Starling Home Hub supports live video/audio, notifications and automations in the Apple Home app for all Nest cameras, including the older-generation Nest Cam Indoor/Outdoor/IQ, Nest Doorbell (wired) and Google Nest Hub Max cameras.
Additionally, Starling Home Hub supports HomeKit Secure Video for compatible 2021 and 2022 model cameras, enabling iCloud recording (including viewing, sharing and downloading 10 days of event video clips from within the Apple Home app), HomeKit Activity Zones, HomeKit Face Recognition, rich notifications and more. HomeKit Secure Video is also supported for first-generation Nest cameras transferred to the Google Home app. HomeKit Secure Video requires a Nest Aware subscription and an appropriate iCloud plan. HomeKit Secure Video is not available for cameras running off battery or solar power.
The following Nest camera models support iCloud recording with HomeKit Secure Video:
- First-generation Nest Cam (all models) and Nest Hello / Nest Doorbell transferred to the Google Home app
- 2021 model Nest Cam (wired)
- 2021 model Nest Cam (battery) when plugged in to a power outlet
- 2021 model Nest Cam with Floodlight
- 2022 model Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen)
All other camera models, including pre-2021 models and the 2021 model Nest Doorbell (battery), do not support HomeKit Secure Video. These models still support all other HomeKit functions (including live video/audio in the Apple Home app), but not event recording.
HomeKit Secure Video requires a hub purchased after December 2019 running firmware 11.0 or later.
Enabling HomeKit Secure Video in Starling Home Hub's Configuration
When you set up your hub, HomeKit Secure Video is initially turned off for all cameras.
To turn on HomeKit Secure Video to enable event recording, go to the Starling Home Hub app, navigate to the HomeKit Secure Video section, and select (check) the cameras you wish to enroll. Up to 10 cameras can be selected.
If HomeKit Secure Video is enabled for a camera:
- Enhanced-performance live video/audio streaming will be available (streams will start in under a second in the Apple Home app)
- 10 days of video event history can be securely recorded to iCloud, and available for access via the camera's event timeline in the Apple Home app
- iOS notifications for events will include the type of event triggered (e.g. person, animal), along with any recognized faces
- HomeKit Activity Zones can be set up to restrict when notifications are sent or video events are recorded
- Automations can be created in the Apple Home app to trigger off detected activity only - specific triggers for individual faces, activity types, or Activity Zones are not available (as of iOS 15 - specific event triggers may be added in a future iOS release)
- Between 75GB and 150GB of additional data per month will be used (per camera)
If HomeKit Secure Video is disabled for a camera:
- Standard live video/audio streaming will be available (streams will start within a few seconds in the Apple Home app)
- No event history will be recorded to iCloud
- iOS notifications will be generic ('activity detected')
- Activity Zones to restrict notifications can be set up in the Google Home app only
- Automations can be created in the Apple Home app to trigger off individual activity types (e.g. person, animal), specific Familiar Faces being seen, or events occurring in specific Activity Zones
- Additional data will only be used while you are watching live video
Enabling Event Recording in Apple Home
Once you have selected cameras to enable for HomeKit Secure Video in Starling Home Hub's configuration, please wait 30 seconds for the updated settings to sync with HomeKit.
Then, open the Apple Home app on iOS, start the live view for one of your cameras, then press the 'gears' icon at the top of the screen. Select Recording Options, then set When Home and/or When Away to Stream & Allow Recording. Under More Options, you can also choose what kinds of activity your camera records, for example, Any Motion is Detected or Specific Motion is Detected.
Google Home App Settings for HomeKit Secure Video
For HomeKit Secure Video to work, video history must be enabled for the camera in the Google Home app. To confirm this, open the Google Home app, go to the camera's live view, press the 'gears' icon at the top to navigate to the camera's settings, press Video, then make sure that Video history is not set to Off.
Event settings in the Google Home app combine with the Apple Home app settings in More Options to determine what is recorded to the HomeKit Secure Video timeline. For example, if in the Google Home app (in the camera's Events settings) the camera is set to detect People only, HomeKit Secure Video will only be able to record events that Nest's image recognition system thinks contain people. To avoid confusion, we therefore recommend that:
- You configure the camera (via the Events page in the Google Home app) to trigger on the camera events you are interested in - most of the time, this will mean no change to the camera's Google Home app settings
- In the Apple Home app, in the camera's More Options section, Any Motion is Detected is set.
Please note that, even with the above settings, events recorded by the Google Home app, and the Apple Home app, may not exactly match. Google's and Apple's algorithms for detecting people, animals and other events are not identical, but they should in general work equally well.
Using HomeKit Secure Video
Further information on how to use HomeKit Secure Video's many features can be found in this Apple Support article.
Problems with HomeKit Secure Video?
If you have any issues using HomeKit Secure Video recording, please visit our dedicated HomeKit Secure Video troubleshooting guide for further assistance.