Learn about Family Accounts and how to share access to your Nest home

Nest no longer supports Nest Secure. It will not be accessible in the Nest app and will no longer connect to the Internet. You cannot use the Nest app to check the status of your Nest Secure, control your Nest Secure devices or receive notifications from your alarm system.

For more information, please see this community forum post.

If you sign into the Nest app with a Google Account, you can manage home members in the Home app. Bear in mind that only home members who also sign in with a Google Account will be able to see your Nest products in the Nest app.

Family Accounts let other people share access to your home and your Nest products in the Nest app. Depending on the level of shared access that you choose, people that you invite can add, remove and control Nest products in the Nest app.

The maximum number of people who can share a Nest home is 20:

• One owner
• Up to nine additional people with full access
• Up to 10 people with Home Entry Only

Differences between levels of shared access

There are three levels of access to a Nest home with the Nest app.

The owner

You’re the owner if you created an account in the Nest app and added the first Nest product to it. The owner can:

• Control all products in the app.
• Manage subscriptions.
• Change billing.
• View account and activity history.
• Change settings.
• Invite people to share access.

Full access

People who have full access can:

• Control all products in the app.
• Change settings.
• View account and activity history.
• Invite people to share access.

Home entry only

People who have 'Home entry only' access:

• Can’t use the app to control your Nest products.
• Are assigned a passcode to unlock the Google Nest x Yale lock. The owner and anyone with full access can change this passcode or schedule access times.
• Can’t view history for the home to which they have access. (For example, Home/Away Assist activity history).

Note: You’ll only see the Home Entry Only option in the app if you share access to a home that has a Nest x Yale lock installed.

Details about each level of access

The table below highlights some key differences between the owner and people with full access or 'Home entry only' access:

	Owner	Full access	Home entry only
Requires an account in the Nest app
Add or remove Nest products from the app
Change settings for Nest products in the app
Contribute to Home/Away Assist activity history
View Home/Away Assist activity history
Use a phone to help Home/Away Assist switch between Home and Away
Receive notifications from the Nest app and receive the monthly Home Report
Invite other people to the Nest home
Remove other people from the Nest home, except the owner.
Add or remove Works with Nest connections
Update billing information and purchase or cancel Nest Aware
Delete or edit homes with the app
Google Nest thermostat
	Owner	Full access	Home entry only
Change the temperature and control the thermostat with the app
Enrol in rebate and rewards programmes from Nest’s partners, where applicable
Google Nest cameras and video doorbell
	Owner	Full access	Home entry only
Create clips, view live video and video history
Nest x Yale lock
	Owner	Full access	Home entry only
Lock and unlock with the app
Lock and unlock with a passcode on the keypad
Lock and unlock only during scheduled times

Find out who has access to your Nest home

You can see people who have access to the home in the Nest app.

1. On the Nest app home screen, tap Settings .

2. Tap Family and guests .

   • If you don’t have a Nest x Yale lock, it will only say Family.

3. Scroll down to see everyone who has access to your Nest home.

   • People with full access are grouped at the top.

   • People who have Home entry only are grouped at the bottom.

   • Owner appears next to the person who has created the home.

   • Invited appears next to people who haven’t yet accepted the invitation to share access to the home.

   • Access expired appears next to people with Home Entry Only who are past their scheduled end date. They can no longer lock or unlock Nest x Yale lock.

 

Account security in a shared Nest home

Each person should use their own account when you invite them to share access to your Nest home. Sharing your sign-in credentials can compromise security of your Nest Home and cause unexpected behaviour with features like Home/Away Assist.

For example, if someone is signed into your account in the Nest app and they leave with their phone, your thermostat may automatically switch to Eco Temperature or your camera may automatically turn on, even if you’re still at home.

Each person with shared access should use their own phone or email to complete 2-Step Verification when signing in to their Nest account. If they can’t access the phone or email that the verification code is sent to, they won’t be able to sign in to the Nest app.

Invite other people to your Nest home

Note: If you sign in to the Nest app with your Google Account, you can invite people to share access to your Nest home with the Home app. The Nest app will also let you know whether you have to go to the Home app to do this.

Give someone full access

Full access will let someone view and control any Nest products that you have and invite others to share your home. This is best for people who live in your home.

1. Open the Nest app.

2. If you have more than one home in the Nest app, make sure that the one to which you want to grant access is active on the app home screen. If it’s not, tap Menu on the home screen, then select the home that you want.

3. Tap Settings on the home screen.

4. Tap Family and guests .

   • If you don’t have a Nest x Yale lock, it’ll only say Family.

5. Tap Add a person.

6. Enter the person’s name as you’d like it to appear in the app and tap Continue.

7. If you have a Nest x Yale lock, you’ll see options for Full access and Home Entry Only. Choose Full access.

8. Enter an email address or tap Add from contacts to select from your phone’s contact list. You can add a personal message to the email invitation.

9. Tap Send.

The person should receive an email invitation from [e-mail] within a couple of minutes.

If they don’t already have an account in the Nest app, they’ll be asked to create one.

Give limited access with Home Entry Only

Home Entry Only only lets someone lock or unlock the Nest x Yale lock. This is best for people such as guests who you don’t want to view or control your other Nest products.

If you choose this option, the Nest app generates an entry passcode and lets you set a schedule for them to enter your home at certain times.

1. Open the Nest app.

2. If you have more than one home in the Nest app, make sure that the one to which you want to grant access is active on the app home screen. If it’s not, tap Menu on the app home screen, then select the home that you want.

