Keep your home running smoothly, even when you’re away.

Fortunately, smart home devices can let you remotely see who’s at the front door, or adjust the temperature to prevent pipes from bursting in the bitter cold. 

Here are some ways you can use smart devices to manage your home from afar.

When one new dad in California goes on vacation with his wife and their baby, he relies in part on his neighbor, Bob, to keep an eye on things. He’s also installed a smart video doorbell so he’ll know when someone has come to the house – whether it’s a delivery driver dropping off an unexpected package or a stranger trying to enter their home. Bob gets an alert on his phone, where he can see who (or what) is at the door through the doorbell camera.¹ The Nest Doorbell even allows Bob to manage his home remotely by selecting a list of pre-recorded messages to use when he can’t be there.

If you’re away and having a neighbor feed your cat, Nest Cams can be set up in key rooms around the house to provide peace of mind when others are coming and going. Plus, it’s a great way to keep an eye on kitty if you’re missing her. And the Nest x Yale Lock is an easy way to let people in – either through a custom code you create, or by unlocking the door remotely through the Google Home app.¹

Adrienne Preuss and her husband keep an eye on their beach home with Nest Cams pointed strategically around the property. This helps them see through the Google Home app whether the house has suffered any damage from the frequent winter storms. 

“The vast majority of our neighbors there are like us – they’re only there in the summer,” says Preuss. “That means that if something goes wrong in the winter, we likely wouldn’t notice until the start of beach season.”

Those especially worried about emergencies while they’re away can opt into Google Home Premium, a service that uses sound detection through connected devices to alert subscribers to specific noises, such as breaking glass.² When it’s activated, homeowners are alerted to potential issues through the Google Home app. And if there’s an emergency when they’re away, they can call 911 from the app to reach the call center closest to their home.¹ A Standard plan unlocks intelligent alerts that let you know who’s at your door, zoomed-in previews so you can see the important moments up close, and 30 days of event history.¹ Each device can even tell the difference between familiar faces, animals, and cars.³ Plus, “Help me create” lets you build security-enhancing automations in seconds using the Google Home app.^1,4

For even more peace of mind, the Advanced plan gives you 60 days of event history, and 10 days of 24/7 continuous video recording.¹ You’ll also get more detailed descriptions in your alerts, like “A person opened the front door and let the dogs out,” or “A rabbit is eating garden plants.” If you want a full summary of events recorded that day, the Advanced plan can use Gemini to give you a daily recap, so you won’t miss a thing.⁵

One of the easiest ways to manage your home remotely and make sure your house is safe, secure, and ready upon your return is to set up routines in the Google Home app to automate connected devices. Home & Away Routines can manage Nest thermostats, smart plugs and switches, Nest Cams, and more.⁶ Presence sensing can help your devices adjust to your needs when you’re home or away, like turning your Nest Cams on automatically when you leave so you can keep an eye on things with the Google Home app.³

One family in upstate New York uses automations to turn smart lights on and off or have their connected TV or music on their Nest Audio come on when they’re away. They like the appearance that someone’s always there.

When you’re not home, you don’t need the heat or air conditioning at full blast. With the Nest Thermostat, you can control your thermostat remotely in the Google Home app, or set Home & Away Routines to lower energy usage.⁷ You can also use it to suggest comfortable temperature ranges when guests stay at your house, or set it to adjust automatically in case they forget to turn it down when they leave. For Jake Vest’s family in Chicago, the Nest Thermostat helps keep their second home near Lake Michigan running at optimal temps with Eco Temperatures. In the winter, that means it doesn’t waste energy heating an empty home, but still keeps the house warm enough to prevent frozen pipes. “It saves money and reduces energy consumption. Win-win,” says Vest. “And, I can make sure the house is at a comfortable temperature when guests arrive.”

HVAC monitoring⁸ alerts in the Google Home app let the Vest family know if everything is functioning as it should. If it takes longer than usual to warm up the house, or the heat shuts off by itself, a notification will go out.

Your home is a special place. Smart home devices can help you stay connected to it even when you’re thousands of miles away.