Nest Eco Mode: What It Is and How to Turn It Off

Nest Eco mode is an energy-saving temperature range: while it’s on, your thermostat lets the house get cooler in winter and warmer in summer, and only runs the heating or cooling when the temperature goes past the limits you set. It turns on when you choose it, or by itself when the thermostat thinks everyone has left. How you turn it off depends on which Nest thermostat you have, and that’s where most of the confusion comes from.

This guide explains what Eco mode on a Nest thermostat does, why it switches on, how to turn it off on every current model, and how to stop it from coming back on its own.

The Short Answer

• What it is: a pair of energy-saving temperatures, a “Heat to” and a “Cool to”. The thermostat shows “Eco” while they’re active.
• Why it turns on: you (or someone in your home) turned it on, your home was set to Away, or the thermostat’s “Eco when away” setting decided nobody was home.
• How to turn it off: on a Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen) or Nest Thermostat E, choose Stop Eco or switch back to Heat or Cool. On a Nest Thermostat (2020) or Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen), end the Eco hold.
• How to stop it turning on by itself: in the Google Home app, go to your thermostat’s Settings, then Eco when away, and turn off “Automatically switch to Eco when away”.

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What Is Eco Mode on a Nest Thermostat?

So, what is Eco mode on Nest thermostat models? It’s two temperatures that replace your normal schedule while it’s active. If the house drops below the “Heat to” temperature, the thermostat turns on the heating. If it rises above the “Cool to” temperature, it turns on the cooling. Between the two, your system stays off.

Google lets you set the heating Eco Temperature anywhere from 40 to 70°F and the cooling one from 76 to 90°F. They’re set when the thermostat is installed, and you can change them at any time. You can also set either one to Off. In that case, the thermostat won’t heat (or cool) while it’s on Eco unless the house reaches your Safety Temperatures, the limits that protect your pipes from freezing and your home from extreme heat. If you have a fan schedule, it keeps running in Eco.

Two things often get confused with Eco:

• The green Leaf. The Leaf appears when you choose a temperature that can help you save energy. It’s only a guide, and it doesn’t mean Eco is on.
• Off mode. Off doesn’t keep your Eco Temperatures. It only heats or cools if the house reaches your Safety Temperatures, and it also stops the fan schedule. Google says Off will probably save more energy than Eco, but your home will take longer to get back to a comfortable temperature.

The diagram below shows how the Eco range works with typical winter and summer settings.

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Why Your Nest Thermostat Switches to Eco

There are three ways Nest Eco mode turns on, and knowing which one happened tells you how to turn it off.

You turned it on manually. Anyone with access to your home in the Google Home app (or the Nest app, for older models) can start Eco. So can a voice command to Google Assistant.

The thermostat decided nobody was home. With “Eco when away” turned on, the thermostat uses its own activity sensor, the sensors in your other Nest devices and your phone’s location to tell when everyone has left. It then waits a while before switching to Eco: up to 2 hours if its sensors noticed activity around the time you left. Setting your home to Away in the app also switches every thermostat to Eco. When someone comes back, it returns to the normal schedule.

An Eco hold or schedule is running. On the Nest Thermostat (2020) and Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen), Eco is a temperature preset rather than a separate mode. You can hold it until a time you choose, and on the Nest Thermostat you can also put the Eco preset into your temperature schedule.

The table below shows how Eco works on each current model.

Thermostat	How Eco works	Turn it off on the thermostat	Turn it off in the Google Home app
Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen)	Eco preset, held until an end time	Menu > Eco > confirm	Hold temperature > End hold
Nest Thermostat (2020)	Eco preset, ends at the next scheduled change or when the hold ends	Menu > Hold > Stop	Hold temperature > End hold
Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen or earlier)	Eco mode, stays on until you switch modes	Quick View > Eco > Stop Eco	Temperature mode icon > Heat, Cool or Heat • Cool
Nest Thermostat E	Eco mode, stays on until you switch modes	Quick View > Eco > Stop Eco	Temperature mode icon > Heat, Cool or Heat • Cool

If you’re not sure which model you have, our comparison of the Nest Thermostat vs the Nest Learning Thermostat shows how to tell them apart.

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How to Turn Off Eco Mode

Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen)

When you start Eco on the 4th gen, it runs as an “Eco hold” that overrides your schedule until the end time you chose. To end it early on the thermostat, press the display toward the wall to open the menu, turn the dial to Eco, press to select it, then press again to confirm that you want to turn off the Eco hold.

