When setting up any new Internet-connected device, don’t stick with the default settings. Doing so introduces security risks, and is also the best way to use the features available to you. If you have a ring camera or doorbell, there are a number of modifications you can make to reduce annoyance and increase privacy.
Snooze motion alerts when you’re out and about
Motion alerts are one of the most useful features of any security camera, but when you don’t need a notification on your phone you They roam around your property. You can snooze alerts in certain situations, such as when you’re doing yard work or hosting a party. Global Snooze pauses alerts for all cameras and doorbells for a set period, while Alerts Snooze allows you to pause notifications from a specific device. When snooze is enabled, you’ll still get doorbell rings and priority alerts.
In the Ring app, tap the Motion icon, select a snooze duration, and tap Start snoozing. For a device, tap More Icon and alerts on the camera you want to snooze Tap the bell icon to turn snooze on or off.
If you have monitoring by Virtual Security Guard, you can turn on Motion Snooze for registered devices to temporarily pause that service.
Optimize motion zones to exclude certain areas
Another way to curate motion alerts is to customize your Ring camera’s motion zones—for example, to exclude busy streets with lots of cars driving by, as well as private, low-traffic areas that you don’t need to monitor. You can add up to three motion zones per device under your camera Settings > Motion Settings > Camera Motion Zone. tap on Add a zoneDrag and hit the edges of the zone boundaries within your camera’s view save.
Set up smart alerts to reduce unnecessary notifications
In addition to narrowing the motion zone, you can choose whether you receive motion alerts and/or recordings specifically for people, vehicles, and packages, while reducing notifications from other sources of movement. (Not all Ring devices are compatible with all three Smart Alert categories, and you’ll need a Ring subscription to use these features.) To enable Smart Alerts, go to your device Settings > Motion Settings > Smart AlertsThen tap Enable the feature > Continue and select the alerts of your choice.
Customize your Neighborhood area for relevant alerts
Neighbors is an online community through which Ring users can share footage and receive updates for their area. It’s a broad umbrella for controversial features like community requests and search parties (which I’ll get to below), but it can be useful for staying aware of problems in your neighborhood — like fires or other safety alerts — even if you don’t make your camera content public. You can customize your area so that you only get relevant alerts, especially if your neighborhood is more active on the app. go to menu > Neighbors > settings > Customize the Neighborhood To adjust the boundaries of your area.
Community Requests is a neighborhood feature through which law enforcement can ask users to share video from their Ring devices. While Ring says the footage isn’t automatically shared, and law enforcement doesn’t have access to the live feeds, many users still have privacy concerns related to this type of collaboration. (Note that the ring too There was a short-lived partnership with Flock Safety(which would have made it easier for law enforcement agencies to request ring camera footage using Flox’s software.)
You can simply ignore community requests in your neighborhood feed, or you can turn off these requests entirely Neighborhood Settings > Feed Settings. Opt out Community requests And blow apply.
Exit the surveillance of the search party
Ring debuted its Search Party feature in a Super Bowl ad earlier this year, ostensibly to help users find lost dogs in their neighborhoods. Search Party uses AI to identify pets in your ring’s field of vision and pools the footage with other cameras. Obviously, this functionality Comes with significant privacy concernsNot the least of which is how and if your footage can be shared with law enforcement to survey people instead of pets. You can disable search party completely Control Center > Search Party. Select the blue pet icon next to each camera.
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Disconnect from Amazon Sidewalk’s wireless network
Amazon Sidewalk uses your Ring devices—and others in your neighborhood—to create a mesh network, so devices stay connected to the Internet even if your wifi is weak or down. Amazon says this feature provides security (because you’ll still get important alerts) and extends the range to other devices like smart lights, smart locks, and pet locators. But you don’t want to use up your bandwidth for this purpose or introduce potential privacy concerns to your home network. You can disable Amazon Sidewalk in control center on your Ring app.
Disable third-party provider sharing
Like many applications and services, Ring shares certain information with third parties for purposes such as personalized advertising. While the company Says it doesn’t sell User’s personal data in 2020, Researchers at the Electronic Frontier Foundation It found that the Ring app was loaded with third-party trackers that were sending personally identifiable information to analytics and marketing companies.
in responseRing added an opt-out feature, so you can adjust your settings to keep this information private from third-party providers. In the Ring app, go to Menu > Control Center > Cookies and Third Party Service Providers and close Third-party web and application analytics cookies And Personal ad.
If you want maximum privacy for your ring footage, consider enabling end-to-end encryption (E2EE), which prevents anyone but you from accessing your recordings. This adds an extra layer of protection against hackers as well as the Ring itself (including compliance with law enforcement requests), as the videos are hidden behind a passphrase and can only be viewed on your registered mobile device. You’ll also need a (paid) Ring Protect subscription. The main downside is that you lose access A very large list of featuresIncluding 24/7 video recording and person detection. To set up E2EE, go to your Control Center > Video Encryption > End-to-End Encryption.
Set up local storage for more space and better privacy
With a Ring Protect subscription, Ring will store your videos in the cloud for 180 days, which you can shorten to one day if you’re worried about someone getting access to your footage (and E2EE isn’t enabled). Unfortunately, without a Ring Protect subscription, there’s no easy option to store video from your camera, and you’ll probably want to save recordings for at least some period of time. you can do Set up local storage on a microSD card via Ring Edge, though you’ll need to invest in a Ring Alarm Pro base station. This gives you more control, more space and more privacy. Of course, another option is to find a camera that offers local storage to begin with.
