A basic thermostat can manage your home's heating, ventilation, and cooling system for decades without requiring replacement. By comparison, smart home accessories have a finite lifespan. Accessories that rely on battery power will be in trouble when their batteries degrade. Similarly, gadgets that rely on the cloud for internet-connected features have an expiration date that'll come when those cloud servers inevitably shut down.
This isn't just a theory — the first- and second-generation Nest Learning Thermostats were officially dropped by Google last year. Nest Learning Thermostats hook up to your home's electrical wiring, so there's no battery to worry about. But key Nest Learning Thermostat features depend on Google services to work. Three thermostat models were cut off from those services for good, and they've transitioned into "dumb" thermostats.
If you own one of the affected models, you might be happy to learn that a free and open-source software project restores your Nest Learning Thermostat's cloud functionality once again.
These Nest thermostats lost their smart features
Is a decade-plus of support enough for a smart thermostat?
It's easy to forget that Nest has been making thermostats for a long time — years before the brand was purchased by Google. The original Nest Learning Thermostat released in 2011, with the second-generation model arriving a year later in 2012. A European version of the second-generation Nest Learning Thermostat came out in 2014. Each of these three Nest Learning Thermostats reached end-of-life status in October 2025.
Google announced the change in a community post, noting that the three Nest Learning Thermostat models were each supported for over a decade. That's excellent support for consumer electronics, but not-so-great for a thermostat you plan to use until it breaks. Here's what Google had to say about the support cutoff at the time:
To fully invest in these advancements and bring you the most cutting-edge features on our latest generation of Nest thermostats, we will be transitioning away from supporting three of our oldest devices, each over a decade old.
The company announced further that these models would "no longer receive software updates," which sounds reasonable enough. It's not realistic to expect a company to add new features and bug fixes to aging products forever. But the disappointing part came next. Google said users wouldn't be able to control these thermostats remotely or via Google Assistant (now Gemini) past the cutoff date.
Essentially, any feature that relied on cloud services or Google Home and Nest connections stopped working as of Oct. 25, 2025.
They'll work as dumb thermostats
But you can forget about using app or voice control
Without ongoing software support and access to cloud-based Google Home and Nest features, the dropped Nest Learning Thermostat models hardly qualify as "smart" thermostats in 2026. Here's the quick list of core features these Nest Learning Thermostat versions lost, straight from Google's official support document:
- Checking the status of your thermostat in the Nest or Home app
- Remotely controlling the device
- Receiving notifications
- Changing settings from your phone or tablet
Without access to the Home and Nest apps, additional functionality became unavailable. Connections to third-party assistants and Nest Protect accessories were broken for good. Features like Home/Away Assist, multi-device Eco Mode, and emergency shut off no longer work. Just about everything that made a Nest Learning Thermostat a Nest Learning Thermostat is gone, and the first- and second-generation models now have a gutted feature set.
The silver lining — if there is one — is that these Nest Learning Thermostat models weren't completely bricked. You can still control them manually, including by setting the temperature, changing the cooling mode, or creating a custom schedule. The features and settings that don't rely on Google Home and Nest servers to run still work, albeit only on the thermostat itself.
Without app support and remote control, these Nest Learning Thermostats lost their core features essentially overnight. Google did provide users with advanced notice of the shutdown, and even offered affected users discount credits for upgrading their thermostats. But when the cloud integrations vanished, so did many Nest Learning Thermostat features.
Nothing changes for owners of the third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat, Nest Thermostat E, Nest Thermostat, or fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat models. At least, for now. Google set the precedent that the internet-connected features for Nest thermostats aren't guaranteed to last forever.
This open-source project revives them
Self-host your Nest Learning Thermostat's cloud features
It's been a year since Google officially ended support for three Nest Learning Thermostat models. If you've hung onto your outdated Nest thermostats, there is a way to regain the internet-based features they lost. An open-source project called No Longer Evil, developed by Cody Kociemba, brings back remote control and dashboard management features.
It's a neat project made for DIY-ers of all skill levels. If you don't want to go through the hassle of setting up a self-hosted server, you can use No Longer Evil servers instead. Flash the new firmware onto your thermostat, create a free account, and use the web dashboard. Remote control, scheduling, and auto-away features will be available indefinitely via the project.
Or, you can self-host it yourself. There's a No Longer Evil add-on for Home Assistant, and your deprecated Nest Learning Thermostats will fit right into your self-hosted smart home server. Or, you can build your own No Longer Evil server with a custom IP and port. Whichever route you choose, it's nice to know that these Nest thermostats aren't guaranteed to end up in a landfill just yet.