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When setting up any new Internet-connected device, don’t stick to the default settings. Doing so poses a security risk, and is also a less-than-optimal way to use the features available to you. If you have a Ring camera or doorbell, there are several changes you can make to minimize annoyance and maximize privacy. <\/p>\n
Motion alerts are one of the most useful features of any security camera, but you don’t need a notification on your phone. You<\/em> Are they roaming around your property? You can snooze alerts in certain situations, like when you’re outside doing yard work or hosting a party. Global Snooze pauses alerts for all cameras and doorbells for a set period of time, while Alert Snooze allows you to pause notifications from a specific device. When snooze is enabled, you’ll still receive the doorbell ring and priority alerts. <\/p>\n Tap the Motion icon in the Ring app, select the snooze duration, and tap start snooze<\/strong>. For a single device, tap More<\/strong> icon on the camera you want to snooze and tap the bell icon to turn alert snooze on or off. <\/p>\n If you have monitoring through Virtual Security Guard, you can turn on Motion Snooze for enrolled devices to temporarily stop that service. <\/p>\n Another way to curate motion alerts is to customize your Ring camera’s motion zones \u2014 for example, to exclude busy streets with lots of cars 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 Zones<\/strong>. Tap add zone<\/strong>Drag the edges of the zone boundaries within your camera’s view, and hit save<\/strong>. <\/p>\n In addition to limiting speed zones, you can choose whether you receive speed alerts and\/or recordings specifically for people, vehicles, and packages, while reducing notifications from other sources of movement. (Not all Ring devices are compatible<\/a> 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 Alerts<\/strong>then tap Enable Feature > Continue<\/strong> And choose your favorite alerts. <\/p>\n Neighbors is an online community through which Ring users can share footage and receive updates for their area. This is a broad umbrella for controversial features like community requests and search parties (which I’ll explain below), but it can be useful for staying aware of problems like fires or other safety alerts in your neighborhood, even if you don’t make your camera’s content public. You can customize your area so you only get relevant alerts, especially if your neighborhood is more active on the app. Go menu<\/strong> > Neighbour<\/strong> > settings<\/strong> > Customize neighborhood<\/strong> To accommodate the limitations of your area. <\/p>\n Community Requests is a neighbor feature through which law enforcement can ask users to share video from their Ring devices. While Ring says the footage is not automatically shared, and law enforcement does not have access to the live feed, many users still have privacy concerns related to this type of collaboration. (Note that Ring also had a short-lived partnership with Flock Safety, which would have made it easier for law enforcement agencies to request Ring camera footage using Flock’s software.)<\/p>\n You can easily ignore community requests in your Neighbors feed, or you can turn off these requests altogether Neighborhood Settings > Feed Settings<\/strong>. unselected community request<\/strong> and hit apply<\/strong>. <\/p>\n Ring launched its Search Party feature in a Super Bowl ad earlier this year, aimed at helping users find lost dogs in their neighborhoods. Search Party uses AI to identify pets in your Ring’s field of view and combines the footage with other cameras. Obviously, this functionality comes with significant privacy concerns, not the least of which is whether and how your footage can be shared with law enforcement to conduct surveillance on people rather than pets. You can disable Search Party completely below Control Center > Search Team<\/strong>. Select the blue stomach icon next to each camera. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n What do you think so far? Amazon Sidewalk uses your Ring devices \u2013 and others in your neighborhood \u2013 to create a mesh network so that said devices stay connected to the Internet, even if your WiFi is weak or down. Amazon says this feature adds security (since you’ll still get important alerts) and extends range for other devices like smart lights, smart locks, and pet locators. But you may not want to use your bandwidth for this purpose nor create potential privacy concerns in your home network. You can disable Amazon Sidewalk control center<\/strong> On your Ring app. <\/p>\n Like many apps and services, Ring shares some information with third parties for purposes such as personalized ads. while the company They say it doesn’t sell<\/a> Personal data of users, in 2020, Researchers at the Electronic Frontier Foundation<\/a> found that the Ring app was loaded with third-party trackers that were sending personally identifiable information to analytics and marketing firms. <\/p>\n in response<\/a>Ring has added an opt-out feature, allowing you to 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<\/strong> and turn it off Third-party web and app analytics cookies <\/strong>And personalized advertising<\/strong>.<\/p>\n If you want maximum privacy for your Ring footage, consider enabling end-to-end encryption (E2EE), which prevents anyone except you from accessing your recordings. This adds an extra layer of protection against hackers as well as Ring (including compliance with law enforcement requests), as the videos are hidden behind a passphrase and can only be viewed on your enrolled mobile device. You will also need a (paid) Ring Protect subscription. The main downside is that you lose access to A huge list of features<\/a>Which includes 24\/7 video recording and person tracking. To set up E2EE, go to your Control Center > Video Encryption > End-to-end Encryption<\/strong>. <\/p>\n With a Ring Protect subscription, Ring will store your videos in the cloud for 180 days, which you can shorten to at least one day if you’re concerned about someone gaining access to your footage (and E2EE isn’t enabled). Unfortunately, without a Ring Protect subscription, there’s no easy option for storing video from your camera, and you’ll probably want to save recordings for at least a period of time. You can do<\/em> install local storage<\/a> For microSD cards via Ring Edge, however, you’ll need to invest in the Ring Alarm Pro Base Station. It gives you more control, more space and more privacy. Of course, another option is to look for a camera that offers local storage to begin with. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nCustomize Motion Zones to exclude certain areas<\/h2>\n
Set up smart alerts to reduce unnecessary notifications<\/h2>\n
Customize your neighborhood area for relevant alerts<\/h2>\n
Exit search team monitoring <\/h2>\n
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\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nDisconnect from Amazon Sidewalk’s wireless network<\/h2>\n
Disable third-party provider sharing<\/h2>\n
Install local storage for more space and better privacy<\/h2>\n