This Google Nest Doorbell oversight drives me absolutely bonkers

Like many people, I love to embrace a good holiday season. I buy Halloween candy weeks in advance, cranberry sauce hates to see me coming, and my entire attic is dedicated to holiday decor, including a faux tree that’s much too large for my living room. Thanks to my Google Nest Doorbell, this year, my partner even got our visitors involved. In early October, he gleefully switched the doorbell’s chime to a Halloween one with squeaky bats and eerie sounds, essentially turning our front porch into a Disney-like haunted experience. However, when the season changed, I realized that the fun, spooky sound had overstayed its welcome and set to mix it up. This is how I discovered just how frustrating it can be to change something that should be simple.

As I said, it was my partner who originally set the Halloween chime on our Nest Doorbell, partially because he has the heart of a child but mostly because he knows exactly how to entertain me. Already a fan of the camera for privacy reasons, I loved the added fun. I genuinely felt validated in our decision to install the somewhat pricey doorbell in the first place. Months later, though, I was ready to go back to an everyday vanilla chime. It was Sunday morning, and a man clad in khakis was standing on my porch, package in hand, inexplicably experiencing bat calls. Still in my pajamas and flushed with shame, I knew it was time to finally mitigate my embarrassingly overdue update, and I got right to it. From bed. Changing the tone sounds easy enough: Open the app, scroll through a list of chimes, select one, and voilà, you’re done.

In reality, you have to walk outside to the doorbell itself, press the button, and wait to hear the chime from the device. Now I know how lazy it sounds to say I resented having to get out of bed and change out of my pajamas. However, it was more the act of going outside and ringing the chime repeatedly to test chimes that irked me. For starters, it’s obnoxious for anyone inside, be it a sleeping baby or just a partner wondering what’s going on. Secondly, it looks like you can’t get into your own house. It only takes one nosy neighbor (looking at you, Jess) to leave me self-conscious about extended time trying to enter my own front door.

What’s more, the scenario turned my beloved camera and notification system into pure documentation of my plight. Each time I pressed the doorbell, it triggered our other Nest camera, which then sent a notification to everyone’s phone in the household. It didn’t matter that it was just me testing sounds — I’d get a ping, my partner would get a ping, and anyone else linked to the system would also get an alert. Meanwhile, all the wearables I’m constantly testing buzzed their little hearts out. It felt like every device I owned was mocking me. “Oh, you’re finally getting rid of the bats, huh? Good call, it is March, after all.”

While I was dealing with the chime-changing debacle, I noticed a few other quirks about the doorbell that made me question the overall design. One of the most annoying issues is the slow charging. The Doorbell’s battery life isn’t terrible, but when it does run low, charging time is lengthy. For something designed to be wire-free, I’d expect the process to be faster and more efficient.

The device also sometimes mistakes my porch decor for people. I have a few leafy plants near the front door, and on more than one occasion, Nest has sent me a notification about “motion detected” when it’s just my potted fern blowing in the wind. Granted, the consequential reminder to water said plant isn’t the worst thing in the world, but I’d rather the camera be able to distinguish between shrubs and solicitors.

Despite the app’s shortcomings and the occasional frustrations with the doorbell itself, I still think it’s worth having. The security features are solid, and I love the ability to monitor my front entryway from anywhere. It’s completely wireless, so installation is quick and easy, and the app integrates seamlessly with my smart home system. At the end of the day, five minutes of testing bell chimes is a pretty minor complaint. The doorbell still serves its purpose, and I get plenty of use out of it.