Is Google Nest safe? Privacy, police requests & security record
Facts last verified · Every claim is linked to its source · Methodology
Answer: Google Nest: 1 qualifying incident in our tracker since Oct 2021; police requests: legal process; privacy policy: says no sale. Highest-scoring device we track: Google Nest Doorbell (battery) (22/100).
Google Nest devices we track
| Device | Score | Offline | Local storage | Home Assistant | RTSP/ONVIF | Subscription | Account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Nest Doorbell (battery)Doorbell · Battery or wired | 22 | Partial | Buffer only | Cloud | No | Partly | Required |
| Google Nest Cam (battery)Camera · Battery or wired | 22 | Partial | Buffer only | Cloud | No | Partly | Required |
| Google Nest Doorbell (wired, 3rd gen)Doorbell · Wired | 19 | Partial | Buffer only | Unverified | No | Partly | Required |
| Google Nest Cam Indoor (wired, 3rd gen)Camera · Plug-in | 19 | Partial | Buffer only | Unverified | No | Partly | Required |
Police & law-enforcement requests
Legal process Requires legal process but has an emergency exception to share without a warrant; said in 2022 it had never used it for Nest.12 Compare companies
Privacy policy: selling or sharing data
Says no sale "Google does not sell your personal information" and does not "share" it as defined in the CCPA.3
Security incidents, vulnerabilities & regulator actions
What counts is set by our incident inclusion rule; entries before Oct 2021 are listed but not scored.
| Date | Company | What happened | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2026 | Google Nest | In the Nancy Guthrie case, the FBI said it recovered Nest doorbell video "from residual data located in backend systems" with Google's help, after a search warrant, although the owner had no subscription. Free Nest history is documented as about 3 hours.456 | Undisclosed sharing / retention |
Informational only, not legal advice. Found an error? Tell us.
Sources
- The Verge: Which camera companies share video without a warrant (Jul 2022) · checked Oct 22, 2026
- Consumer Reports: Ring, Google, SimpliSafe could share footage with police · checked Oct 22, 2026
- Google Privacy Policy · checked Oct 22, 2026
- CNN: How Google helped recover video from Nancy Guthrie's cameras (Feb 2026) · checked Oct 22, 2026
- The Verge: FBI releases recovered footage from Nancy Guthrie's Nest cam (Feb 2026) · checked Oct 22, 2026
- Google Store: Nest Doorbell · checked Oct 22, 2026