About This Project

When Google announced they were sunsetting Nest Gen 1 and Gen 2 thermostats, I knew I wanted to do something about it. But let's be real, wanting to do something and actually doing it are two different things. What really lit the fire under my ass was the FULU bounty announcement. I love a good challenge, and having a potential reward at the end makes it even better. So I dove in.

My beef with Google goes way deeper than just bricked thermostats though. I'm an Android developer who got permanently banned from the Google Play Store. Not for malware. Not for stealing user data. I got three automated rejections from some vague-ass robot that couldn't tell me what was actually wrong. Three strikes and you're out, permanently. No human review, no real appeal process, just a "go fuck yourself" from the algorithm. The best part? I'm marked now. Anyone who works with me or connects through my network risks getting banned too. It's like Google gave me a digital plague. And now they're restricting sideloading, so even if I build an app for myself or a handful of users, I'd need to register through their system, which will just reject me because of my past ban. most likely. Basically, Google has decided I can never create an Android app again. Not for the Play Store, not for my own devices, not for anyone.

So yeah, this project is personal. It's about my hatred for Google, sure. But it's bigger than that. When you buy a piece of hardware, you own it. You should be able to do whatever the fuck you want with it. Your thermostat shouldn't become e-waste because some corporation decided to flip the kill switch. Your phone shouldn't be locked down to prevent you from accessing your own device. This is about taking back control.

This project gives you the tools to flash a custom firmware update onto your Nest Gen 1 and Gen 2 thermostat. Rip it free from Google's cloud bullshit. No more dependencies, no more forced obsolescence, no more corporate overlords deciding when your hardware stops working. It's your device. You paid for it. Now you actually control it.

Everything here is open source. Fork it, modify it, break it, rebuild it, share it. That's the whole point. This Github repo and website will stay up and free for as long as I can keep them alive. If Google decides to hit me with legal action or a DMCA takedown, well, that's out of my hands. But until then, this code lives on, as does my hatred for Google and their bullshit tactics.