Is there any way to tell if someone is watching the Nest Cam? That’s what many people want to know. Nowadays smart cameras are everywhere and many wonder if they can tell if a real person is watching the camera live.
One way to tell whether your camera is actively recording video or being watched is by observing the status light above the camera lens (it will blink green). However, this works in certain cases.
You can tell that someone is watching the live feed of your Nest cam by checking the Nest app. Or through third-party apps such as Alexa or Google (the status LED will blink green). But, this status light will not blink if the user is connecting through cellular data. It will blink if connected on WiFi.
Moreover, Nest cameras use different colors on their LED light to indicate various things such as a malfunction, motion detection, recording, etc.
What color is Nest LED light when someone is watching?
Nest cameras are very popular and you can use them to remotely monitor your home, playback the footage or get alerts and notifications. Therefore, you should know when an unauthorized person is watching your camera’s live stream.
These are the things you should pay attention to:
- If the status light on your Nest Cam is blinking green, it means that someone is watching (streaming) the camera’s live view or has activated Talk and Listen functions.
- If you have Google’s Nest Cam IQ, the status light will blink green if someone is streaming your camera’s live feed via Nest app, Nest website, third-party apps setups such as Alexa, Google Home, etc.
- The status light will not blink if the person streaming the camera’s live feed is using a cellular data connection.
The meaning of Nest Cam colored LED lights
Below we will explain the meaning of each status LED light on your Nest cam. As we said, the camera uses different colors to indicate various things about the camera’s performance.
What does the Green Light on Nest Cam mean?
If you see a solid green light on your Nest camera, it indicates that:
- It is working normally.
- It is recording the current session from its field of view
- It is connected to the WiFi
- It is saving the footage to the cloud
- It is saving the footage to the local storage.
The status light of a Nest camera that is working properly should always be solid green which reassures the user that the camera is recording and storing the videos.
If you decide to reset or reboot the camera while it is in recording mode, then the light will turn off and come back to green once the camera is online. If you see the solid green, the camera has resumed recording and storing the footage.
There’s no way to completely disable the status light, but you can adjust the brightness level via the Nest app. There are three options to choose from: auto, low or high. If the light is bothering you, set it to low.
What does Red Light on Nest Cam Mean?
A solid red light on Nest cameras means that the camera is malfunctioning, there’s something wrong with it and there is no recording. You should contact Nest support for further assistance.
Some other models such the Nest Cam IQ come with two different LED lights; one is the status light and the other is the light ring that surrounds it. The way they combine their lights indicates different things.
For example if the light ring is blinking red, it means the camera is not getting enough power juice from the outlet. It won’t work properly and you need to fix it (use another outlet).
What does Blinking Blue Light on Nest Cam mean?
The camera shows blinking blue light when going through the setup process. It indicates the following:
The camera is ready to be connected to the WiFi, the Nest app, or other third-party apps.
If you restart the Nest camera, it will start blinking blue light to indicate that it is ready to connect and pair.
If the ring on the camera is blinking blue (Nest Cam IQ), it means that you should add the camera to the app.
A solid blue light on the camera means that the device has rebooted by itself and you need to re-add it to the Nest account. Usually, the camera restarts on its own the first time it gets power on after a power interruption. It’ll do the same after the firmware has been updated.
Conclusion
Nest cameras show different colored lights to indicate various things such as the camera working well, not enough power, ready to connect, recording mode etc.
Two of the most important are the solid green light that indicates the camera is recording and the green blinking light which means someone is streaming your live video.
A solid red light means that the camera is malfunctioning and you need to contact Nest for assistance. The blinking blue one means that the camera is ready to connect to the internet.
