Google is killing software support for early Nest Thermostats

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is is original text from “The Verge”:

Google is killing software support for early Nest Thermostats

The company is also pulling Nest thermostats out of Europe entirely, citing “unique” heating challenges.

by Chris Welch

Apr 25, 2025 at 7:00 PM GMT+2

102 Comments102 New

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Photo: The Verge

Chris Welch

Chris Welch is a senior reviewer who has worked at The Verge since its founding in 2011. His coverage areas include audio (Sonos, Apple, Bose, Sony, etc.), home theater, smartphones, photography, and more.

Google has just announced that it’s ending software updates for the first-generation Nest Learning Thermostat, released in 2011, and the second-gen model that came a year later. This decision also affects the European Nest Learning Thermostat from 2014. “You will no longer be able to control them remotely from your phone or with
Google Assistant, but can still adjust the temperature and modify schedules directly on the thermostat,“ the company wrote in a Friday blog post.

The cutoff date for software updates and general support within the Google Home and Nest apps is October 25th.

No more controlling these “smart” thermostats from a phone.

In other significant news, Google is flatly stating that it has no plans to release additional Nest thermostats in Europe. “Heating systems in Europe are unique and have a variety of hardware and software requirements that make it challenging to build for the diverse set of homes,“ the company said. “The Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen, 2015) and Nest Thermostat E (2018) will continue to be sold in Europe while current supplies last.”

Losing the ability to control these smart thermostats from a phone will inevitably frustrate customers who’ve had Nest hardware in their home for many years now. Google’s not breaking their core functionality, but a lot of the appeal and convenience will disappear as software support winds down. The early Nest Learning Thermostats can at least be used locally without Wi-Fi, which isn’t true of newer models. There’s one bright spot for owners of recent Nest Thermostats: Google says owners “will be able to create and adjust schedules” from the Google Home app later this year for the first time.

Related

Still, this type of phase-out is a very real fear tied to smart home devices as companies put screens into more and more appliances. Is 14 years a reasonable lifespan for the these gadgets before their smarts fade away? There’s no indication that Google plans to open source the hardware.

In a clear attempt to ease customer anger, Google is offering a $130 discount on the fourth-gen Nest Learning Thermostat in the US, $160 off the same device in Canada, and 50 percent savings on the Tado Smart Thermostat X in Europe since the Nest lineup will soon be gone.

The original Nest thermostats were released while the company was an independent brand under the leadership of former Apple executive Tony Fadell. Google acquired Nest in 2014 for $3.2 billion.

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Hi

Not true, only for “dumb” people that buy products from Gafam or cloud tied ! It’s the basic if you want a proper home automation system that lasts that you don’t buy/use products tied with cloud or remote features :wink:

Vincèn

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Its not my text but from The Verge :slight_smile:

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Is there any chance that HA would still be able to control these thermostats?

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That’s why i never buy any cloud-based stuff, or, if i do i immediately change software (to esphome on shelly’s).
I can’t figure out how “complicated” could europe’s system be…??? Heat if below set temperature, cool if above it…(to simplify it); it’s just a (stupid) excuse, nothing more.

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There’s a way to root Nest thermostats. I only found out about it the comment section of that Verge article. I haven’t tried it so I don’t know if it will help us control our Nest Thermostats locally with Home Assistant.

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I’m wondering what will brick when you do this. Will the nest protects still working for example haha

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Here no result.

Running the script, give my password. Directly the message:

[I] - All Done, Drink all the booze, Hack all the things.

Nothing happen. After that. No image on the screen

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The post is 10 years old…

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I know. It was a try… :slight_smile:

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Seems like replacing the device is the best approach.

What are the best/popular HA-compatible thermostats people are using these days? Extra points for not relying on a cloud-based service.

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Make sure your device is not going to be supported first. Mine is Gen 3 and it looks like that will continue, even in Europe.

Here’s how to tell them apart:

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The best one, in my opinion, is HA itself.

All you need is a temperature sensor and some smart switches that either operate on 24V (I think) or have dry contacts. The number of switches depends on your installation (up to 4, I think: fan, cooling, heating, heating2). One of those ESP32 relay boards will do nicely if you can mount them in the heating room—they are a bit big if you need to put them where your old thermostat was.

Add all to HA and then configure the “generic thermostat” helper. Add any screen/display/buttons/voice control you like. Partner acceptance factor may suffer if you don’t. :wink:

Edit: I changed my mind. HA is the second best one. ESPHome running on that relay board with a wired thermometer attached is the best. There’s not much difference, but the ESPHome one is self-contained and as such more robust.

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That depends on where you live and what installation you have. Google is also pulling away from the European market because supporting modern installations here is more work.

Good installations support regulating the burner flame (not just modulating full on/off) using OpenTherm. Modern thermostats have learning capabilities and PID control to prevent overshoot and start/stop at the right time relative to schedule. The best also support weather based adjustments. Doing all this right is not impossible for HA, but hard nontheless.

Besides that, you do not want your heating to depend on HA being opertive.

So the best thing is a full local intelligent thermostat with integration capabilities, such as Honeywell Evohome or similar.

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One of options (with some programming) is a “famous” 4 inch “guition lcd”. Pretty cheap (around 30€ with 3 relays, around 20 without relays and psu), really good quality lcd, just some lvgl programming skills are needeed. And you can design it as you wish, not as google decided…

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I’d blame the prevalence of per-room control more than complicated control schemes. The Nest was design from the ground up to turn a complete house on and off—which matches the North American way of using central air heating and cooling. It is pretty useless when each room has its own water valve and the heating system turns on and off based on the temperature difference between outgoing and return flow all by itself.

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Thanks, I forgot about that one. The ones I had in mind are light switches and don’t have dry contacts. Yes, that would be a great plug-in replacement for a thermostat.

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I saw a video and it was explained why Google shutdown the first and second Gen thermostat. But they also had a big red flag sign:

When you have Nest Protects they also not gonna work anymore remotely… So when your house is on fire you won’t get a notification anymore.

Can someone confirm this? Otherwise I have to replace my 3 Nest protects :((( (im sad) and I have to replace my Nest Thermostat…