Can you connect Nest devices to Alexa? Yes, here's how

While Amazon and Google are normally rivals in the smart home space, they do make concessions to each other out of practical necessity — after all, you can sell more cameras and thermostats if they support multiple platforms. So do Google Nest products work Alexa? The answer is yes, but only some of them. Here’s how to connect the ones that do work.

How to connect your Nest devices to Alexa

As with any third-party Alexa accessory, the key is enabling an associated “skill,” in this case the Google Nest skill. You can do that through its Amazon web listing, or else by using the Alexa mobile app. In the app:

• Select the More tab, then Skills and Games.
• Using the magnifying glass icon in the upper right to search for “Google Nest.”
• Tap on its listing, and you should see a button to enable the skill.
• Follow prompts to link your Google account.

Once this is done, any compatible Google Nest devices linked to your Google account will be automatically imported into Alexa. That does mean that they have to have been set up in the Google Home app first, but the advantage is that if you remove a device in Home, that change will carry over to Alexa.

Which Google Nest devices work with Alexa?

Only Nest Cams, Doorbells, and Thermostats are supported in Alexa at the moment. You can for instance say “Alexa, show the [camera name] feed” to stream Cam or Doorbell footage to an Echo Show or Fire TV. With Doorbells, you can use camera controls as well as “Alexa, answer the [doorbell name/location],” which initiates two-way talk.

Thermostats support a variety of natural-language commands based on how many you have and where they’re located. If you only have one smart thermostat, you can say something like “Alexa, set the thermostat to 71 degrees,” or “Alexa, set the temperature to 68.” Otherwise you’ll want to refer to the room a Nest is located in — e.g. “Alexa, set the Upstairs temperature to 68,” or “Alexa, set the Basement to 72.”

Cross-platform support will hopefully improve in the near future. Both Amazon and Google are backers of Matter, a newly-launched protocol that lets branded accessories work on any major smart home platform. It will take time for the standard to spread to all device types.

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