Should you migrate your Nest account to Google? It depends.

On our most recent IoT Podcast episode, Dean called into the IoT Podcast Hotline and left us a question that many people have pondered over the past few months. Dean is concerned that the Nest app is going away in favor of Google Home due to this summer’s news that Nest accounts will eventually be migrated into Google accounts. This is part of Google’s decision to retire its Works with Nest program in favor of a new Works with Google effort in the smart home.

Dean currently has a Nest thermostat, multiple Google Home devices and Hue lights. His concern is that the Nest app is going away and he’s wondering if he should keep it and perhaps move to a Google account.

At some point, Dean and all other current Nest users that haven’t yet moved over to a Google account will have to make the switch. Is it something to do right away? Not exactly.

First up, any current Works with Nest integrations will no longer work once you migrate your account from Nest to Google. So if you’re using services that work with Nest, such as IFTTT, they won’t work after account migration. Google specifically says to expect this, at least until third-party services are integrated with the Works with Google platform. Some have made the switch but others haven’t yet.

Second, as I found out when I migrated my Nest account over to Google, the process isn’t as seamless as it should be. I got a little frustrated when migrating but eventually everything worked out. I wasn’t thrilled, however, to find out that with Google’s account, all Google Nest Home members have “the same level of access and control as you.” That’s another concern to consider before taking the plunge here.

And if you used a G Suite account for Nest, you actually won’t be able to migrate over with that account. You’ll need to create a new Gmail account just to get around this. Again, not a great customer experience.

Regardless, at some point, Nest accounts will go away. My advice: Strongly consider if and when to move from Nest to Google based on your current device integrations and if you have a Gmail account already. The other option is to decide if staying in Google’s ecosystem is what you want in the long term. It would cost you some money in terms of new devices, but you could always ditch Google for Amazon, or even Samsung.

To hear Dean’s question in full, as well as our discussion, tune in below to the IoT Podcast: