How to turn your nest on when you leave work with automatic pro

You can turn your Google Nest camera or doorbell on or off anytime so that you’re always in control of when it streams and records video. There are a few ways to switch your Nest camera on or off with the app:

• Manually switch it on or off to turn it on or off at specific times when your home senses that you’ve left or come back

What happens

When your Nest camera is turned off with the Home or Nest app, it won’t detect sound or motion, stream live video, or record and save activity.

In addition, your camera will stay powered and connected to Wi-Fi when it’s switched off. That way, you can turn it back on and control it remotely in the app. Your camera can also switch on automatically with its schedule, when you leave home, or in the case of an emergency.

Turn your camera on or off

Home app

Note: If you have more than one camera, you can also switch each of your cameras on or off in the same place in the app.

1. Open the Home app .
2. On the home screen, select your camera to view its live video stream.
   Note: If your camera is battery powered, the battery status screen will appear first. Tap Live video to go live.
3. On the live view screen, tap More options .
4. Select Turn on camera or Turn off camera.

Nest app

Camera settings

1. Open the Nest app .
2. On the home screen, select your camera.
3. Tap Settings .
4. Tap the switch next to “Camera On/Off.”

The Spaces view

If your camera has already been turned off, just tap your camera in the home screen’s Spaces view to turn it on.

Unplug to completely power off

If your camera has to be plugged into a power source to work, you can simply unplug it to power it off completely.

However, if you unplug a battery-powered camera, it will continue to work for as long as its battery is charged. So if you want your battery-powered camera to power off completely, you’ll have to let the battery run out.

Note: When you completely turn off power for your camera, you won’t be able to control it or watch its video with the app.

When reconnected to power, it will take some time (usually less than a minute) to restart and reconnect to the Wi-Fi network and the internet, and start streaming again.

The Google Nest Thermostat E and Google Nest Learning Thermostat can learn your daily routine and automatically create a temperature schedule for you. If you prefer to disable learning and have your thermostat follow a fixed temperature schedule, you can turn Auto-Schedule off. That way the schedule won’t change unless you make manual changes to it.

This article applies to the following Google Nest thermostats models:

Nest Thermostat E

Nest Learning Thermostat

Note: Only the Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat can use Auto-Schedule. Auto-Schedule is not available for the Nest Thermostat, so it cannot automatically adjust its temperature schedule. Instead, you can enable Savings Finder to get suggestions to adjust temperatures in the schedule and help save energy.

Different Nest thermostat models give you different options for setting up a temperature schedule that meets your needs:

• Auto-Schedule (Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat only)
• Basic Schedule (for Nest Thermostat E only)
• Quick schedule (Nest Thermostat only)

If you don’t want your Nest Thermostat E or Nest Learning Thermostat to make automatic adjustments to its temperature schedule as it learns what temperatures you like and when, turn off Auto-Schedule. Then, you can manually edit the existing schedule, or create an entirely new one.

1. Turn off Auto-Schedule learning

When you turn off Auto-Schedule, your existing schedule will remain but your thermostat will stop learning from your future adjustments.

In the Nest app:

1. Open the Nest app and select your Nest thermostat.
2. Select SettingsAuto-Schedule.
3. Tap the switch to turn it off.

On your thermostat:

Choose Settings Nest Sense Auto-Schedule Off.

2. Clear the existing schedule (optional)

Before you decide whether to clear your existing schedule, here’s how to see it:

1. Nest Learning Thermostat: Press the ring and choose Schedule .
2. Nest Thermostat E: Press the ring and choose SettingsSchedule.

If you want to keep your existing schedule and manually tweak it, skip to step 3.

If you want to completely erase your existing schedule, follow the steps below:

1. On your thermostat, select SettingsResetSchedule.
2. Depending on which Nest thermostat you have, select either Reset or Clear.

Note: If you have a Nest Thermostat E, you can select Basic to clear your existing schedule and replace it with the default Basic Schedule.

3. Edit or create the schedule

Manually edit or create your thermostat’s schedule to change your home’s temperature at fixed times that you’ve set.

