Troubleshoot saving a video clip

As a Google Nest Aware subscriber, you can save video clips of important events from your video history. If you're having trouble, use this article to troubleshoot.

To successfully save clips, there are a few requirements to keep in mind:

• You need an active Nest Aware subscription to get 30 days of event-based history or 60 days of 24/7 video history, depending on your subscription. 
  • If you have a Nest Doorbell (wired) 2nd gen, Nest Doorbell (battery), Nest Cam (battery), or a Nest Cam (wired), your camera comes with 3 hours of event-based history.
• If your subscription includes event-based recording, visit the following article to learn how to save an event as a video clip.
• If your subscription includes 24/7 video history. You can choose which footage to save clips from.
  • Clips in the Home app: Event-based history clips can be saved directly to your phone.
  • Clips in the Nest app:
    • Clips need to be at least 15 seconds long.
    • Clips can't be longer than 1 hour. If your selection is longer than 1 hour, the Nest app will automatically switch it to a timelapse instead. 
    • You can make a timelapse of up to 24 hours of video.
    • Your account in the Nest app can store 3 hours of video clips.

The clip is too big

Home app

With the Home app, your clips are saved directly to your phone's photo app. Clear some space from your phone's storage by uploading files to a cloud storage and then deleting them from your phone. Then try downloading the clip again.

Nest app

If the clip you're trying to save is longer than your remaining clip storage space, you may see a message "You can only have 3 hours of clips. You need to delete some clips before you can create new ones." Check your storage usage:

1. Sign in to home.nest.com on your computer.
2. Select your camera.
3. Tap Clips  in the lower right corner of the screen.
4. Select View clips.
5. In the top right corner of the screen, you'll see how much clip storage you're using. You can also check your usage while you're saving a clip beside the Save button. You'll have to make your clip shorter, or delete older clips to make room before you can save the new clip.

There's a gap in your video history

• If you have an event video history (EBR) Nest Aware subscription, the video history view will show you gaps between events. These gaps are normal. 
• If you have a 24/7 video history subscription, you'll only see gaps if your camera was turned off or offline. 
• If you have a 1st gen Nest Aware subscription, you'll only see gaps in your camera's video history if your camera was turned off or was offline.

Clip failed to upload. "Retry." or "Download failed" message

If you see the following message, it means that the Nest Aware service is having trouble saving your clip:

"Make sure you have a good connection. If you're using cellular data, switch to Wi-Fi or wait for a better signal."

There are a few more things that you can try, depending on which app you're using.

Home app

Check in your phone's settings if you have enough storage space to download the clip. 

Nest app

• Try moving the start and end times of your desired clip and save the clip again. 
• Check the length of the clip and make sure that you have enough storage left. 
  • You can have up to three hours of clips.
  • If you're out of storage, try deleting some clips to make more room. 
  • Be sure to download any clips you want to save before deleting them.

Check your wireless connection

If you're using a cellular connection that isn't very strong, switch your phone to Wi-Fi or wait for a better reception.

Try switching browsers or devices, or restart

Note: This section applies only to cameras and doorbells that are controlled by the Nest app.

On a computer:

1. Temporarily disable browser extensions, add-ons or settings.
2. Try using a different web browser to sign into your account in the Nest app and saving a clip.
3. If you're still having difficulty saving a clip, restart your computer.
4. Switch to a phone or tablet and try saving a clip.

With a phone:

1. Sign out of the app and close it. Open the app, sign in again, and try saving a clip.
2. Restart your phone, then try saving the clip again.
3. Nest app users only: Switch to a computer and sign into your account in the Nest app at home.nest.com.Then, try saving a clip on your computer.