Most Nest Cam owners use their home security camera in private mode for personal viewing. However, some like to have their Nest Cam for all to see. So today, we discuss how to make a Nest Cam public. In other words, anybody can see it.
Making a Nest Cam public isn’t difficult to do. However, be aware that public means public. Anybody and anytime will be able to see the action. We have seen some interesting public cameras and are a bit stumped on the logic of the owners for making their Nest Cam public. More than one person has made their living room open to the public. Watch them watch TV, eat dinner, have a conversation. A bit strange but whatever.
Anyway, let’s take a look at how to make your Nest Cam public. Everything we discuss will apply to all models of Nest Cam as well as the older DropCam Pro which is the original company’s model before being acquired by Nest. This includes the Nest Cam Outdoor, Nest Cam IQ and original Nest Cam.
By default, all Nest Cam devices are set to private. To make your Nest Cam public, you will need to use a computer. While the Nest App is excellent, there are a few functions and settings that are unsupported on a phone or tablet. Setting your Nest Cam permissions is one of those settings that must be done through the Nest web app.
Open your browser to the Nest portal. Once you are into the Nest Cam portal, select the camera you wish to make public. Now select the gear at the upper right and scroll down to where it has the Camera Sharing option. You will note that it likely says Not Shared. That’s the default.
Once you select the Camera Sharing option, you will be presented with two selections which we will cover in a moment. Also note there is a disclaimer that should be reviewed. It basically says don’t do anything illegal or obscene but be sure to read it for the finer details.
The first option is for sharing your Nest Cam with people that you know. This option allows generation of a unique password that you will provide along with a unique link to your camera. A friend or family member simply needs that link and your password to watch the action at any time. Kind of semi-public. You can always turn it off by clicking Stop Sharing on this particular selection.
The second option is what is used to make a Nest Cam public. This is the option that allows anybody and anytime to view your Nest Cam. Select Share Publicly. You will be presented with a unique link for your Nest Cam. Anybody can copy and paste this into their browser to view your camera. A nice added feature is the generation of HTML for embedding your camera on a web page. This is useful for providing a web cam view into your business or landscape. You can click Stop Sharing at any time to completely inactivate the public part of your Nest Cam.
All of these articles are written by someone (me) that figured out how to do this stuff the hard way. I have owned and tested dozens of cameras. Manufacturer support varies. There are a few good companies that provide timely answers when you have questions. There are several that sell you the camera and seem to have little interest in post sales support (which leads me to finding out stuff the hard way).
