Give your visitors a festive greeting this Christmas
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Every year for just a couple of weeks, the Nest video doorbells get a couple of extra features. During holidays like Christmas, Halloween and New Year’s Eve, you can switch up your Nest video doorbell to play different sounds when someone presses it.
If you have the Nest Doorbell (wired) – formerly known as Nest Hello – you need to do this through the Nest app and you only get access to the different themes at specific times of the year. The Nest Doorbell (battery) and the newer Nest Doorbell (wired) in the US are a little different, offering access to different tones throughout the year, in addition to special ringtones during Christmas and Halloween.
We’ve covered how to change the ringtone of all of the Nest video doorbells below, so whether you have the Nest Doorbell (wired), Nest Doorbell (battery) or the older Nest Hello video doorbell, here’s how to add some festive fun to your doorbell this Christmas.
What you’ll need
- A Nest video doorbell
- The Google Home or Nest app
- Your smartphone or tablet
The short version for the Nest Doorbell (wired) – formerly Nest Hello
- Open the Nest app.
- Tap on your Nest Doorbell.
- Tap on the settings cog in the top right corner.
- Scroll down to Doorbell Theme.
- Choose Christmas.
The short version for the Nest Doorbell (battery) and Nest Doorbell (wired) – US model
- Open the Google Home app.
- Tap on your Nest doorbell.
- Tap on Settings.
- Tap on Doorbell.
- Select Doorbell Theme.
- Choose Christmas.
How to make your Nest doorbell play festive Christmas sounds
Google first released special ringtones on its Nest Hello doorbell back in 2019. They arrived in the middle of October and lasted through to November, allowing you to change the ringtone to a cackling witch, a ghost, a vampire or a scary monster in time for Halloween, but Christmas ringtones then took over for November and through December.
Google has since announced the Nest Doorbell (battery) and new Nest Doorbell (wired), both of which are controlled through the Google Home app and allow for different ringtones throughout the year.
The Nest Hello is still available to buy in some regions, and it can be controlled through the Nest app or the Google Home app, but you can’t change its ringtone all the time – that privilege is only granted during special holidays like Christmas. You also need to change the ringtone through the Nest app, rather than the Google Home app. Don’t ask us why, it is baffling.
We’ve covered off how to change the ringtone of both the Nest Hello through the Nest app, and the other Nest video doorbells through the Google Home app below though so whichever one you have, we have you covered. The Nest app is pictured on the left, and the Google Home app on the right, with the steps below covering both.
Time needed: 5 minutes
- Open the Nest app or the Google Home app and find your doorbell
First things first, open the Nest app or the Google Home app and tap on your Nest doorbell. You’ll need to tap on the video feed of your doorbell in the Nest app, while in the Google Home app, you’ll find a card with your doorbell’s name in the Devices tab.
- Head to your doorbell’s settings
For the Nest Hello in the Nest app, once you’ve tapped on your doorbell from the feed, tap once on the video feed at the top to make the settings gear icon appear in the top right corner. Tap on it to access your Nest Hello’s settings. In the Google Home app, tap on the three dots in the top right corner above the video feed and tap on ‘Settings’ from the pop up menu at the bottom.
- Select the Doorbell theme
For the Nest Hello, there’s only one more step. Scroll down the settings menu until you see ‘Doorbell Theme’. From here, tap on that and select ‘Christmas’ from the menu. For Nest doorbells in Google Home, you’ll need to tap on ‘Doorbell’, followed by ‘Doorbell Theme’ and then ‘Christmas’ to select the festive sounds.
That’s it – you should have Christmas tunes until they finish on January 5, 2025. If you have a Nest Hub or Nest Hub Max and you turn on Visitor Announcements, you will also get the festive tunes playing on those smart displays too.
FAQs
Only during certain holidays, like Christmas, is it possible to change the ringtone of your Nest Hello. The Nest Doorbell (battery) and new Nest Doorbell (wired) allow you to change the ringtone throughout the year through the Google Home app.
The Christmas ringtones are usually around from the beginning of December to the beginning of January. For 2024/2025, they will be removed as an option from January 5.
