A Nest Cam (wired, 2nd generation) that stamps events with the wrong time, or whose clips appear at the wrong hour, is using the wrong time zone, and the fix is in the Google Home app. The camera takes its time and time zone from the Home's address, so open Home settings, then Home address, and check it, and check the phone's own time zone is automatic. A camera that is offline for a long time may have a drifting clock until it reconnects and resyncs. If events show the right time on the camera's history but a different time in the notification, the notification is formatted in the phone's time zone, so compare both.
The checks in more detail
A schedule such as Home and Away or quiet hours fires at the wrong time if the zone is wrong. After a power cut, the camera restarts and resyncs its time when it is back online, so wait a few minutes. If you moved the camera to another home, update the Home it belongs to, since it follows that Home's address. If you share the camera with a family member who lives in another time zone, each person sees events in the Home's zone, not their own, which can confuse.
Compare a fresh event with your watch: walk past the camera and check the time on the event. Past events keep the time they were recorded with, so correcting the zone changes new events only. If the time stays wrong after you correct the address and restart the camera, send feedback from the app so that Google can look at the device. Check that the camera's firmware is current. A wrong time on the camera can make footage hard to use as evidence, so correct it as soon as you see it, and keep a note of the date of the correction.
Check also that the camera and the Home share the correct time zone after daylight saving changes, since a Home address that is correct still depends on the camera receiving the update. If a clip's time looks an hour off in March or October, wait a day for the camera to resync, and then restart it. Note that Google's app may show relative times such as 3 minutes ago, which do not depend on the time zone, so compare an exact timestamp.
Differential
Likely causes of “Nest Cam shows the wrong time, state or sensor reading”, and how to tell them apart
- 1
A wrong Home address or time zone
What separates it Events show the wrong hour
How to confirm Correct the Home address
- 2
A camera offline for a while
What separates it The clock drifts
How to confirm Reconnect and wait
- 3
A schedule in the wrong zone
What separates it Home and Away fires oddly
How to confirm Review the schedule
- 4
A phone time zone set manually
What separates it Notification times look shifted
How to confirm Set the phone to automatic
- 5
A camera moved to another Home
What separates it It follows the old Home's zone
How to confirm Update the Home it belongs to
Before you touch a setting
Record this first — changing settings destroys the evidence
- The time shown against the true time
- The Home address saved
- Whether the camera was offline
- The phone's time zone
Try in this order
0 of 6 completedCheck the Home address
ReversibleHome settings.
Check the phone's time zone
ReversibleSet to automatic.
Restart the camera
ReversibleUnplug for ten seconds.
Compare a fresh event with your watch
ReversibleWalk past the camera.
Review schedules
ReversibleHome and Away.
Send feedback
ReversibleIf it persists.
Model-specific
What is true of this model and not of its siblings
- Home's zone
- Events follow the Home address.
- Old events
- They keep their original time.
Stop boundary
When this stops being a self-service repair
- !If the time stays wrong after the fix, contact Google Nest support
- !Report with feedback in the app
- !Check schedules
Evidence ledger
Sources behind this answer
Exact questions
Common questions
Why does my Nest Cam show the wrong time?+
The Home address or time zone.
Will correcting the zone change old events?+
No.
Does the phone's zone matter?+
For notification text.
How long to resync?+
A few minutes online.