Google Ending support for Gen 1&2 Nest Thermostats

[tommycw10 (Tom)]

Just received this lovely message from my friends at Google:

Dear Nest Learning Thermostat owner,

We want to make you aware of some upcoming changes that will impact our earliest generation thermostats, including those at The Weichmann House. Starting October 25, 2025, Google will no longer provide support for the Nest Learning Thermostat (1st gen) launched in 2011 and Nest Learning Thermostat (2nd gen) launched in 2012.

You will still be able to access temperature, mode, schedules, and settings directly on the thermostat – and existing schedules should continue to work uninterrupted. However, these thermostats will no longer receive software or security updates, will not have any Nest app or Home app controls, and will end support for other connected features like Home/Away Assist. See more details at our support website.

To help with this transition and to show our appreciation for your long-time loyalty, we’re offering you the option to upgrade to our newest and most advanced thermostat, the Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) at a special price: $149.99 (MSRP $279.99).1 Please click here to redeem the offer through Google Store. (Offer valid until November 21, 2025)

Our support agents are available to answer any questions you may have. Please visit Google support to contact us directly for assistance.

I bought way WAY before Nest was owned by Google and also way before I thought about the problems with not having local control.

1. Has anyone every found a way to hack in local control - maybe over the onboard zigbee radio?
2. What are good alternatives for smart home thermostats that offer local control options? Most of what I’ve seen over the years were terrible looking.

[rlkoshak (Rich Koshak)]

Based on my looking a couple years ago your two criteria are mutually exclusive.

There are a bunch of Zigbee and Zwave options out there and maybe soon there might be some decent Matter options. But they are all pretty ugly. YMMV.

[digitaldan (Dan Cunningham)]

@tommycw10

What are good alternatives for smart home thermostats that offer local control options? Most of what I’ve seen over the years were terrible looking.

I have a Gen4 nest and I’m using the Matter binding (coming in OH5 ) to control it completely locally. Personally i’m not a fan (no pun intended) of the Nest’s Physical controls, but since we are using openHAB and voice for controlling it exclusively, it works as a nice matter device.

The Venstar thermostats also offer a 100% local API, i have a few of those as well and am very happy with them

Matter Binding

[logo] The Matter Binding for openHAB allows seamless integration with Matter-compatible devices as well as exposing openHAB as a Matter Bridge. Please note this binding requires openHAB 4.3 builds or later that support discovery codes when searching for devices. The Matter binding currently supports many types of devices including lighting, sensors, thermostats, fans, locks, buttons and more. Additional devices will be added as they become available for testing. If you are having issues, p…

Venstar Thermostat - Bindings

[digitaldan (Dan Cunningham)]

Although this is kinda discouraging for our EU users , uhg.

Google won't bring new Nest Thermostats to Europe

[smitopher (Christopher Smith)]

The Honeywell X2S is now available.

It has Matter It’s kind of plain looking but looks ok to me

[smitopher (Christopher Smith)]

I just ordered it from Lowes for $80

[digitaldan (Dan Cunningham)]

Cool ! If you could send me over the JSON dump when you pair it with the matter binding that would be super helpful, the Nest is the only real thermostat i have been able to test with (and for some strange reason Google omits the operational state part of the matter spec, like if the heater is actually running or not)