Google Cancels Support And Ends Sales In Europe
The first Nest Learning Thermostat was introduced 14 years ago. From Oct.25, it will lose software support and with it some of its unique features. The same will apply to two second-generation models. Here’s all you need to know.
Nest Learning Thermostat to lose support and features in 2025.
The company announced in a blog post that the original thermostat, released in 2011, the second-generation model from 2012 and the second-gen thermostat released in Europe in 2014 will no longer receive software updates from October.
In what it described as a “difficult decision,” Google, which acquired Nest in 2014, says that this will mean “you will no longer be able to control them remotely from your phone or with Google Assistant, but can still adjust the temperature and modify schedules directly on the thermostat,” it says.
Other models are unaffected and, in fact, will gain a benefit: later this year, you’ll be able to create and adjust schedules in the Google Home app, which hasn’t been possible before.
It means that one of the most useful Nest features, Home/Away Assist, which recognizes whether you’re at home or not by the presence of your cellphone and adjusts the heating accordingly, will disappear from these models, all of which are more than 10 years old.
In Europe, Google will retreat from the thermostat market altogether. “Heating systems in Europe are unique and have a variety of hardware and software requirements that make it challenging to build for the diverse set of homes. Therefore moving forward we’ll no longer launch new Nest thermostats in Europe,” Google’s blog post says.
It says that the Google Home platform approach will enable a “wide range of established smart thermostat companies to build energy devices and experiences that cater to these markets.”
The Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen, 2015) and Nest Thermostat E (2018) will continue to be sold in Europe, but only while current supplies last.
To ease the transition, eligible users will be sent special offers. In the U.S., the fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat will be available with $130 off, that’s $149.99 instead of $279.99. In Europe, the Tado Smart Thermostat X Starter Kit will be available with 50% off.
The Nest Learning Thermostat is a handsome, effective device, one that arguably kickstarted the smart home revolution with its simple usability and gorgeous design. Now, it’ll be down to other manufacturers to take up that mantle.