Wired Doorbell V2 and Google Home

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Now that it is installed … the V2 doorbell seems to communicate properly with my (much older) Google Home “screen” (or whatever it is called). That is to say … everything works except for the audio from the Google Home … to the Wyze V2 doorbell. Talk at the doorbell … and you can hear it inside. Talk inside … don’t hear anything outside (at the doorbell).

Two-way communication works fine with the iPhone … but there is this one problem with the Google Home device. Do not think it is a Google Home hardware problem (microphone issue) … because two-way communication was possible with the Nest doorbell that the Wyze V2 doorbell replaced.

Is this a Google Home setup issue? … a Wyze setup issue? Any advice on where to look will be appreciated.

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Since Nest is a Google product, I think I’d expect that to deliver 2-way audio in Google Home. I have never known (or expected) Wyze or other third-party devices to deliver 2-way audio with Google Home and this has not been my experience, though I think I might’ve read about this working for some Wyze Cams with Amazon Echo devices.

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Can’t speak to Google, but it is possible to talk to my regular cameras using the alexa app on my phone. But I do have to tap the mic button, so not sure if it would be automatic on an Echo device (or work at all).

On my fire TV stick I can hold the mic button on the remote to talk to the cam. Again that’s not quite the same as a standalone device, so not sure how an Echo would work.

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Did you check the Help Center?

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Crease,

You have been enormously helpful … thank you. And I have not seen this chart in the Help Center.

Seems like Google (and thus Google Home and Nest) are determined to shoot themselves in the foot. Apparently they have ended support for the gen-1 Nest thermostats.

And by NOT supporting 3rd-party video doorbells … just one less reason to even have a Google Home speaker/screen. For us the Auto-open live stream w/ two-talk is the most useful function of the video doorbell. So … with the new Wyse wired video doorbell V2 … we’ll just answer the door with our phones. One more thing the Google Home will not used for. Soon it will be little more than a paper weight.

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It gets even more annoying when Amazon devices (which run Google’s Android) will NOT work with any google technology. And Google has blocked my Pixel phone from being able to screen share to amazon fire devices, even though both use android’s standard mirroring tech.

Dragging customers into disputes (like the cable and TV network companies love to do) is getting really old and should probably fall under antitrust laws.

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You’re welcome, and thank you for sharing the article about Nest. I don’t own any of those products, but reading the article made me wonder about what my sister and brother-in-law use, and when I look up the settings for their smart thermostat in Google Home, I can see that it’s a “Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen)”, so it should be unaffected…for now. That also made me think about what Belkin did with some Wemo products recently. My sister’s household does have a couple of those smart plugs that can no longer contact the mothership.

It is possible to get Video Doorbell v2 to auto-stream to Google Home devices—I’ve done it with a Google Home Hub (1st gen), Chromecast HD, and Google TV—but it requires a work-around with another Wyze device that can act as an Automation Starter within Google Home. For example, you can create a Wyze Automation that turns on a Wyze Plug when the doorbell button is pressed a Google Home Automation that broadcasts an announcement and streams the doorbell camera feed to screens. That’s what I did for a while when I was regularly using Video Doorbell v2. You can find more detailed information at that link or by searching the Forum.

To add some detail to the Help Center article I linked above, if you open the settings for your Video Doorbell v2 within the Google Home app (where you would navigate to assign it to a home or room or change the device’s name within Google Home), you should see a Voice notifications toggle. I believe that’s useful only if your Video Doorbell v2 attached to a Wyze subscription (Cam Plus, Cam Unlimited, etc.). If your doorbell is subscribed and has person detection notifications enabled in the Wyze app, then your Google Home smart speakers/displays should sound a broadcast announcement whenever the camera detects a person.

The person detection announcements are helpful, but I sometimes get false alarms. (You can click or tap to expand this if interested.)

I’m currently using Battery Video Doorbell with a Cam Unlimited subscription. I have Event Recording set for Smart Detection Events with all available SMART MOTION options selected (except Friendly Faces). The device is linked to my home in Google Home, and on its settings page there I have Voice notifications enabled. Additionally, the device is linked in Amazon Alexa, where its settings have Person Detection Announcements enabled.

What often happens when a person shows up on the front porch is that I get voice announcements from both Google Home smart speakers and Amazon Echo devices that a person has been detected by the doorbell, and those announcements are nearly always legitimate. Occasionally I will hear a voice announcement about a person detected from Google Home but not from Alexa, and those—the announcements that I get from Google Home but not from Amazon Alexa—overwhelmingly seem to be false alarms.

I don’t know what accounts for this discrepancy. I would expect Wyze’s server-based person detection to send the same signal to both third-party integrations, but this doesn’t seem to be the case, at least not from my user’s perspective based on the announcements I hear (or don’t). :confused:

Regarding other 3rd-party stuff with Google Home, I’ve read that some of Walmart’s onn-branded cameras are specifically designed to work with Google Home, but I don’t have any experience with those cameras or doorbells. I guess they selectively open their ecosystem and allow things to be built to their specifications for compatibility if the money is right.

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