If your home will be unoccupied for an extended period of time, like a vacation, you can set your Google Nest thermostat to Off mode. Off mode disables all regular heating and cooling schedules, but still maintains Safety Temperatures to help prevent your home’s water pipes from freezing or potentially preventing your home from getting severely hot. This way, your thermostat can help prevent possible damage to your home and still work to save you energy.

Off mode doesn’t turn off the power to your Nest thermostat or your system. To completely prevent your Nest thermostat from activating your home’s system, even if temperatures reach extreme levels, you’ll need to disable your Safety Temperatures.

Eco Temperature savings compared to Off mode:

• Off and Eco modes can both help you save energy. You’ll probably save more energy with Off, but it will take longer to return your home to comfortable temperatures.
• When your thermostat is set to Eco, it will run heating or cooling to try to maintain Eco Temperatures. If you have a system with independent fan control, your fan will also follow its schedule.
• When your thermostat is set to Off, it won’t run your fan, and it will only turn on heating and cooling in extreme conditions to maintain Safety Temperatures.

This article applies to all Google Nest thermostat models.

When set to Off:

Your thermostat will stay connected to the internet.
So you’ll still be able to control it with the app,
and it can automatically download software
updates.

This should prevent your pipes from freezing when it gets too cold and should keep your home from overheating when it’s very hot outside. You’ll also get Safety Temperature alerts on your phone.

Note: The Nest thermostat has heating Safety Temperatures enabled by default to help protect your home from getting too cold. You’ll need to enable cooling Safety Temperatures if you want your Nest thermostat to help protect your home from getting too hot.

Set your thermostat to Off mode

On your thermostat:

Nest Thermostat

1. Press and hold the touch bar until “Turn off” appears on the screen.
2. Slide the touch bar to highlight Turn off tap the touch bar to select.

Nest Thermostat E or Nest Learning Thermostat

1. Press your thermostat’s display to view the Quick View menu.
2. Turn the ring to Thermostat , then press to select.
3. Turn the ring to highlight Off, then press to select.

In the Home app:

1. On the home screen, select your thermostat.
2. Tap Temperature mode .
3. Select Off.

In the Nest app:

Note: The Nest app is only compatible with the Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat.

1. On the home screen, select your thermostat.
2. Choose Mode . (You may see “Cool,” “Heat” or “Heat • Cool” below this icon.)
3. Select Off.

Your thermostat will now only tell your system to heat or cool your home when the temperature reaches your Safety Temperatures.

Turn off Safety Temperatures to completely stop cooling and heating

Important: Your thermostat uses Safety Temperatures to help prevent your home from reaching dangerous temperatures that can cause property damage or safety concerns (like frozen pipes). When the Safety Temperatures are disabled, your thermostat can’t help prevent your home from reaching these dangerous temperatures.

On the thermostat

Note: You can turn Safety Temperatures off directly on the Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat only. To turn Safety Temperatures off for the Nest Thermostat, use the Home app.

1. Press the thermostat’s display to get the Quick View menu.
2. Turn the ring to Settings and press to select.
3. Select Equipment.
4. On the “Equipment detected” screen, choose Continue.
5. Select Continue again on the “Your system” screen.
6. Choose Safety temp.
7. Use the dial to change your “Heat to” and “Cool to” temperatures to Off.
8. Select Done to exit.

In the Home app

Note: In the Home app, you can change Safety Temperature settings for the Nest Thermostat only. To change these settings for the Nest Thermostat E or Nest Learning Thermostat, use its display or the Nest app.

1. On the home screen, select your thermostat.
2. Tap Settings .
3. Select Temperature preferences.
4. Tap Safety Temperatures.
5. Tap the plus or minus symbols to raise or lower the temperature. If you have both heating and cooling, you can change their temperature independently.

In the Nest app

Note: The Nest app is only compatible with the Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat.

1. On the home screen, select your thermostat.
2. Tap Settings .
3. Tap Equipment.
4. Select Safety Temperatures.
5. Drag the slider bars until both say “Off.”

Now that your Safety Temperatures are disabled, you can place your thermostat into Off mode and your thermostat will never activate your heating or cooling system.

