Nest Thermostat End of Support: What Still Works One Year Later

6 min read • Updated October 2026 • By the CliQ Team — the team that created Blink

Does a Nest thermostat still work after Google ended support? Yes. On October 25, 2025, Google ended support for the 1st and 2nd generation Nest Learning Thermostats. One year later, those thermostats still heat and cool your home, and their on-device schedules and settings still run. What ended is everything that went through the cloud: the app, remote control, notifications, voice assistants and software updates. If you own one, you have four reasonable options, and one wiring check that's worth doing before you buy anything.

What Changed When Google Ended Nest Support

Google announced the change in April 2025 and gave owners six months' notice. Three models are affected:

• Nest Learning Thermostat, 1st generation (2011)
• Nest Learning Thermostat, 2nd generation (2012)
• Nest Learning Thermostat, 2nd generation, Europe version (2014)

Not sure which one you have? If your thermostat disappeared from the Nest or Google Home app last October, it's one of these. The 3rd and 4th generation models, and the Nest Thermostat (2020), are not part of this change.

Here is what changed on October 25, 2025, according to Google's support page:

One item deserves attention if you own a Nest Protect smoke and CO alarm. The automatic emergency shutoff, which turned off a furnace when the Protect detected smoke or carbon monoxide, no longer works with these thermostats. Your Protect still sounds its alarm. It just can't reach the thermostat anymore.

Your Four Options, One Year Later

There is no wrong answer here. It depends on how much you used the smart features.

1. Keep using it as a wall thermostat

If you mostly set the temperature at the wall anyway, nothing has to change. The schedule you built still runs. The one tradeoff is that the device no longer gets software updates, and Google notes that performance may decline over time. If you liked controlling it from your phone, you'll notice the difference most when you're away from home.

2. Recycle it

If you replace it, don't throw it in the trash. Google runs a device recycling program, and most local electronics recyclers accept thermostats. Nest thermostats don't contain the mercury found in some much older dial thermostats, but they do contain a battery and electronics that belong in e-waste, not a landfill.

3. Upgrade within Google

If you like the Nest experience and use other Google Home devices, staying in the family is a reasonable choice. The 4th generation Nest Learning Thermostat is well reviewed. 9to5Google's Daniel Bader ranks it among the best products Google has made. When support ended, Google emailed eligible US owners a discounted upgrade offer. If you didn't receive one, Google says to contact Google Support.

Some owners have also tried community-built firmware that restores remote features to older Nest units. These projects are unofficial and experimental. Some users report that they work well, while others warn they can leave the thermostat unusable. Treat them as a hobby project, not a fix.

4. Switch to a different thermostat

Ten-plus years is a good run for any connected device, and plenty of owners are using this moment to compare what's out there now. If that's you, the next section will save you a headache.

Before You Replace It: Check Your Wiring

Most smart thermostats need steady power, and the standard way to get it is a C-wire (the "common" wire). Many older homes don't have one.

Here's the catch for Nest owners. Many original Nest Learning Thermostats were installed without a C-wire. They used a technique called power stealing, drawing a small trickle of power through your heating and cooling wires. So the fact that your Nest worked doesn't tell you whether your next thermostat will. Plenty of people find out mid-install, with the old thermostat already off the wall.

That's not a hypothetical for us. CliQ's founder tried to install a smart thermostat, and it died when the temperature outside was freezing. He had no idea what a C-wire was. Most people don't, and they shouldn't have to.

Two minutes now saves you an afternoon later:

• Look behind the faceplate. Pop the Nest display off its base and look at the labeled terminals. A wire in the C terminal means you have one. Our guide on how to check for a C-wire walks through it with photos.
• Use a photo check. WireScanner tells you from a picture whether a C-wire is present.
• Confirm your system type. The CliQ Compatibility Checker walks through your system type and mounting to confirm what will work.

No C-wire doesn't mean no smart thermostat. It narrows the list. Our complete guide to smart thermostats without a C-wire covers every route, from adapters to running a new wire to thermostats built not to need one.

The Bigger Picture: The Smart Home Is Still Messy

The Nest anniversary lands in a busy month for the smart home. In a recent 9to5Google newsletter, Daniel Bader looked at the latest wave of smart home launches and concluded that "no one knows how to solve the smart home." His point isn't that any one company is getting it wrong. It's that the smart home isn't one thing. Lights, locks, cameras, sensors, speakers and the standards that tie them together add up to more complexity than most people want to manage. He credits Google with steadily improving its platform. The problem is hard for everyone.

Independent research points the same way. Parks Associates found that more than half of smart home device owners report problems when installing a device themselves.

The thermostat is the one smart home device that has a real job every day of the year. Heating and cooling makes up 52% of the energy a typical US home uses, according to the EIA. So when you choose a thermostat, it's fair to ask for less complexity, not more:

• Does it fit the wiring you already have? No C-wire surprises.
• Can you install it yourself in minutes?
• Is the app free, with no subscription required?
• Does the price make sense for what it does?

That's the checklist we built CliQ around. The CliQ Smart Thermostat needs no C-wire. It runs on two AAA batteries, and the Wi-Fi lives on a small Hub that plugs into an outlet. If you have a compatible Honeywell RTH wall plate it clicks right on with no tools. Otherwise it's a screwdriver-only plate swap. The app is free, with no subscription and no tiers. It costs $69.99 and launches in November 2026.

Whatever you choose, whether that's keeping your Nest, upgrading or switching, the goal is the same: a thermostat that keeps your house comfortable without asking much of you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Prices verified as of October 2026. Check retailer links for current pricing.

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