If you are into smart homes, you must be familiar with Google’s Nest lineup of products.

Despite ranking among the best, users have faced various bugs and glitches such as Google Home/Nest not playing YouTube Music and unable to receive password reset emails.

Adding to the trouble, many Google Home app users are now complaining about the Home/Away ‘Presence Sensing’ feature not working.

Google-Nest-Hub-2nd-gen

If you did not know, your Nest device can use your phone’s location and sensors in supported devices to see if you are home or away.

Based on your location, the device can perform certain actions which can be customized according to your needs.

But lately, the feature seems to be bugged with users saying the associated routines never trigger (1,2,3,4,5). This is a deal-breaker for those who bought Nest devices with the intention of using this very functionality in the first place.

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Source

The presence sensing function worked quite well since December 2021. However, I noticed that about a week ago (i.e. April 8), my nest camera did not switch on when I left home. I also noticed that my Google Home app did not change to Away when I left home. I already tried deleting and adding the camera to my home, reinstalling Google Home, turning presence sensing on and off, etc, but nothing helped to resolve the issue. I changed the “main phone” from my mobile to my tablet, and it did not solve the issue either.
(Source)

Since the update to Android 12 Google Home’s precense sensing using my phone’s location is no longer working. It has all the appropriate location permissions. It’s been allowed to run in the background and autolaunch. But it doesn’t seem to be able to trigger my home or away routines. It never logs in the activity list that it noticed I was away or home. It doesn’t seem to be listed in the battery optimization list so I can’t ensure it is turned off. Anyone else have these issues or have suggestions?
(Source)

Unfortunately, Google is yet to comment on the matter. If the Google Nest Home/Away Assist Presence Sensing feature is not working for you, make sure to check out the troubleshooting guide here.

We hope the developers find out the reason why the Google Nest Home/Away Assist Presence Sensing feature is not working and fix it as soon as possible.

Until then, we will be keeping tabs on the matter and let you know once the issue is resolved so stay tuned for updates.

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Google Section so be sure to follow them as well.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Anurag Chawake
1373 Posts

My fascination with technology and computers goes back to the days of Windows XP. Since then, I have been tinkering with OS, mobile phones, and other things. When I am not working on anything, you will find me enjoying video games on some Discord server.

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