How to Use Nest Without Wi-Fi

Evan Gower September 17, 2019

Smart devices have made a tremendous impact on modern society. They are practical, useful, and, above everything else, very helpful. From the smartphone to the smart fridge, we are heading towards automating trivial tasks to focus on what truly matters to us. The same goes for smart thermostats and Nest is one of the most popular ones around.

However, we all know what happens to smart devices when the connection is lost. So, what happens to Nest when your Wi-Fi dies? What happens when your Wi-Fi stays dead for a few hours?

How Does It Work?

In order to understand how to use Nest without Wi-Fi, you first need to know the basics of how the device actually works. First, Nest is a thermostat. Next, Nest is a ‘smart’ thermostat. What makes Nest so special is that it is, finally, a ‘learning’ thermostat. This smart device is more than a piece of programmable technology.

Where the programmable thermostats were and still are a great idea, people tend to use them like regular units, mainly owing to the fact that programming many of them is fairly complex.

Nest, on the other hand, is smart for a good reason. In its essence, Nest is a programmable thermostat. But, it’s a programmable thermostat that programs itself. How does this smart device do it? Well, it observes your behavior patterns and preferences for particulars times of day, week, month, and year, and essentially comes up with a schedule for you.

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Using It without Wi-Fi

To do all these incredible things for you, Nest needs Wi-Fi access. Just like a smart fridge without an available Wi-Fi connection is nothing more than a regular fridge, Nest turns into a regular thermostat if there is no Wi-Fi connection.

Will It Work without Wi-Fi?

But does the smart fridge, a smartphone, or a smart car turn off when there is no internet connection? Of course they don’t! And neither does Nest. When Nest goes offline, it continues to function as per usual. It will still work normally, observing your behavior and relying on the previously gathered information. You won’t be able to adjust its settings using your phone or computer, though. In order to gain access to Nest from another device, you’ll have to wait for the Wi-Fi to come back.

How to Do It?

Well, the answer here is fairly easy: use Nest through its built-in interface. Set the temperature, make schedules, tweak the learn feature, etc.

To see whether the heating is on, go to the Nest device and look at the heating light. If it’s solid green for more than 5 seconds, the manual heating mode is on. Manual heating is your best bet when it comes to controlling your Nest device without an internet connection. Press the Heat Link button to activate manual heating.

To turn off manual heating, press the Heat Link button again. Turning off manual heating, however, will return Nest to its regular schedule.

Turn Your Nest into a Typical Programmable Thermostat

Bear in mind that you will need an internet connection for this, despite the fact that you’re setting up your Nest to be internet-independent. If you aren’t satisfied with Nest’s auto-schedule mode, turn it off through the Nest app. Go to Settings and then tap Auto-Schedule. Turn the switch off.

Next, it’s time to clear the existing schedule. Go to Settings again, navigate to Reset, and tap Schedule. Now, select Reset/Clear.

Finally, go to your thermostat, scroll until you’ve selected Schedule and set the time and temperature points as you please. Nest will behave like a typical programmable thermostat henceforth and you won’t need internet to control it.

With or Without Wi-Fi

Nest is a smart thermostat that is perfectly capable of functioning as a regular, manual thermostat, as well as a typical programmable one. Of course, if you don’t use it with Wi-Fi, you’re missing out on many neat features that range from learning to scheduling. In any case, it is good to know how to use Nest in case your internet connection fails.

Did you ever use your Nest thermostat in the offline mode? Did you run into any issues? How do you prefer it? Feel free to discuss in the comments section below.