Home to make the device available for sharing. Make sure to name the home something obvious in the Google Home app. The doorbell needs to be set up in Google Home and not the Nest app. If you set your doorbell up with Nest, it might not be available to Google Home for sharing.
Once you have the doorbell set up and running, you can share it with others by tapping the + button under your address in the Google Home app. You can select a name already associated with home or type an email address in the text field, then send the invitation. When the recipient receives the invite, they can accept it and will have access to the Google Nest Doorbell feed.
This process shouldn’t be so convoluted, but it is. Like me, it might take you a few tries to get it right, and you’ll find the official documentation to be of little use. Just remember to not add a subgroup of Home before adding the Google Nest Doorbell, and the doorbell should appear available to the recipient when you go to share.
This is why tech company buyouts can create big problems for consumers. If you’re considering buying a doorbell, Google, Ring, and Nest are good options. I hope this information will help you avoid the frustration I experienced. Good luck.
