nest-view

Connecting Nest View to your cameras

Nest View talks to Google’s Smart Device Management (SDM) API through your own Device Access project. You do this once; afterwards the app opens straight into the cameras.

You need: the Google account that owns your Nest cameras (in the Google Home app), a one-time US$5 Device Access registration fee, and about 20 minutes.

1. Google Cloud project

  1. Open https://console.cloud.google.com/ and create a project (any name, e.g. “Nest View”).
  2. APIs & Services → Library: enable Smart Device Management API.
  3. Google Auth Platform → Branding / Audience (the OAuth consent screen):
    • User type External, app name “Nest View”, your email as support and developer contact.
    • Google only lets you publish once Branding also has an application home page and an application privacy policy link, both on a site you control. Your own fork of this repo gives you one in a few clicks (see Your own home page and privacy policy below). Enter its two addresses here and add <your-github-name>.github.io under Authorized domains.
    • Leave the logo empty: uploading one makes Google require a verification review.
    • Add your Google account (and your partner’s) as test users.
    • Then press Publish app so the status is In production. While the app is in “Testing”, Google expires the sign-in after 7 days. An unverified app is fine for personal use: Google shows a “Google hasn’t verified this app” warning, which you can pass with Advanced → Go to Nest View.

2. OAuth client (Android)

  1. Get the SHA-1 of the key that signs the app. For debug and the provided release setup this is the Android debug key:

    keytool -list -v -keystore "%USERPROFILE%\.android\debug.keystore" -alias androiddebugkey -storepass android -keypass android
  2. Google Auth Platform → Clients → Create client: type Android, package name app.nestview, the SHA-1 from above.
  3. Open the new client, expand Advanced settings, tick Enable custom URI scheme, save.
  4. Copy the client ID (1234-abc.apps.googleusercontent.com).

3. Device Access project

  1. Open https://console.nest.google.com/device-access, accept the terms and pay the fee.
  2. Create project, paste the OAuth client ID. Skip “events” (Pub/Sub) for now.
  3. Copy the Project ID (a UUID).

4. Build with your settings

Add to local.properties in the project root (it is not committed):

SDM_PROJECT_ID=your-device-access-project-id
OAUTH_CLIENT_ID=1234-abc.apps.googleusercontent.com

Build and install:

gradlew.bat installDebug

5. First start

Tap Connect Google Home. Google shows its Nest permissions page: pick your home, allow access to the cameras you want to watch, and continue. The app lists your cameras and opens the monitor. That’s it.

If Google rejects the sign-in redirect

Some accounts or consoles don’t accept the Android custom-scheme redirect. Use a Web client and a paste step instead:

  1. Create a second OAuth client of type Web application with authorized redirect URI https://www.google.com.
  2. In the Device Access console, change the project’s OAuth client ID to this Web client.

  3. In local.properties (or in the app under Device Access settings):

    OAUTH_CLIENT_ID=5678-def.apps.googleusercontent.com
OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET=GOCSPX-...
OAUTH_REDIRECT_URI=https://www.google.com
  4. Connect Google Home now opens the browser. When Google lands on google.com, copy that page’s full address (it contains code=) and paste it into the app.

Your own home page and privacy policy

The docs folder of this repo is a small website with a start page and a privacy policy. Publish your own copy of it, so the links on your Google sign-in screen are yours and keep working whatever happens to anyone else’s:

  1. Sign in to GitHub and open https://github.com/dzemskov/nest-view. Press Fork, then Create fork.
  2. In your fork, open Settings → Pages. Under Build and deployment pick Deploy from a branch, branch master, folder /docs, and press Save.
  3. After a minute or two the site is live. Use these on Google’s Branding page:
    • Application home page: https://<your-github-name>.github.io/nest-view/
    • Application privacy policy link: https://<your-github-name>.github.io/nest-view/PRIVACY.html
    • Authorized domain: <your-github-name>.github.io

If you change the app so it handles data differently (for example it sends anything somewhere other than Google), update docs/PRIVACY.md in your fork to match.

More phones and tablets

Install the same APK on each device and connect once on each. Every device streams directly from Google, so they don’t depend on each other. A Device Access sandbox project allows up to 25 Google accounts, 5 per home.

Which cameras work

WebRTC cameras: Nest Cam (battery), Nest Cam (wired, 2nd gen), Nest Cam with floodlight, Nest Doorbell (battery / wired), and older Nest Cams that were moved to the Google Home app. Cameras that only offer RTSP (Nest Cam IQ, Nest Hub Max, Nest Hello, older cams still in the Nest app) are listed as skipped. The 2025 3rd-generation cameras are not available through the SDM API.