When you junk an old Nest Learning Thermostat, like I just did, your Google Home app may not get the memo. Here’s how to manually remove your obsolete device from your smartphone app.
I really had no choice but to retire my old Nest Learning Thermostat. It’s an aging 2nd generation model, and Google finally stopped supporting it. So, I recently upgraded to the current gen 4 model and successfully installed that one. Problem solved, right?
Well, not entirely.
The final step was to delete the old unit from my Google Home App on my iPhone. (Who wants to see a deactivated device lingering on your app’s interface as ‘Offline?’)
According to an email I received from Google, the gen 2 model was supposed to automatically evaporate from the app. But it defied that directive and remained in place… stubbornly so.
When I tried to remove it manually, there was no obvious way to do that. So, I had to dig deeper.
If you’ve been trying to crack the same code, here’s how to delete your decommissioned Google Nest Learning Thermostat from your Google Home app:
4 Steps to Remove a Device from the Google Home App
#1 – First, tap on the circular icon with your initial on the top right of the Google Home app.
#2 – Then, tap on “Home settings.”
#3 – Under “Device, groups & rooms,” find and tap on your old device.
#4 – At the very bottom of the next page, tap “Remove device.”
So Simple… That should do the trick! It’s super simple for any of your Nest devices, but you need to know where to look in the app.
After this tweak, you’re back to where you started… with remote and clutter-free access to a sleek Google Nest Learning Thermostat at the center of your smart home experience.
If you own a 1st or 2nd gen Nest Learning Thermostat, you probably know that Google has officially sunset those models. Here’s what that means and the one detail not to miss when mounting the new gen 4 model on your wall.
Getting 12 years out of any piece of tech is more than anyone should expect. That said, if it’s still working and doing the job, why would you want to replace it? (Unless you simply need the latest and greatest.)
Well, you’d pull the plug when the manufacturer forces you to. If the old unit’s tech is so obsolete, it can’t be maintained by the manufacturer’s current standards. And that’s what’s happened to my trusty Nest Learning Thermostat (2nd gen) from 2013.
Goodbye Nest Learning Thermostat Gen 2 In tech years, it’s like a century old. A lot’s happened, including Google buying Nest to enter the smart home market.
So yes, Google has walked away from its older Nest Learning Thermostat population. The official Google language is “end of support.” What that means is 1st and 2nd-generation models can no longer be reached remotely via the app on your phone as of October 25, 2025. (They’ve been “unpaired and removed” from the Nest app or Home app.)
Poof.
It’s Time to Buy Gen 4 Yes, you can still operate these ‘relics’ manually, but I’ve always spent more time interfacing with my Nest Learning Thermostat through the app on my iPhone.
Most significantly, these units are no longer supported, which according to Google “may lead to decreased performance with continued use.” So that’s code for… it’s just a matter of time till they stop working altogether.
Look, I get it. No web-connected piece of tech is going to last forever.
So, if you want your Google Nest Learning Thermostat ecosystem to remain reliable and fully operational, you have no choice but to upgrade to the current 4th generation model, which costs $279.99.
Ouch!
Fortunately, Google has softened the blow by offering a $130 discount for current 1st and 2nd gen owners. So that effectively drops the price point to $149.99 plus tax. (Shipping is free.)
Registered owners should have received an emailed discount code towards the purchase of the current 4th gen model.
Three Color Choices So Barrett went ahead and bought himself an early holiday present with his discount code. (Thank you, Google.)
My hardest decision was deciding which color to get. I decided on Obsidian with a black base. (I felt it would present a cleaner, unified aesthetic in our living room. (The other choices are silver and gold with a white base.)
My Installation Surprise Happily, installing my new 4th gen unit was the essentially the same as my old 2nd gen model.
The only relevant difference was the size of the circular base plate, which you screw onto the wall. (The thermostat clicks onto the base plate.)
Here’s the problem:
The new base plate is slightly smaller than the old one. And that tiny footprint difference can be a really big deal.
Why? Well, the new base plate will reveal a little more of your wall… that might be unpainted!
Surprise!
Yes, that’s exactly what happened to me. I realized there would be dark, thin paint ring behind my new, gleaming Google Nest Learning Thermostat that revealed our living room’s paint color from years ago.
Granted, the 4th gen thermostat’s beautiful face is bigger than my gen 2’s screen. It’s plenty big to effectively block the view where the thermostat’s smaller circular ‘neck’ touches the wall.
But I would know, and if you looked from an angle, you’d definitely see the old paint. Ugh!
Sure, Google has thought of this and provided a white trim plate to use that would cover up this kind of problem.
But I didn’t want to use the trim plate. I liked the clean look of the black, circular orb perfectly protruding from my wall like a futuristic Cylon interface.