You can change the behavior of your Google Nest thermostat from the Settings menu. You’ll be able to choose what is displayed on your thermostat like the current temperature or the weather, switch between Fahrenheit and Celsius, reset your schedule or all settings, and more.

You can change options in the Settings menu to customize your thermostat.

1. Press on the ring to open the Quick View menu.
2. Choose Settings .
3. Turn the ring to scroll through the different options and press the ring to choose one.

Your Nest thermostat will show you different options in your settings menu based on the type of system you have and the wires that you have attached. Only options that work with your system will be listed.

Note: If you have a Nest Learning Thermostat, you can find the thermostat schedule in the Quick View menu. If you have a Nest Thermostat E, the schedule should appear under Settings Schedule.

If one of the options below isn’t on your thermostat, your system doesn’t support that setting. If you’re missing an option you think you should have, check your wiring and system type in the Settings Equipment menu.

Nest thermostat settings

Here’s what to expect for each option in the Settings menu:

Schedule (Nest Thermostat E)

Note: If you have a Nest Learning Thermostat, the Thermostat schedule should appear in the Quick View menu instead.

Depending on the type of system you have, you can set up to 3 different schedules for Heat, Cool, and Heat•Cool. If you have a fan installed, you can also set a separate fan schedule.

1. Select the mode you want to update : Heat, Cool, or Heat•Cool.
2. Select Schedule to open the temperature schedule for the current mode.
3. You can set a new schedule or edit your current one.

You can also view and set your thermostat’s schedule in the Nest app.

History (Nest Thermostat E)

Note: If you have a Nest Learning Thermostat, Energy History should appear in the Quick View menu instead.

Energy History shows you how often, and for how long, your heating and cooling system was on.

Home/Away Assist

Home/Away Assist can use your Eco Temperatures to help save energy while no one’s home.

Your Nest thermostat automatically switches to Eco Temperatures after it senses that nobody’s home if you’ve turned on Home/Away Assist to help save you energy.

In the Eco menu, the heating and cooling temperatures you set here will be used when you’re away.

Safety Temp

Safety Temperatures can prevent your home from going above or below certain temperatures when the set limits are reached. You’ll find options to adjust your Safety Temperatures here.

Sensor Schedule

If you have Google Nest Temperature Sensors added to your account, you can adjust your schedule here. To adjust other settings, you need to use the Nest app.

Fan Schedule

Select Fan Schedule to have your fan come on every day to circulate air in your home.

Note: The Fan option only appears if you have a G-wire installed on your thermostat.

Nest Sense

Nest Sense is a combination of sensors and algorithms that help your thermostat learn about you and your home.

Depending on your system type, you may not find all of the below Nest Sense options. Choose an option below to learn how to change its settings:

: When you first set up your thermostat, it learns your temperature habits and automatically create a schedule. : You can’t change this setting. Time-to-Temperature displays how long it takes for your home to reach the temperature that you’ve chosen. If your home is too hot or too cold, it may take more time to reach your desired temperature. : When this is turned on, your thermostat automatically calculates when to turn on heating or cooling so your home can reach a scheduled temperature on time.
Note: If you have either auxiliary heat or a radiant system, the Heat Pump Balance or True Radiant options controls preheating. Early-On controls precooling if you have a cooling system installed. : For homes with a heat pump and auxiliary heat, this option should appear in addition to Early-On. When this is turned on, your thermostat automatically preheats your home so it can reach your scheduled temperature on time. : If you have a radiant system, this option should appear n addition to Early-On. When this is turned on, your thermostat automatically preheats your home so it can reach your scheduled temperature on time. : When this is on, your thermostat can use your air conditioner or heat pump to help reduce excessive humidity in your home. : You can turn this on if your thermostat is frequently in direct sunlight throughout the day. It helps adjust to a more accurate temperature when it’s in direct light. : You can’t change this setting. The Nest Leaf appears on the display or in the Nest app when you choose an energy-saving temperature. : Airwave is for systems with air conditioning. If you have this setting on, the thermostat automatically turns on Airwave when interior humidity falls below a certain level.

Check the link below for more details on each feature:

Reminders

Changing air filters is a simple way to save energy. Turn on this setting if you’d like your Nest thermostat to remind you to change your air filter.

