Google discontinues its Nest Secure product and Trust Contacts app

Google may be one of tech’s biggest success stories, but its history is littered with failures along the way and it appears that it’s about to add two more to that list. Google has announced the end of its Google Nest Secure alarm system and the Trusted Contacts app after only 3 years.

Google introduced the home security Nest Secure Alarm system back in 2017 but appears to have run out of patience with it trying to break into a competitive market. The Nest Secure Google Store page revealsed that the company is going to be discontinuing the product, though it will continue to support it.

The Nest Secure home alarm systems were supposed to be the cornerstone of people’s home security allowing them to not just monitor access and security in their homes, but also serve as a central hub for other Google-connected devices and be the gateway to a smart home. The lack of sales of the device though does not mean the company is stepping out of the home security game though as it will still be seeing security cameras, video doorbells, smoke alarms, along with their recent investment into security company ADT, where they will be integrating some of their Nest technology into ADT’s smart home offerings too.

As for Google’s Trusted Contacts app that offered people the opportunity to find loved ones who have not been responding, it has been a far quicker demise, though according to a note from Google, it’s not just because of the low usage of the app, but also because they have decided to build a lot o that functionality directly into Google Maps. Where it makes a lot more sense and doesn’t require the company needing to maintain another app when they have software that can offer a better platform for that sort of technology. The biggest difference though is that while Trusted Contacts could let you find an unresponsive loved one, Google Maps will require a person to alert you of their danger before broadcasting their location.

These changes show that while Google is not always successful, they are adapting to these changes and altering their services in a way that makes sense. I still feel that until people trust the company’s handling of data more, some of these services will not be well used. That is one aspect of their product offering that won’t be going away any time soon though.  

Last Updated: October 21, 2020