Researcher Finds Old Google Nest Thermostats Continue Sending Data After Support Ends

NEW YORK — Google’s first- and second-generation Nest Learning Thermostats continue to send detailed sensor data to the company even after remote control features were officially discontinued last month, according to a security researcher.

Cody Kociemba, a researcher involved in a repair bounty challenge organized by the right-to-repair group FULU, discovered the ongoing data transmissions while developing software to restore smart functionality to unsupported Nest devices. The challenge, co-founded by electronics repair expert Louis Rossmann, aimed to bring back lost features for these aging thermostats.

Kociemba and the open-source community created a tool called No Longer Evil, which clones Google’s API to enable smart controls on the older Nest models. During this process, Kociemba unexpectedly received a large volume of logs from customer devices, prompting a deeper investigation into what data the thermostats were still sending.

The researcher found that despite the loss of remote control capabilities, the early Nest thermostats continue to upload a steady stream of sensor data to Google. This data includes manual temperature changes, occupancy detection, sunlight exposure, temperature readings, humidity levels, motion activity, and ambient light information.

Kociemba noted the volume of logs was extensive and that he disabled the incoming data flow because he did not anticipate the devices would remain connected to Google after support ended. Google had previously stated that unsupported models would “continue to report logs for issue diagnostics,” but Kociemba pointed out that since official support is fully discontinued, the data cannot be used to assist customers, making the continued data collection unclear.

A Google spokesperson told Fox News that while the Nest Learning Thermostat (1st and 2nd Gen) is no longer supported in the Nest and Home apps, temperature and scheduling adjustments can still be made directly on the units. The spokesperson added that these devices will soon be unpaired and removed from all user accounts. They also confirmed that diagnostic logs, which are not tied to specific user accounts, will continue to be sent to Google for service and issue tracking.

The discovery raises privacy concerns among users who assumed that their devices would stop communicating with Google once smart features were disabled. The ongoing data transmissions occur despite the discontinuation of remote control functions, highlighting questions about data handling and transparency for unsupported smart home devices.