Automatic’s plug-in driving gizmo is like wearable tech for your car. Plug it into the diagnostic port beneath your car’s steering wheel, and you’ll be able to track mileage and maintenance needs on your phone over Bluetooth, or even trigger your smart-home devices to turn off and on as you come go.

Now, Automatic is back with the new and improved Automatic Pro. The pitch is the same as before, but the price has gone up 30 dollars, to $130. For the extra money, the device now includes a fee-free cellular connection that allows it to log your miles even when you don’t have your phone on you.

Automatic also pitches the cellular connection as a means of beefing up the gadget’s smart-home chops. The device already boasts integrations with Amazon’s Alexa, the Nest Learning Thermostat and the free online automation service IFTTT. In those last two cases, Automatic can act as a trigger — telling your Nest thermostat to shut the air off when you leave for work in the morning, or telling your smart lights to turn on when you arrive home at the end of the day. With an unlimited 3G connection, Automatic should be able to make those inter-device connections a little more reliably.

The redesigned Automatic app promises a better user interface and deeper controls.

You’ll also notice a newly refreshed Automatic app, available for both Android and iOS devices. It’s largely a cosmetic overhaul, though Automatic is promising deeper controls for things like notifications and diagnostics, along with an improved Crash Alert feature that can automatically send alerts if the airbags ever deploy. You can also expect to see suggested IFTTT recipes built directly into the app, part of IFTTT’s recent push for native third-party controls.

Automatic Pro is on sale starting today, and available online at Automatic’s website and on Amazon, or in store at Best Buy. We’ll be sure to test it out at the CNET Smart Home just as soon as we get our hands on one.

Craig Lloyd
Craig Lloyd
Writer

Craig Lloyd is a smarthome expert with nearly ten years of professional writing experience. His work has been published by iFixit, Lifehacker, Digital Trends, Slashgear, and GottaBeMobile. Read more.

Out of the box, the Nest Hello works really well, and there’s not really a whole lot you need to change for regular use. However, there are a few setting changes you should at least consider making.

Turn the Camera On and Off Automatically

Most people likely want the Nest Hello camera turned on and available 24/7, but there are some circumstances were that might not be necessary. Thus, you can have the camera turn on and off automatically based on a couple of things.

One way is to have the camera turn on and off based on whether you’re home or not, which it does by using your phone’s geolocation feature. In the settings for your Nest Hello, you can enable “Home/Away Assist” to turn the camera on when you leave your house and off when you get home.

You can also just set a time-based schedule to turn your camera off at a certain time, and then back on at another time. You can customize this under “Schedule” in the settings for your Nest Hello.

Adjust the Video Quality

The Nest Hello can potentially use up a lot of bandwidth and data. If your internet provider has you on a data cap, you may want to tone down the video quality of your Hello so that it doesn’t use up a good chunk of your monthly data.

You can do this by tapping the “Quality and Bandwidth” option on the Settings menu, and then moving the slider to the “Low” setting. By default, it’s set to medium, which Nest says will only use around 120 GB per month. However, the Low setting only uses around 30 GB.

Also, having the camera turn off at certain times (as discussed in the previous section) can save you additional data.

Customize Notifications

You’ll definitely want to adjust the type of notifications you receive from your Nest Hello, especially if you don’t want to be constantly annoyed by them.

Under “Notifications” in the Settings menu, there are a few things you can adjust. First off, you can select what type of notifications you want to receive—either push notifications directly on your phone, or email notifications.

And you can choose to be alerted only when you’re not home, instead of always being alerted no matter what.

You also can customize what kind of alerts you want to receive in the first place. Since the Nest Hello can differentiate between a person and general motion being detected, you can choose whether or not to receive both kinds of alerts, or just one or the other. Personally, since I live on a busy street, I get a lot of false positives with general motion alerts, so I have those notifications disabled.

Finally, you can choose whether or not to receive notifications when a loud sound is detected. Again, living on a busy street, you’ll receive these types of alerts constantly, so they’re really only great if you live in a somewhat quiet area. You’ll need to turn on “Audio Recording” first before you can receive these types of alerts (more on that down below).