3. Tap Settings on the home screen.

4. Tap Family and guests .

5. Tap Add a person.

6. Enter the person’s name as you’d like it to appear in the Nest app and tap Continue.

7. Tap Home entry only.

8. An entry passcode will be generated automatically for the person.

• If you want to create your own passcode for them:

  1. Tap the Show passcode to view the passcode.

  2. Tap Change passcode.

  3. Enter a new passcode and tap Save.

9. You can also set a schedule to choose when the person can enter your home:

1. Tap Schedule .

2. Tap Starts to set a start date for entry, and tap Expires if you want to set an end date for entry to your home.

3. Set the daily schedule to allow them to enter your home all day, or at certain times of the day and specific days of the week.

4. Tap Back to save your changes and return to the person’s profile.

10. To email the passcode to the person, tap Send info. If you make any changes to their schedule or passcode later, you can always select Send update.

11. Enter the email address and add a short note about what the person might need to know about your home.

12. Tap Send.

They should receive an email invitation from [e-mail] within a couple of minutes.

The email will include a passcode that they can use to lock or unlock the Nest x Yale lock when they enter and leave.

Send an invitation to another Nest home

If you want to invite someone to share access to both of your homes, you need to send them separate invitations to each home. 

Invite them to one home, then switch homes in the app. To do this, tap Menu  and select your other home. After you select your other home, repeat the steps above.

Accept an email invitation to a Nest home

Full access

1. Open your email invitation. Welcome home will be the subject. If you can’t find it, check your junk or spam folder.

2. Select Accept invitation. If the link doesn’t open, use a different device or web browser to accept the invitation.

3. Sign in to the Nest app or create an account. You should see the home to which you’ve been invited and access it straight away.

Note: You can only create an account in the Nest app with the email address to which the invitation was sent. If you want to use a different email for your account, ask the sender to re-invite you via your preferred email address.

Home entry only

1. Open your email invitation. Get a passcode for [person’s name]'s home will be the subject. If you can’t find it, check your junk or spam folder.

2. Tap on Get the passcode.

3. You should see your unique passcode.

• Enter your passcode on Nest x Yale lock’s keypad to unlock and lock a door.

• If the person who invited you also set an access expiry date or set an entry/exit schedule for you, you should see those too.

Remove someone's access to your Nest home

If there is someone who’s been invited to your Nest home via the Nest app and you no longer want to give them access, you can easily remove them from the Nest app.

Anyone who shares full access to a Nest home can remove another person, with one exception. The Nest home’s owner can’t be removed by anyone.

What happens when you remove someone

• They can no longer access or control any of the Nest products or services in your home.

• They won’t receive Nest notifications on their phone or receive emails from Nest about your Nest products.

• If they had full access, they should also get a notification in the Nest app that lets them know that they’ve been removed.
  Note: When someone with full access is removed from a Nest home, their account in the Nest app isn’t deleted. They can always be invited back without the need to go through the account creation steps again.

• If they had Home entry only, make sure that you let them know yourself. They won’t receive a notification or email since Home entry only guests don’t use the Nest app and their emails are not saved to your account.

Remove access

1. Open the Nest app.

2. Tap Settings on the home screen.

3. Select Family and guests .

4. Choose the person that you’d like to remove.

5. Tap Remove access.

6. Confirm that you’d like to remove this person from your Nest home.

Note: If a Nest home is shared with other people through the Home app, their access can only be removed by a home manager with the Google Home app. Their access cannot be removed via the Nest app.

Share camera video without sharing access to your Nest home

You can share your Nest camera video in a number of ways without inviting someone to have full access to your Nest home. This is useful if you’d only like to share video from one camera or you don’t want to share control of other Nest products in your home.

You can set each camera’s sharing settings individually and provide a link to share live streaming. You can even set a password to view your camera.

Share your camera’s video stream with other people

Troubleshooting

What to do if you didn't receive your invitation emails

• Make sure that the person who invited you sent the email to your correct email address. If you have more than one address, ask them which one they sent it to.

Note: You need to accept the invitation with the email address to which the invitation was sent. If you want to join someone’s account with a different email address, ask them to send another invitation to your preferred email address.

• Check your junk or spam folder. Look for an email with the subject line Welcome home.

Troubleshoot accepting an invitation to a Nest home

If you’re new to Nest, or already have a home in your account

1. Check that you have the latest version of the Nest app. You can download and install the Nest app from the Apple app store or Google Play.

2. If the Nest app is up to date, but you still can’t accept the invitation, delete the app and reinstall it. Then try accepting the invitation again.

3. If that doesn’t work, use a different device or web browser or device to accept the invitation.

4. If you still can't accept the invitation, create a new account with a different email address. Then ask the person who invited you to send the invitation again to that email address.

If you have more than one home in your account

If you already have three homes in your account in the Nest app, you can’t add a fourth. Each account is limited to three homes. You can do one of two things:

• Create a new account with a different email address. Then ask the person who invited you to send the invitation again to that email address.

• Remove one of the current homes from your account and try accepting the invitation again.

What to do if your Nest home is missing from the Nest app

If you had access to a Nest home, but you can’t see the home or any of its Nest products in the Nest app, there are three possible reasons:

1. You have another home selected in the app.

2. Your access was removed by someone else.

3. The home was removed by the owner.

If you have more than one home in your account

Check to make sure that you have the right home selected in the Nest app.

1. Open the Nest app.

2. On the home screen, tap Menu .

3. Scroll to the bottom to see your available Nest homes and tap the one that you want.

If you don’t see any Nest products or the home that you want, your access was revoked, or the home was removed by the owner. This may have been accidental or intentional.

1. Look for a Nest email notifying you that your access or the home was removed.

2. If you think that you've been removed by accident, get in touch with someone who also has access to the home and ask them to re-invite you.