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Change Nest Secure settings

On April 8, 2024, Nest will no longer support Nest Secure. It will not be accessible in the Nest app and will no longer connect to the internet. You will not be able to 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, go to this Community Forum post.

You can easily change Google Nest Secure settings and customize alarm options with the Nest app. 

To get to Nest Secure settings, follow these steps:

  1. Tap Settings  on the Nest app home screen.
  2. Tap Security Home guard icon.
  3. You’ll find a list of different options and settings that you can change. 

Home/Away Assist

With Home/Away Assist, all your Nest products, including Nest Secure, can automatically do the right thing as you come and go.

Learn about Home/Away Assist

Here are the options you’ll find for Home/Away Assist.

Set the alarm to manually switch to Home or Away

Tap the switch to enable or disable this option. When enabled, you can manually switch your home to Away or Home mode and Nest Secure will arm or disarm at the same time.

How to manually switch your home to Away or Home mode 

Note: This setting only applies to times you manually switch between Away and Home modes. If your home automatically switches modes, the security level won’t change.

How it responds

If you enabled the option above, these two items will appear. These are for your information only.

  • Home - Alarm off means Nest Secure will disarm when you switch to Home mode. You can’t choose a different security level for this setting.
  • Away - Away and Guarding means Nest Secure will arm when you switch to Away mode. You can’t choose a different security level for this setting.

Remind Me

If set your alarm to manually arm or disarm your Nest Secure, you’ll find this option. Tap the switch to enable or disable Remind Me notifications.

When enabled, Nest Secure can send an alert to your phone when you leave without setting the alarm, and it can send an alert to ask whether you want to disarm when you get home. 

Learn about Remind Me notifications 

Adjust security levels

These are the same options you’ll find in the section "Security levels.” Visit that section for more details.

Professional monitoring

Here you'll find your professional monitoring subscription status. If you subscribe, you can get 24/7 response to Nest Secure alarms from one of our security partners. 

FAQs about professional monitoring for your Nest Secure alarm system 

Cellular backup

Here you’ll find your cellular backup subscription status. If you subscribe, Nest Secure can send notifications even if your home’s Wi-Fi goes down, there’s a power outage, or intruders tamper with your internet connection.

Security levels

Arm with passcode

This setting lets you choose whether you’ll need to enter a passcode when you press one of Google Nest Guard’s buttons to arm it.

Tap the switch to enable or disable the requirement to enter a passcode when you set the alarm.

  • No passcode: You won’t need a passcode to arm Nest Guard (this is the default).
  • Requires passcode: Nest Guard will ask for a passcode when you press the Home and Guarding Home guard icon or Away and Guarding Away and guarding button to arm your system. This setting can be useful if Nest Guard is easily accessible by small children.

Whichever setting you choose, it only applies to the Home and Guarding and Away and Guarding buttons on Nest Guard. You'll never need a passcode to arm using the Nest app or a Google Nest Tag.

Disarm with Nest x Yale Lock

If you have a Google Nest × Yale Lock, you can have Nest Secure disarm at the same time you unlock your door using a passcode on the keypad or the Nest app.

Keep in mind:

  • Nest Secure’s "Entry countdown" needs to be at least 15 seconds to be able to disarm through your Nest × Yale Lock.
  • For security reasons, if someone uses the thumb turn to manually unlock your door, it won’t disarm Nest Secure. For example, if an intruder gets into your home, they won’t be able to disarm the system by opening the door.
  • If Nest Secure’s alarm is already sounding, you won’t be able to disarm through your lock.

Note: You cannot set your lock to automatically arm Nest Secure – you don’t necessarily want to arm your home every time you lock your door.

Reduced motion sensitivity

If you have a small dog (under 40 lbs), tap the switch to turn on reduced motion sensitivity to help prevent false alarms. This setting affects all sensors with motion detection turned on in Home and Guarding or Away and Guarding.

Learn about using Reduced Motion Sensitivity with Nest Secure 

Select a security level Nest Guard off Home guard icon Away and guarding to see and change specific settings like entry and leaving countdowns, motion detection, and Quiet Open for that level.

Security off settings Nest Guard off

Open tones

When Open Tone is enabled, and the alarm is set to Off Nest Guard off, Guard will sound a friendly tone when someone opens a door or window.

Changes to the tone setting only applies to one Google Nest Detect. This lets you customize each Detect's behavior to your liking. For isntance, you can have the tone sound when the door opens, but you can keep it disabled for some or all Detects that are installed on windows.

  1. In Security levels, select the security Off Nest Guard off setting.
  2. Tap Open tones.
  3. Select the Detect you want to change Open Tones for.
  4. Tap the switch to turn the tone on or off for the Detect you've selected.
  5. You can also select the sound Guard will use for the tone.

Note:

  • Quiet Open will override Open Tones and let you silently open a door or window.
  • Open Tones aren't available when Secure is set to Home and Guarding Home guard icon or Away and Guarding Away and guarding. The alarm will sound for those security levels.

