Starling Home Hub passes all events registered by your cameras onto HomeKit. The Apple Home app on iOS then shows notifications for these events, depending on its own notification settings.
So, if you do not get notifications from the Home app when your cameras detect motion (and/or when your doorbell button is pressed), it means that either your camera's settings are incorrect (in the Nest app or Google Home app, depending on camera model), or that your Apple Home app's notification settings are incorrect.
Check Apple Home app settings (iOS and Apple TV)
First, check that the Apple Home app, and your iOS device, are configured correctly to show notifications.
- Go to the camera's live view in the Apple Home app on your iOS device, then go to settings ('gears' icon at the top), Status and Notifications and check that Activity Notifications (and/or Doorbell Notifications) is enabled.
- Check that notifications for the Apple Home app are enabled on your iOS device. From your device's home screen, go to Settings, Notifications, Home and check that the settings are as you expect.
- Check that nothing else on your iOS device (for example, a Focus like Do not disturb or Sleep) is set to disable notifications.
To show motion notifications on Apple TV, go to Settings, AirPlay and HomeKit, Cameras & Doorbells and check that Activity Notifications (and/or Doorbell Notifications) is enabled for your cameras.
Once you have confirmed that notifications for the Apple Home app are correctly enabled, if you still do not receive notifications, the next step is to check the settings on the camera itself.
Check camera settings (pre-2021 model cameras)
Pre-2021 model cameras are configured using the Nest app.
To check camera settings, open the Nest app, go to the camera's live view, then go to settings ('gears' icon at the top). First, check that Video recording (or Activity history, if you do not have Nest Aware) is set to On. Then, go to Notifications and look at the Activity and (if present) Zones sections. The settings here determine the events the camera registers. All event types enabled on this screen will be passed onto HomeKit.
Check camera settings (2021 model cameras)
2021 model cameras, along with pre-2021 model cameras that you have transferred to the Google Home app, are configured using the Google Home app.
To check camera settings, open the Google Home app, go to the camera's live view, then go to settings ('gears' icon at the top). First, in the Video section, check that Video history is not set to Off. Then, in the Events section, go to Seen events and check that the kinds of events you are interested in (for example, People) are enabled in the Event history section. All event types enabled on this screen will be passed onto HomeKit.
Try disabling rich event sensors in the Starling app (non-HSV cameras)
HomeKit has a longstanding issue where, under certain rare circumstances, cameras with multiple sensors will not trigger HomeKit motion notifications (note: this issue does not affect doorbell notifications). To work around this issue, go to the Starling app, Nest Home and Product Settings, Camera and Doorbell Settings and uncheck both the Add motion sensors for person and package events and Add motion sensors for familiar face and zone events options.
This will remove the additional camera sensors from HomeKit, but will not prevent HomeKit notifications or automations from triggering on these types of events.
What to do if you still have issues
If you are certain that notifications are enabled in the Apple Home app, and you are also certain that events are enabled for your camera in the Nest or Google Home apps, but you still do not receive notifications via Apple Home when camera events occur, then try restarting your iPhone. Then, restart any Apple devices in your home configured as Apple HomeKit hubs.
If you still have issues, please contact Starling Support with a full description of the problem you are experiencing. So we can help you, please be sure to include in your email: screenshots of the camera's Status and Notifications page in the Apple Home app, and screenshots of the appropriate pages of the Nest or Google Home apps as described above.