In the Google Home app, open your thermostat, tap Hold temperature, then tap End hold. The thermostat goes back to its schedule. If the app shows “Eco when away” or “Adaptive Eco” instead of “Eco hold”, the thermostat switched to Eco because it thinks you’re away: see the next section.

Nest Thermostat (2020)

The Nest Thermostat doesn’t have a separate Eco mode. You choose the Eco preset in the Google Home app (Temperature preset > Eco), and it ends at the next scheduled temperature change. If someone held it, open the thermostat’s menu, select Hold, then select Stop. In the app, tap Hold temperature, then End hold. You can also just set a more comfortable temperature on the thermostat or in the app.

Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen or earlier) and Nest Thermostat E

On these models, Eco is a mode, and a manually started Eco stays on even after someone comes home. It doesn’t switch back until you choose a heating or cooling mode. On the thermostat, press the ring to open the Quick View menu, turn to Eco, and select Stop Eco. In the Google Home app, tap the temperature mode icon at the lower left and choose Heat, Cool or Heat • Cool. The Nest app still works with these models too.

The Nest Learning Thermostat (1st and 2nd gen) lost app support on October 25, 2025. You can still switch modes on the thermostat itself, but you can’t control it from your phone, and features like Home/Away Assist are gone.

One more thing to know: Alexa can’t control a Nest thermostat while it’s set to an Eco Temperature, according to Google. If an Alexa voice command stops working, check for Eco first. If you’re new to holds, our guide to what Hold means on a thermostat explains the difference between temporary and permanent holds.

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How to Stop Nest Eco Mode Turning On by Itself

If your thermostat keeps going back to Eco, the usual cause is the “Eco when away” setting. To turn it off:

1. Open the Google Home app.
2. Tap Favorites or Devices, then Climate, then your thermostat.
3. Tap Settings, then Eco when away.
4. Turn off “Automatically switch to Eco when away”.

This setting used to be part of the Home & Away automations. Google moved it to the thermostat’s own settings, so older guides that tell you to edit the Away routine are out of date.

If you’d like to keep the energy savings but the thermostat switches to Eco while you’re home, the problem is usually presence sensing:

• Check every phone. In the Google Home app, tap your profile picture, then Home settings, then Presence sensing. Each member of your home has to turn on location sharing for their own phone, and only one app (Google Home or Nest) can use a phone’s location at a time.
• Check the Activity tab. It shows what changed your thermostat’s mode, which helps if an automation is the cause.
• Check the thermostat’s location. The thermostat’s own sensor has to see people moving around. One on a stand pushed too far back on a shelf, for example, may not see you. On a Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen) or Nest Thermostat E, you can reset what it learned about your habits: Quick View > Settings > Reset > Away.

If the thermostat goes to Eco but the house never gets as cold or warm as your Eco Temperatures, you probably have Adaptive Eco on (4th gen only). It keeps your home close enough to get back to your comfort temperature within an hour, which means the system runs while you’re away. You can turn it off in Settings > Eco when away. If none of this helps, our Nest thermostat troubleshooting guide covers Wi-Fi and power problems that can also make the thermostat behave strangely.

The chart below shows how to work out why your thermostat is on Eco and what to do about it.

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Should You Keep Eco Turned On?

For most homes, yes. Nest Eco mode is a setback, and the Department of Energy says setting your thermostat back 7 to 10°F for 8 hours a day can save as much as 10% a year on heating and cooling. Our guide to whether smart thermostats save money covers what Nest and ENERGY STAR measured.

The important part is choosing sensible Eco Temperatures. Google’s own example: if you like 70°F at home, a well-insulated house that heats quickly could use 56°F, while a drafty house that heats slowly is better at around 62°F. In cold weather, the Red Cross advises not going below 55°F when you’re away, to protect your pipes. Think about pets and plants too. Our guide to what temperature to set your thermostat in winter goes into more detail.

Heat pumps are the main exception. A deep setback can make the system turn on its expensive backup heat to recover, and the Department of Energy notes that this can cancel out the savings. If you have a heat pump, keep the Eco heating temperature only a few degrees below your usual setting, or use Adaptive Eco on a 4th gen. Our explainer on aux heat explains why. For every Eco setting and model difference, Google’s Eco Temperatures help page is the official reference.

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Conclusion

Nest Eco mode is a set of energy-saving temperatures that replaces your schedule while you’re away or whenever you choose it. To turn it off, stop Eco on a 3rd gen or Thermostat E, or end the Eco hold on a Nest Thermostat (2020) or 4th gen. If it keeps coming back, turn off “Automatically switch to Eco when away” or fix presence sensing. Most homes save energy with it on, as long as the Eco Temperatures are comfortable for your home and safe for your pipes.