How to Fix Nest Geofencing (Home/Away Assist) Not Working
Nest's geofencing feature, known as Home/Away Assist, is a fantastic tool for automating your home's security and privacy. It uses your phone's location to automatically turn your cameras on when you leave and off when you return. However, when it stops working, it can be both inconvenient and concerning. You might find your cameras are staying on when you're home, or worse, not turning on when you're away.
This troubleshooting guide, written in professional British English, will walk you through the common causes and solutions to get your Nest geofencing working reliably again.
## Understanding How Geofencing Works
The system relies on a few key things to function correctly:
- The Nest or Google Home app on your phone.
- Your phone's location services (GPS, Wi-Fi, and mobile data).
- The "Family Account" members who share control of the home.
The feature creates a virtual perimeter (a geofence) around your home's address. When the app detects that all family members' phones have left this area, it switches your home's status to "Away." When the first person's phone re-enters the area, it switches to "Home." A failure in any of these components can break the entire process.
## Step 1: Check Your Phone's Core Settings
The most common cause of geofencing failure is incorrect settings on your smartphone. These settings are crucial for the app to know where you are.
### Enable and Configure Location Services
This is the single most important setting.
- For iOS (iPhone): Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. Ensure 'Location Services' is turned ON. Then, scroll down to find the Nest or Google Home app in the list. Tap on it and set 'Allow Location Access' to Always. This is critical; if it's set to 'While Using the App', geofencing will not work correctly.
- For Android: Go to Settings > Location. Ensure 'Use location' is turned ON. Then go to App permissions, find the Nest or Google Home app, and set the location access to Allow all the time.
### Turn Off Battery Saving Modes
Aggressive battery optimisation or low-power modes can prevent apps from checking your location in the background to save power.
- Temporarily disable any 'Battery Saver' or 'Low Power Mode' on your phone.
- On some Android phones, you may need to go into the app's specific battery settings and set it to 'Unrestricted' or 'Don't optimise'.
### Ensure Wi-Fi is Enabled
Your phone uses Wi-Fi signals to get a fast and accurate location fix, even if you are not connected to a network. You should always keep Wi-Fi enabled in your phone's main settings, even when you are away from home.
## Step 2: Check Settings Within the Nest or Google Home App
Once you've confirmed your phone's settings are correct, you need to check the configuration within the app itself.
### Verify Your Home's Location
The app needs to know where your home is to build the geofence around it.
- Open your Nest or Google Home app.
- Go to Settings.
- Find your home's settings and check the address. Make sure the pin is dropped in the correct location on the map. An incorrect address will mean the geofence is in the wrong place.
### Configure What Uses Your Phone's Location
You need to explicitly tell the app to use your phone for presence sensing.
- In the app's Settings, look for Presence sensing.
- Ensure that the option 'Use phone location' is enabled for your phone. You should see your phone listed, and the toggle should be on.
## Step 3: Address Issues with Multiple Users
If you have other people in your home as part of your Family Account, their phone settings are just as important as yours.
- Check Everyone's Phones: The Home/Away Assist feature will only switch to 'Away' when all members have left the geofence. If one person has incorrect location settings on their phone, their phone will always appear to be at home, and the system will never switch to 'Away'.
- Everyone Must Cooperate: You need to ensure every single person in your Nest/Google Home Family Account has followed Step 1 and Step 2 on their own device.
## Step 4: Restart and Reset
If all settings appear correct, a simple restart can sometimes clear up a temporary glitch.
- Restart Your Phone: Turn your phone completely off and then back on again.
- Reinstall the App: As a last resort, try deleting the Nest or Google Home app from your phone and reinstalling it from the app store. This will force you to log in again and re-grant all the necessary permissions, which can often resolve a stubborn issue.
By systematically checking these settings on all associated phones, you can ensure that Nest's geofencing works as intended, providing both convenience and security.