Learn how Nest cameras detect sound and motion

Your camera runs algorithms to process video data so it can determine whether it detected something you might want to know about.

• The camera analyzes its video data for people, animals, and moving vehicles, and can recognize when the same people reappear.
• To detect general motion beyond people, animals, or vehicles, your camera learns its usual background and searches for changes. This feature can sometimes trigger alerts for minor movements, like tree branches that gently move, in addition to important events. If you prefer your camera to only spot people, animals, or vehicles in motion, it's recommended that you don't turn on this feature.

To learn about the list of available alerts for your device, refer to What you get with a Google Home Premium subscription.

To change detection settings:

With the Google Home app

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Tap Home   All devices , then touch and hold your device's tile.

3. Tap More   Settings    Events.

With the Nest app

You can only turn off notifications for specific camera events.

1. Open the Nest app.
2. Select your camera or doorbell.
3. Tap Settings Notifications.

Activity Zones can help determine when your camera records motion or activity. If you set up Activity Zones, your camera only records in the zones that you've enabled. Learn how to set up and use Activity Zones.

If your camera detects that even a small part of a notable object is in an Activity zone, your camera will record it.

To learn about the list of available alerts for your device, refer to What you get with a Google Home Premium subscription.

If you have a Google Home Premium subscription, you may be able to turn on familiar face detection. When it's turned on, your camera builds a library of faces and compares each new face with the faces in that library. Some familiar face data is handled only on your camera, and some is managed through the Google Home Premium service.

To learn about the list of available alerts for your device, refer to What you get with a Google Home Premium subscription.

Data handled only on the camera: When your camera detects a face, it creates a faceprint to compare with other faces in the library. The faceprint stays on the camera and never goes to the Google Home Premium service. All matching and identification of faces happens on the camera itself.

Data handled through Google Home Premium: Google Home Premium manages the library which contains the face images and categorizes them. It doesn't contain faceprints and face models or perform matching and identification.

Important: Sound detection is only available on Nest Cam (wired), Nest Cam (battery) with wired setup, and Nest Cam Indoor 2nd gen.

Your camera recognizes important sounds, like a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm. It can distinguish between these and other loud sounds for accurate sound detection.

To learn about the list of available alerts for your device, refer to What you get with a Google Home Premium subscription.

Your data will be handled as described in the Google Privacy Policy. This is explained in more detail in Privacy FAQs Help Center.

You can also read Google's commitment to privacy in the home.

Before your camera can detect activity, it first needs to figure out what the scene looks like when there's no activity. That way, it can tell when the scene changes, like when someone walks into its view.

It can also pick up unexpected noises like when your dog barks. The software tries to ignore background noise like the steady hum of a fan so that your camera only sends alerts for notable events.

Your Nest camera's sound and motion detection receives these improvements with a Google Home Premium subscription:

• More accurate alerts about motion and sound
• Fewer false alerts from things like light, shadows and branches
• Activity Zones to get notifications about motion in certain areas, like a pathway or door
• Smoke and carbon monoxide alarm sound detection (Nest Cam Indoor and Nest Cam IQ Indoor in US only)

The advanced sound and motion detection that comes with a Google Home Premium subscription requires a lot of computing power. When your camera's video streams to Nest's cloud servers, our software identifies different kinds of activity. The cloud servers let us easily update and refine Google Home Premium activity detection over time, while your data is kept private and secure.

For more information about how we keep your data private and secure, refer to the following:

• If you use your Nest devices and services with a Google Account, then your data is handled as described in the Google Privacy Policy. It is also explained in more detail in Privacy FAQs Help Center.You can also check Google's commitment to privacy in the home.
• You can also check Google's commitment to privacy in the home.
• If you use your Nest devices and services with a Nest Account, then your data is handled as described in the Nest Privacy page and Nest Privacy Statement.

Motion detection improvements

Google Home Premium algorithms use motion pattern, shape, and texture recognition of what moves so that your camera can:

• Notice small things and things that are far away, like when a kitten runs across the other side of a large room.
• Detect fast things, like when someone runs past a doorway or window.
• Reduce false alerts. For example, you probably won't get a notification if your camera detects tree branches that sway in the wind.
• Detect certain kinds of activity and send an alert. For example, when your camera detects someone who walks into its view, it can send a person alert. Some Nest cameras can even detect familiar faces.

Sound detection improvements

• Google Home Premium algorithms measure ambient audio levels and filter out any regular noise in the area, like a running air conditioner. Sound detection can then identify sudden noise changes and determine if an important audio event, like a boom or a window crash, occurred.
• Nest cameras can pick out specific types of sounds and alert you when a sound occurs. For example, you can set up notifications for your camera to send an alert when a dog barks or a person speaks, but not to bother you when it senses other noises.
• Sound detection is also upgraded to be more sensitive, so normal conversation is picked up as an activity event.