My Mom forwarded an article to me saying that Nest has stopped selling the “Nest Protect” smoke detectors because of the “Nest Wave” feature allowing people to disable the alarm? How do I disable this feature??
Good on your Mum for keeping you in the loop and I’m quite impressed that she knows what kind of smoke detector you have in your house too because take away the smarts and the Internet-savvy and the Nest Protect isn’t the coolest and most glamorous thing in the world. Now the Nest Thermostat, well, that’s another story 🙂
I also have a Nest Protect in my house and I like it. It’s sleek looking, far smarter than a regular smoke detector (I really like that it can notify me when it’s triggered even if I’m not at home, something that my regular smoke detectors have no ability to do). It also has some smart features that make it a good addition to a home, though perhaps a version that’s a bit cheaper would be nice…
One of the features of the Nest Protect is what they call “Nest Wave”, the ability to disable a shrieking alarm by waving your hands underneath the unit in a particular pattern. Apparently doing that when it’s not triggered can disable the alarm entirely — ooops! — and that’s why there’s a tiny brouhaha going on right now and why they’ve withdrawn it for sale temporarily. But let’s be clear: you can disable Nest Wave and it’s a software, not hardware, issue in the first place, so I see no reason why the unit should have been frozen.
You can easily check yours with the handy Web-based interface to the Protect too, and disable Nest Wave if that’s an issue. Start here:
You’ve seen this before if you’ve configured your device.
Click on “Protect” to get to the status and configuration area…
Notice on the right the link “Nest Protect Settings”. Click on it.
Almost there. Now click on “Nest Sense”, the second option, and you’ll be able to enable or disable the four main features of the Nest Protect, including Nest Wave:
The first one’s already disabled, so that’s easy. My Nest Protect is, well, protecting me without that buggy “Nest Wave” feature.
But click on it anyway, even if yours is disabled like mine, and you’ll learn a bit more about it:
Notice on the lower left “This feature has been disabled.”
So problem solved. You’re safe and you can assure your Mum that all is well. Now about those dirty dishes piling up in the sink…