Turn Off the Status Light

On the Nest Hello unit, there’s a small green LED status light above the camera. By default, it turns on whenever it’s capturing video.

It’s really not a huge deal or anything, but it’s mostly useless, and it distracts from the subtlety of the Nest Hello’s design. The good news is that you can turn it off by tapping the “Status Light” option in the Settings menu, and ticking the toggle switch off.

Enable Audio Recording

The microphone on the Nest Hello is enabled by default, but audio recording is not. This is a feature you may find useful.

Having the microphone enabled lets you listen to audio while viewing the live feed, but having audio recordings enabled allows the Nest Hello to record audio along with video whenever it’s capturing something. With it disabled, the Hello only records video.

This is also a setting you’ll need enabled if you want to receive notifications when a loud sound is detected.

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Craig Lloyd
Craig Lloyd is a smarthome expert with nearly ten years of professional writing experience. His work has been published by iFixit, Lifehacker, Digital Trends, Slashgear, and GottaBeMobile.
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When you restart your thermostat, it can resolve some issues, like a slow or frozen display, or help it get reconnected to the internet. If you need to clear out some or all of the learning about your home, schedule, or personal settings, you can reset your Nest thermostat.

Differences between restart and reset

Restart your Nest thermostat

• Maintains all your settings, similar to when you restart a computer, phone, or tablet.
• Is a useful troubleshooting step if your thermostat is stuck or frozen, has trouble connecting to the internet, or is not working normally.

Reset your Nest thermostat

• Erases some or all of your thermostat’s information depending on the option you choose.
• Is useful if you’re moving out and need to install your thermostat in a new location, or want to leave your thermostat behind and you want to remove all your personal information.

How to reset or restart your Nest thermostat

Important: Before you reset your thermostat, write down the settings so you can easily restore them if needed. Go to Settings Equipment on your thermostat and record your system wires, your heating type, and your Safety Temperature settings.

1. Press your thermostat ring to open the Quick View menu.
2. Choose Settings .
3. Turn the ring to Reset and press to select.
4. Choose your option from below:

To restart your thermostat

Restart

Your Nest thermostat will not lose any of your information or
settings if you restart it, similar to a computer, phone or tablet.
Your thermostat will boot back up, and you can continue to use it.

To reset all or some of your Nest thermostat’s information

Schedule

If you choose this option, it will clear out your entire temperature
schedule. Any set points that your thermostat has learned, or
that you’ve created, will be erased. You’ll need to create a
brand new schedule from scratch, or wait while your
thermostat learns your new schedule.

Note: If you’re using a Nest Thermostat E and you have Auto-Schedule disabled you’ll see the option to reset to a blank
schedule as above or choose a default schedule. A Default
schedule is an average schedule based on your region with
setpoints already added for you.

Important: If your Nest thermostat controls your hot water,
choosing the schedule option from the reset menu will also
remove any schedule you’ve set for your domestic hot water.
You’ll need to set up your hot water schedule again.

Away

Your thermostat learns how how often you walk by to help
your connected devices automatically switch as you come and go. If you choose this option, all the learned information on your thermostat will be reset.

If you move your thermostat to a new location in your home, or
if you’ve had your home remodeled, you should use this option.
Your thermostat will learn about its new location after a few
days.

Tip: You can improve Home/Away Assist by using your phone
location.

Network

If you reset the network, it will remove all of the network
information from your thermostat. Your thermostat will no
longer be connected to the internet and it will forget your Wi-Fi
password.

To connect your thermostat back to the internet, you’ll need to
select your Wi-Fi network from the Settings Network
menu.

All Settings

If you reset your Nest thermostat to defaults, it will reset any
learning and remove all your personal settings.

Important: You should remove your thermostat from your
account before using this option to reset to defaults.

After you reset to defaults, you’ll need to set it up again just like
you did when you first installed it.

Your thermostat will need time to learn about you and your
home before creating your schedule and activating its energy
saving features.

You’ll also need to add your thermostat to the Nest app again if
you’d like to be able to use it remotely and receive alerts.

How to manually restart if your Nest thermostat is frozen or stuck

This method is only recommended if your thermostat is stuck or frozen, and you can’t reach the menu to restart your thermostat as described in the section above.

