Video history in the Google Home app

For secure and accessible video recordings, your Google Nest camera or doorbell automatically saves footage to a cloud-based Video History service. For more information, refer to How Nest cameras store recorded video.

The Google Home app provides the video history for Nest cameras and doorbells launched in 2021 or later, and older models migrated to the app. For more information, refer to Transfer devices to the Google Home app.
For Nest devices that were launched before 2021 that haven't been migrated to the Google Home app, the video history is located in the Nest app.
For any Nest camera or doorbell model, you can always access a list of recorded events in the "Activity" section of the Google Home app. For more information, refer to Home app Activity.

For more information, refer to Google Home for web and Nest web app.

Find your camera's video history

To access your camera's video history:

Open the Home app .
Tap Favorites or Devices .
Select your camera.
You can check video history under the camera’s live mode, either a timeline or list of events. To switch between modes, tap Timeline or Events list .

Video history controls

Quickly move through your camera history using Quick seek.

Fast forward or rewind:
- To fast forward 10 seconds, double tap the right side of the video playback window.
- To rewind 10 seconds, double tap the left side of the video playback window.
Scroll through history: Scroll to browse through your camera's recorded video history.
Play an event: Tap an event in the list to begin playing the recorded video. To return to the live camera feed, tap Live .
Skip between events: On the timeline, use Forward or Reverse to jump to the next or previous recorded event.
Replay current event: If you tap Reverse while an event clip is playing, the video will restart from the beginning.
Pause playback: Tap Pause to temporarily stop the video from playing.
Change screen mode:
- To switch to a full screen mode of the feed, tap Expand .
- To return to a split screen mode, tap Collapse .

What your camera's timeline means

On the timeline, white markers indicate recorded events.
For event video history, the time between recorded events when there's no activity appears as gaps in the timeline.
For 24/7 video history, gray areas on the timeline represent times when there was no activity. Any breaks or gaps indicate the camera was either turned off or went offline.

Get more information about recorded events

On the events list, you'll find the event type, its date and time, and its duration.

Details: Tap Info for comprehensive event information.
Download: Tap Controls and then "Save clip" to save the event.
Full History: Tap Controls and then "History" to access all recorded events for this camera.

Tip: Your Nest Aware subscription determines how far back you can access your video history. For more information, refer to What you get with a Nest Aware subscription.

Disable video recording

Open the Google Home app .
Select the camera.
Go to Settings .
Select Video Video History.
Tap No video history.

To delete your video history and snapshots, refer to Delete video history and snapshots.

Navigating your camera with gesture

Portrait Mode

Dismiss camera: Swipe downwards on the camera player to return to the previous screen.
Switch to Immersive mode: Swipe downwards on the middle control bar to switch to the Immersive mode, where the focus is on live stream, video playback, and camera controls.
Switch to Browse mode: Swipe upwards or downwards on any open area of the screen to switch between Immersive mode and Browse mode.
Switch to Timeline: While in the Events list, swipe left or right within the event list section to access the Timeline.
Switch to Events list: While in the Timeline, swipe left or right to return to the Events list.

Landscape Mode

Dismiss camera: Swipe downwards on the camera player to return to the previous screen.
Switch to Immersive mode: Swipe upwards on any open area of the screen to switch to the Immersive mode.
Switch to Browse mode: Swipe downwards on any open area of the screen to switch from Immersive mode to Browse mode.
Switch to Timeline: While in the Events list, swipe left or right within the event list section to access the Timeline.
Switch to Events list: While in the Timeline, swipe left or right to return to the Events list.

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