Nest Cam (wired, 2nd gen) notifications are late, missing or excessive

The checks in more detail

Home and Away can turn alerts off when you are home, which is a common reason an indoor camera is silent. Make sure the camera is online, since an offline camera sends nothing, and that you are signed in to the account that owns the Home. If alerts arrive on one phone but not another, the second phone's settings differ. Some alert types need a subscription: Familiar faces and detailed event types are part of Nest Aware, and the free plan sends basic motion and sound alerts.

If alerts arrive late, the camera's upload may be slow or the phone's data saver may delay them; try on Wi-Fi to compare. A notification that says the camera is offline arrives only if that alert is turned on. Check the quiet hours schedule. Test by walking in front of the camera and watching for the alert within a minute. If notifications stopped after an app update, reinstall the app and sign in again. If alerts are too many, narrow the activity zones and the types. If none arrive on any phone with all settings right, contact Google Nest support with the time of a test event.

A common cause on indoor cameras is that the camera pauses or disables notifications when the phone is on the home Wi-Fi under Home and Away, which many owners forget they enabled, so check the Presence sensing settings in Google Home under Home settings. If you share the camera with a partner who is always home, their phone keeps the Home in Home mode and the camera in Away mode never arms. Decide whether the camera should arm on a schedule instead of on presence, and test by leaving the house with both phones.