Troubleshooting open tones

If the tone doesn’t sound when a door or window is opened, or there’s an unusual delay:

  1. Check to make sure the open tone setting is on for the Detect you’re troubleshooting. Remember, changing the setting doesn’t apply to all Detects, only one.
  2. You may need to change the way your Detect and the open or close magnet are installed. The app provides instructions during setup:

    • The magnet must be installed on the frame of the door or window (which does not move).
    • Detect must be installed on the door or window (which does move).
    • The bottom of Detect and the magnet must be aligned.
    • There should be no more than 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) of space between Detect and the magnet.

For details on how to properly mount Nest Detect and the magnet on a door or window, refer to: Tips for mounting Nest Detect.

Nest secure detect door install
detect sensor inches image

Home and Guarding Home guard icon settings

Entry countdown

Choose the amount of time you have to disarm your system before the alarm sounds. To disarm with your Nest × Yale Lock, you’ll need to set an entry countdown of at least 15 seconds. Keep in mind, changing this setting to a longer time can give unwanted intruders more time before the alarm sounds.

  1. In Security levels, select Home and Guarding Home guard icon.
  2. Select Entry countdown.
  3. Tap Entry countdown again to set the entry countdown for Guard and all Detects.

For advanced settings refer to: customize countdown time for Guard and Detects. 

Motion detection

  1. In Security levels, select Home and Guarding Home guard icon.
  2. Select Motion detection.
  3. Tap the switch on Guard and each Detect for which you want to enable or disable motion detection. Keep in mind, motion detection can’t be turned on for windows, so this option won't appear for Detects installed on windows.

Quiet Open

Quiet Open lets you silently open a door or window that has a Detect installed on it.

  1. In Security levels, select Home and Guarding Home guard icon.
  2. Select Quiet Open.
  3. Tap the switch to enable or disable Quiet Open for your Detects.

Note: The Quiet Open setting applies to all Detects installed in your home.

How to use Quiet Open 

Away and Guarding Away and guarding settings

Entry countdown

Choose the amount of time you have to disarm your system before the alarm sounds. To disarm with your Nest × Yale Lock, you’ll need to set an entry countdown of at least 15 seconds. Keep in mind, changing this setting to a longer time can give unwanted intruders more time before the alarm sounds.
  1. In Security levels, select Away and Guarding Away and guarding.
  2. Select Entry countdown.
  3. Tap Entry countdown again to set the entry countdown for Guard and all Detects.

For advanced settings refer to: customize countdown time for Guard and Detects. 

Leaving countdown

Choose the amount of time you need to leave your home after you arm Nest Secure.

  1. In Security levels, select Away and Guarding Away and guarding.
  2. Select Leaving countdown.
  3. Tap Leaving countdown again and select a time to set the leaving countdown for Guard and all Detects.

Motion detection

  1. In Security levels, select Away and Guarding Away and guarding.
  2. Select Motion detection.
  3. Tap the switch on Guard and each Detect for which you want to enable or disable motion detection. Keep in mind, motion detection can’t be turned on for windows, so this option won't appear for Detects installed on windows.

Turned on limited settings

If you want to comply with UL Security standard requirements, you must install Nest Secure by following the UL installation requirements in the User’s Guide. You must also use the limited settings in the Nest app.

When you turn on limited settings, the following will automatically be set for you:

  • Arming with a passcode is required.
  • Disarming with Nest × Yale Lock is disabled.
  • The entry countdown to disarm is set to 30 seconds.
  • The leaving countdown to arm is set to one minute.

Works with security

Video capture

If you have a Nest camera, it can automatically turn on and record a clip when the alarm sounds. If you have a Nest Aware subscription, your camera will also save the footage to your video history.

Disarm with Nest x Yale Lock

To change this setting, refer to the section “Security levels.”

Settings for Guard and Detect

At the bottom of the screen, you can select the Nest Secure product you want to change settings for.

Nest Guard Settings

Microphone

Guard’s microphone is off by default. The Google Assistant on Nest Guard is an opt-in feature which will turn the microphone on. You can turn it on or off anytime.

Note: If you turn off the microphone, this prevents your Google Assistant from hearing you. If your Assistant is off and the microphone is on, your Assistant will not hear anything, and sound captured by the microphone will be discarded.

How to talk to the Google Assistant through your Nest products 

Check motion detection

This lets you test Guard’s sensor so you know how low, high and far it detects. Press Start to begin.

Wi-Fi connection

If you recently updated your Wi-Fi network name or password, you can update your settings here. Press Start and follow the instructions in the app.

Placement

If you’ve moved Nest Guard, you can change the name of the location where you’ve placed it.

Learn about Nest Guard

This takes you to an article to Learn about how Nest Guard works and what it detects.

Technical info

Technical info shows you things like the current software version, serial number, IP address, and more.

If you want to update Guard’s software manually, you can learn how in the following article:

Learn how to keep your Nest products and the Nest app up to date 

Remove Nest Guard

This will remove Guard from your account so it won’t appear in the app. 

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