I just need to get rid of that thin ring of old paint.
I Had to Put on My Painter’s Hat So, I hurried downstairs and rummaged through my basement to see if I still had a little bit of our living room’s current paint in a can somewhere. I eventually found it, picked up a brush and performed the paint fix.
This of course delayed my installation process, as I had to wait for the paint to dry before continuing. But it was clearly a step worth taking.
So just remember that you might need to bake that extra time into your own installation plan.
Cool New Sensor Pucks If you’ve been living with a 1st or 2nd generation model, you may not know about Google’s little wireless ‘satellite’ temperature-sensing pucks to pair with your main thermostat. (I didn’t.)
These “Nest Temperature Sensors” (now 2nd generation) can be placed throughout your home to help create a more even temperature throughout your rooms (effectively simulating some of the benefits of a multi-zone HVAC system).
When you buy a 4th gen Google Nest Learning Thermostat, it also comes with one Nest Temperature Sensor. (You can purchase more separately.)
With multiple sensors, you can schedule which sensor controls your thermostat at different times of the day. You can always default to the sensor in your base unit. And you can also average between your sensors.
I placed my temperature sensor in our sunroom, which tends to be cooler during the winter months than the rest of our house. Hopefully, the sensor will convince my base unit (in our living room) to keep providing a little more warmth in the early evening when my family tends to hang out in our sunroom. (That’s how I programmed it.)
Upgrade Complete! I’ve always enjoyed my old Nest Learning Thermostat as the center of my smart home experience. And now that I’ve upgraded, I’m pleased that I’ve refreshed my relationship with Google’s gen 4 model.
I hope it takes me all the way to 2037. But with the pace of change these days, something tells me we may be discussing this again a tad sooner…
These sunset and sunrise photos I snapped remind me of some great vacation moments my family and I have spent together. That’s why they are strong contenders to frame and hang at home. (Disclaimer: This living room is AI generated via Google Whisk. But the photos in the AI frames are all mine.) Here’s why the stories behind your pictures are often more important than the photos themselves.
I studied the framed European vacation photo hanging on the living room wall as I listened to the story behind it. It was a wonderful picture, but the narrative was even better.
My wife and I were visiting friends recently, and they were sharing their vacation experiences through the framed pictures in their home. I was hooked.
These photos displayed simple moments from their trips. Some featured public activity, but none showed the members of this family. The images were entirely anonymous, but still extremely personal. The key factor was the collection of rich personal stories that accompanied these photos. That’s what brought them to life.
From Snapshots to Stories: Rethinking Your Wall Art The next day, my wife suggested that we might consider putting up a few more of our own travel photos in our home. She said that I had taken so many great pictures from our trips over the years. Why not pick several more to frame and hang? I agreed.
I said I would review our vacation photos and create a collection for us to choose from. And I did. But I was shocked by what I discovered.
You’re Actually Framing Stories I found that most of our vacation photos I’ve been taking over the years weren’t going to work. That’s because they fell into two categories.
These pictures either featured me and my family.
Or they were my attempts at iconic shots from these cities (like you might find on a postcard).
Mostly missing was any location imagery that carried a story behind the moment.
As I looked at my pictures, the stories simply weren’t flowing.
Family Vacation Photos Can Quickly Get Dated Sure, it’s easy to frame vacation photos with family in the shot. Of course, that tethers you to the point in time and location. And yes, I’ve already positioned some of those shots on our walls. But there’s a problem with this strategy.
Your kids grow up quick. So, if your photo is more than a couple years old, it’s going to feel dated. Maybe two or three older pictures on your walls are okay. But I don’t want my house to be a museum focused on a different era. Plus, I don’t think my teenage son appreciates seeing lots of photos showing him half his size. (That’s such an uncool dad thing to do!)
It’s the Memory that Matters Most So, if you want to hang up photos from your trips, you’d better take some shots that can stand on their own and contain a story that you’ll remember. (Otherwise, it’s little more than a postcard that simply says you were there.)
This is how the right photo can reflect real meaning for you in future years and help project the story of your life.
This may all seem obvious, but it’s often hard to accomplish.
Conversely, sometimes, these photo opportunities just appear, and you quickly snap the picture without much thought. And then you may not realize that you’ve captured a memorable moment until you get back from your trip and reflect on that photo.
However it happens, these are the special photos to curate. They don’t have to be your ‘best’ photos. But they’re the ones that will carry the most meaning for you across time.
And I think these are the ones to consider showcasing… for yourself and others.
Focus on Snapping Good Photos that Tell a Better Story As for our own photo-framing project, happily, I did find enough photos to choose from that will work.
But this exercise was a critical reminder for me that most anyone today can take a good photo with their phone.
But being a better photographer is always about capturing a memorable story.
At Home with Tech 