Whether you’re home or away, the Nest app can keep you informed and in control of your alarm system. Use the Nest app to get alerts about activity, arm and disarm Google Nest Guard, check the status of your system, and change its settings.
What you’ll need
- A Google Nest Secure alarm system installed and working in your home with an active Wi-Fi connection
- The Nest app installed on your phone. It’s free to download from the Google Play app store or the iOS App Store.
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Cellular data or Wi-Fi connection on your phone
What you can do with the Nest app
Watch a short video
Here are some of the ways you can use the Nest app on your phone to see what’s happening with your alarm system and change its settings to suit your individual needs.
Arm or disarm
The Nest app lets you switch between Away and Guarding 
Get a reminder to arm or disarm
If you forget to arm your system on the way out the door, your phone can pop up a reminder that includes an option to quickly arm your system right from the notification. As you’re on the way home, you can also get a reminder to disarm the same way.
Take control when the alarm is sounding
When Nest Guard is sounding a security alarm, it will send a notification to everyone’s phones. Tap the notification to see what triggered the alarm and where. From there, you can disarm your system and silence the alarm, call your emergency contact, or get information about what to do next.
How to set up notifications for your Nest products >
In addition, if you have a Google Nest camera with the same location name (bedroom, hallway, etc.) as your Guard or one of your Google Nest Detects it can turn on and start streaming video when an alarm sounds.
The notification will open the Nest app and show you the alarm screen with live Nest Cam video. Tap the video to go to your camera’s Sightline.
Check the status of your home
Even when you’re away, you can check in to make sure everything’s okay. The Nest app can tell you a lot about what’s going on so you don’t have to wonder. For example, you can see if any doors or windows are open, check the batteries in your Detects, and view the current status of all your Nest products. And of course, if the alarm is sounding, the notification on your phone will tell you what triggered it.
Review everything that happened in Security History
The Nest app’s Security History keeps track of the motion and open/close activity that Nest Secure spotted as well as other events like who armed and disarmed your system and when. View a quick daily summary showing only the important events, or tap the summary to see a list of everything that happened on a particular day.
Change settings
The Nest app gives you lots of options for customizing your Nest products to meet your individual needs.
Give family and friends access to your home
With Family Accounts, you can invite more people to access your home. Use the Nest app to give visitors and kids Home Entry Only access, or give trusted members of your household Full Access.
How to invite other people to access your home with the Nest app >
How to set up Google Nest Tag for yourself or another person >
You can also use the Nest app to schedule when passcodes and Nest Tag can be used by others. For example, you can let your dogsitter disarm your system on weekday afternoons but disable their access at all other times.
Stay prepared by setting up an emergency contact
When Guard is sounding an alarm, you can get a notification on your phone. Tap the notification to open a screen in the Nest app that includes a button to dial your emergency contact. It’s a good idea to set up your emergency contact in the Nest app beforehand.
View and control all your other Nest products from your phone
The Nest app isn’t just for your alarm system. We designed Nest products to work together for your safety and comfort, so as you add more Nest products to your home, the Nest app will be the place where you view and manage them too.