Important: Manually restarting your thermostat is similar to turning off a computer instead of shutting it down, so your thermostat could lose some unsaved information.

To manually restart the Nest thermostat:

1. Press your thermostat ring and hold it down until the screen turns off (about 10 seconds). Then let go of the ring.
2. Press and release the ring to turn it back on and complete the restart process. The Nest logo will appear when it begins to start up. The screen will turn on as it finishes.

Restart or reset the Heat Link

In some cases, you may also want to restart or reset your Heat Link. This can be useful when troubleshooting the connection between the Heat Link and your Nest thermostat. You may need to reset the Heat Link to factory defaults if you’ve had your Nest thermostat replaced.

Erase previous settings during thermostat setup

You might need perform this type of reset when you’re first setting up a Nest Thermostat E.

While you’re adding your thermostat to the app, if it gets stuck, the app will tell you to erase your thermostat’s previous settings in order to continue with setup.

Note: Only follow these steps if the app tells you to erase your thermostat’s previous settings during setup. These steps won’t work any other time.

Craig Lloyd
Craig Lloyd
Writer

Craig Lloyd is a smarthome expert with nearly ten years of professional writing experience. His work has been published by iFixit, Lifehacker, Digital Trends, Slashgear, and GottaBeMobile. Read more.

If you have a Wi-Fi cam (like the Nest Cam) set up for security, it’s one thing to catch any perps on video. But it’s also a good idea to scare them away by having lights automatically turn on when any burglars are detected.

Of course, you could use motion sensors connected to your smart lights, but if you don’t have those and already have a Wi-Fi cam set up, you can use that as your motion sensor of sorts—as long as you also have some smart lights (like Philips Hue, for instance).

To make this happen, we’ll be using a service called If This Then That (IFTTT), which uses “applets” to connect different products and services together in order to perform all sorts of automated tasks.

If you haven’t used IFTTT before, check out our guide to getting started for info on how to create an account and connect apps and services. Then, come back here to create the necessary recipe.

We’ll be using Philips Hue lights and a Nest Cam for this tutorial, but this can also be done for a handful of other products, as long as they’re supported by IFTTT.

Start by heading to IFTTT’s home page and click “My Applets” at the top of the page after logging in.

Next, click on “New Applet” off to the right.

Click on “This” highlighted in blue.

Type in “Nest Cam” in the search box or scroll down and find it in the list of products and services below that. Click on it when you locate it.

Connect your Nest Cam to IFTTT if it isn’t already.

After that, select “New motion event” as the trigger. You can also choose “New sound or motion event” to include when sound is detected as well.

Select which Nest Cam you want to apply this applet to. If you only have one Nest Cam, it will be selected by default. Hit “Create trigger”.

Next, click on “That” highlighted in blue.

Type in “Philips Hue” in the search box or scroll down and find it in the list of products and services below that. Click on it when you locate it.

Just like with the Nest Cam, connect your Philips Hue to IFTTT if it isn’t already, and then select the “Turn on lights” action on the next screen.

Click on the dropdown menu and choose which lights you want to have turned on when your Nest Cam detects motion. You can either select a single bulb or a room.

Review the applet and give it a custom name if you wish. Then click “Finish” at the bottom.

Your new applet will now appear in your list of other applets that you have installed and will automatically be enabled. From now on, whenever your Nest Cam detects motion, your Hue lights will turn on.

Unfortunately, one big caveat is that once your lights turn on due to Nest Cam motion, they won’t automatically turn off after a certain amount of time, so you may want to set up a timed schedule for your lights so that they don’t stay on for longer than a few hours.

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Craig Lloyd
Craig Lloyd is a smarthome expert with nearly ten years of professional writing experience. His work has been published by iFixit, Lifehacker, Digital Trends, Slashgear, and GottaBeMobile.
Read Full Bio »
Harry Guinness
Harry Guinness
Writer

Harry Guinness is a photography expert and writer with nearly a decade of experience. His work has been published in newspapers like The New York Times and on a variety of other websites, from Lifehacker to Popular Science and Medium’s OneZero. Read more.

