Maker profile · Ring
Ring Doorbells and Cameras: Direct Wi-Fi, Shared Users and Video History
Ring’s doorbells and cameras connect straight to the home router, with no hub. The company, owned by Amazon, requires two-step verification on every account and offers end-to-end encryption as an option, and its paid plans decide how much recorded video is kept.
- HubNone: each device joins Wi-Fi
- VerificationRequired on every account
- Without a planAlerts, live view and two-way talk
- Video historyKept on a Ring plan
01 · Setup route
Where a Ring device is set up: the Ring app
Ring’s own setup articles describe the process entirely inside the Ring app, and no separate setup website takes part. The articles themselves, like the pages for managing an account on the web, sit on ring.com.
The app, as listed
- Listed in
- Ring’s app appears under this title in the U.S. App Store; Ring’s own articles call it the Ring app.
- Where devices are added
- Only in this app; no Ring web page adds a doorbell or a camera.
Addresses that belong to Ring
- Ring’s domainRing’s website, which carries its setup articles, plans and product pages.
- Ring’s domainThe web pages where an existing Ring account is managed; they share Ring’s domain.
Not part of setting up a Ring device
- A call that comes out of nowhere, or a number from an ad or a pop-up
- Remote control of a computer, by anyone
- A payment to anyone other than Ring or Amazon
- A verification code read out to a caller
How a Ring setup works
A Ring doorbell or camera is added to a Ring account in the Ring app, and the account behind it is protected by the two-step verification Ring requires. The app identifies the exact unit from a QR code printed on the device, which on some models sits under the faceplate or battery cover; the packaging can carry it too.
The device then switches into what Ring calls setup mode and broadcasts a short-lived Ring Wi-Fi access point. The phone joins that access point for a moment, hands over the home network’s name and password, and the access point disappears once the device is on the home network. Many current Ring models can join either of a router’s two Wi-Fi bands. Guide 1 places this method alongside the other three.
Adding a device ties it to the owner’s account, so anyone offering to do it on the owner’s behalf would first need the account password and the code Ring sends at each new sign-in. Ring asks for both only in its own app and on ring.com.
02 · The system
How a Ring system fits together
No hub sits in the middle. Every chip opens one component, showing its role and what hangs on it.
A Ring doorbell or camera
- What it does
- Detects motion or a press, records and streams live; battery models carry a removable rechargeable pack, while wired ones draw on doorbell wiring.
- What it needs
- Its own Wi-Fi connection to the home router.
- What depends on it
- Every event in the account starts here.
A Ring Chime
- What it does
- Sounds indoors when the doorbell is pressed, and some models also extend Wi-Fi coverage for nearby Ring devices.
- What it needs
- Mains power and Wi-Fi.
- What depends on it
- Nothing essential: doorbells and cameras work without one.
The home router
- What it does
- Each Ring device connects to it directly, with no hub in between.
- What it needs
- A network the device can join; the bands each model works on are listed in its specifications.
- What depends on it
- Live view, alerts and any recordings.
Ring’s servers
- What it does
- Pass on alerts and live video, and keep video history for accounts on a plan; with end-to-end encryption switched on, they hold recordings they cannot read.
- What it needs
- A Ring account protected by two-step verification.
- What depends on it
- Everything seen away from home.
The Ring app
- What it does
- Adds devices, holds plans and houses Control Center, where shared users, signed-in devices and encryption are managed.
- What it needs
- A phone signed in with the account password and a one-time code.
- What depends on it
- Who can see what, and from which device.
Ring’s alarm base station serves its alarm sensors rather than its cameras, so a doorbell or camera never needs a hub to work.
03 · Plans
What a Ring device does with and without a plan
Left, a Ring account with no plan; right, the same account with one. The cards below change as the switch moves.
Without a plan: 3 of 6, and nothing is kept for later viewing.With a Ring plan: all 6, with video history kept in the account.
- Live viewIncludedIncludedStreams live without a plan.Unchanged with a plan.
- Motion and doorbell alertsIncludedIncludedNotifications arrive without a plan.Unchanged with a plan.
- Two-way talkIncludedIncludedTalking through the device works without a plan.Unchanged with a plan.
- Video historyNot includedIncludedEvents are not stored for later viewing.Recorded events are kept in the account.
- Person detectionNot includedIncludedNot available without a plan.Alerts can single out people.
- Snapshot captureNot includedIncludedNot available without a plan.Still images taken between events.
Ring has renamed its plans more than once in recent years, so older articles and receipts may use names the company no longer sells under. The plans page on ring.com shows the current names, prices and history lengths for each region.
04 · Genuine or imitation
Five things that carry the Ring name
A mix of the real and the copied. Each pick reveals the verdict and the reasoning, and the tally at the end adds them up.
Item 1 of 5
https://account.ring.com/
Correct. It is genuine.Not this one. It is genuine.
The owner is ring.com; account is a subdivision Ring uses for its web account pages.
Item 2 of 5
https://ring-doorbell-connect.example/
Correct. It is an imitation.Not this one. It is an imitation.
The whole name, ring-doorbell-connect.example, belongs to someone other than Ring. Hyphenated brand words are a common costume.
Item 3 of 5
Text message
Ring code 482913. Reply with this code to complete the account check.
Correct. It is an imitation.Not this one. It is an imitation.
Verification codes are typed into the Ring app or ring.com and nowhere else. Anyone who asks for one to be sent back is trying to sign in as the owner.
Item 4 of 5
From: ring.com
A new device has signed in to your Ring account. It can be reviewed in Control Center in the Ring app.
Correct. It is genuine.Not this one. It is genuine.
A genuine sign-in notice points back to Ring’s own app and asks for no reply, no code and no call.
Item 5 of 5
Correct. It is genuine.Not this one. It is genuine.
This is Ring’s app as the U.S. App Store lists it, with Ring.com shown as the seller.
correct answers out of 5 so far, counted as each item is answered
05 · Background
Ring, from Doorbot to Amazon
- 2013DoorbotThe company begins as a video doorbell start-up called Doorbot.
- 2014Renamed RingDoorbot takes the Ring name.
- 2018Part of AmazonAmazon buys Ring.
- 2020Verification requiredTwo-step verification becomes mandatory on every account.
- 2023FTC orderRing agrees to an FTC order on privacy and security.
Required verification, optional encryption
Since 2020 Ring has required two-step verification on every account, so a one-time code is needed whenever a new phone or computer signs in. The app’s Control Center gathers the account’s privacy and security settings in one place, including the devices signed in and the people invited as shared users, each signing in with an account of their own.
Ring also offers end-to-end encryption for video as an optional setting. With it on, recordings can be opened only on phones the owner has enrolled, and features that rely on Ring’s servers reading the video stop working, including viewing on some other screens.
The 2023 FTC order
In May 2023 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission alleged that Ring had allowed employees and contractors to view customers’ private videos and had been slow to adopt basic protections against account takeover. Ring agreed to an order requiring a privacy and security program and to pay $5.8 million, which the FTC designated for customer refunds.
06 · Ring’s own pages
Where Ring publishes its own information
Ring’s product pages, plans and documentation sit on ring.com, and Amazon also runs a page for reporting scams that borrow the Ring name.
- Ring’s own websitering.com
- Amazon’s page for reporting a scamwww.amazon.com