Auto-brightness is a feature designed to save battery life and make your iPhone’s screen easier to read. When you’re somewhere dark, like your bedroom at night, the screen will automatically dim. When you’re somewhere bright, like outside on a sunny day, it’ll crank itself up to maximum brightness.

Auto-brightness is generally pretty good at adapting to changing circumstances, and since the screen is one of the biggest battery drainers on your phone, we’d generally recommend leaving it on. However, if you’re someone who prefers to control it manually, or finds it consistently misses the mark when it comes to the brightness you’re looking for, here’s how to turn it off.

Head to Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations.

Toggle the Auto-Brightness switch to off.

Now the screen brightness will remain constant no matter the light level of your location. If you want to change the brightness, swipe up from the bottom of your screen to access the Control Center (which just got a big update in iOS 11) and adjust the brightness slider. Just be careful not to blind yourself with a really bright screen at night!

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Harry Guinness
Harry Guinness is a photography expert and writer with nearly a decade of experience. His work has been published in newspapers like The New York Times and on a variety of other websites, from Lifehacker to Popular Science and Medium’s OneZero.
Read Full Bio »

The Google Nest is neat and smart, but sometimes it can get out of hand. Furthermore, the Nest fan can sometimes work even if you don’t want it to work. Don’t worry, because we’ll show you how to turn off the fan on your Google Nest.

There are two methods, you can either use the Nest app, or you can use the Nest Thermostat. Also, you should mind the specifications from Google regarding system fans compatible with Nest. Read on for the detailed tutorial, with easy to follow steps and guidelines.

Important Notes from Google

Your system needs to have a separate fan wire installed to use the Nest thermostat for fan options. Otherwise, your fan will only run while the system is actively heating or cooling your home.

The Nest E thermostat is compatible with single system fans, while the Nest learning thermostat supports system fans with up to three speeds. In case you have multiple fan wires, you need to use a Nest Pro for your Nest thermostat installation. Neither of the Nest thermostats is compatible with high voltage forced-air system, or fans with variable speed.

Logically, if you run the fan on your Google Nest all the time, it will increase your electricity bill and consume a lot of energy. It will also use up the air filter more quickly. Running the fan at higher speed will not speed up the heating, it will only increase the energy consumption.

So, you should keep your fan off when you don’t need it. Let’s see how you can do that.

How to Turn Off Fan Using Nest Thermostat

If you don’t like using apps, don’t worry. You can control your Nest Thermostat manually. Here is how:

1. Start the Nest Thermostat to access the main menu.
2. Tap the thermostat ring to bring up Quick View.
3. Select Fan.
4. Set up a timer for when you want the fan to stop, or you can select Stop Fan to turn it off instantly. If you see a spinning fan on the Nest thermostat display, it means that the fan is still on.

You can also set up the daily schedule for your fan using the Nest thermostat. Follow the steps:

1. Start the Nest Thermostat and open the Quick View.
2. Tap on Settings, and choose Fan Schedule.
3. Adjust the fan speed and working schedule to your liking.
4. Press Done when you finish setting things up.

That will automate the fan for everyday use, but you can change these settings whenever you like.

How to Turn Off Fan Using Nest App

You can also control the fan via the Nest app for Android or iOS. That’s relatively easy too. Follow these steps:

1. Open the Nest app on your device.
2. Select the thermostat you want to control.
3. Choose Fan and select for how long it should run. You can also adjust fan speed here.
4. Either press Start to run the fan or press Stop to turn it off.

You can use the app to set up the daily schedule as well. Here are the steps:

1. Open the Nest app.
2. Choose the thermostat you want to use.
3. Select Settings, and then tap Fan Schedule.
4. Tap the slider switch on the Every Day setting to turn it on or off.
5. Choose the time when your fan should run and adjust the speed.

That will automate the fan, but again you can disable the schedule whenever you please, using the same steps.

Save Energy

That’s it. You can finally take full control of your Google Nest and adjust the fans as you please. Fan running non-stop is a common issue with Google Nest, but you can easily avoid it if you turn off the fan manually. Now you know how to do it.

Did you set up a daily fan schedule on your Google Nest? Do you control the fan manually or via the app? Tell us more about it in the comments section below.