Do snapshots require motion recording?

Good afternoon,

This may be an unusual situation.

I have some battery stick-up cams, and for one of them there is frequent motion that I don’t want to record. But, I do want to capture snapshots every few minutes so I can review if something changed.

I’ve turned off the ‘Record Motion’ switch, but have ‘Snapshot Capture’ enabled in Device Settings. However, I’m not seeing any snapshots, just the motion events that have been recorded when I have been messing around and enabled ‘Record Motion’.

I’ve tried turning the motion sensitivity way down, but it still records all the time, so that won’t work for me.

Does motion recording have to be enabled for the snapshot capture to work?

Thank you,

Alfie

Hi @AlfieJ ,

Good question, “Does motion recording have to be enabled for the snapshot capture to work?” And looks like you already figured it out. Correct, the “Record Motion” toggle switch must be enabled for “Snapshots” to work.

I guess it is because it is still recording and storing the Snapshot photographs onto the Ring “Cloud” for 7-days, or when your Battery-powered Stick-Up cams reach a maximum of 2.5 MB storage (externally-powered devices have 30 MB worth of snapshot storage). Once this 7-day or storage limit has been reached, the oldest snapshots will be overwritten by newer ones, so make sure you download important Snapshots before they are overwritten.

But because you are powering your cam with only a battery, you have an extra motion setting that is not on the Plug-in version. It is “Motion Frequency” which is often over-looked (you have to scroll to see it way down at the bottom of the Motion Setting page).

  • _ Motion Frequency : Motion Frequency allows you to tweak your motion detection protocols to provide a balance between consistent alerts and preserving battery life. Ring’s Smart Alert algorithm is an internal program that runs inside of your Ring device. It analyzes the traffic patterns of detected motions, looking for repetitive patterns. When it detects such a pattern, it essentially “sleeps” your device for a certain period of time, cutting down the number of motion alerts you’ll get from the same set of stimuli. The more times a repetitive pattern of motion continues, the longer the time between issuing motion alerts. There are three settings to choose from:_
  • _ Frequent: Your Ring device will capture all events. This option has the shortest battery life._
  • _ Standard: (the default setting) Captures and notifies you about motions less often. This option has standard battery life. We recommend starting here if you are unsure of which option to choose._
  • _ Light: Captures and notifies you about motion even less often. This option has maximum battery life._

https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022462472-Utilizing-Motion-Detection-with-your-Ring-Battery-Devices

So Alfie, to get Snapshots turn back on (enable) the “Record Motion” toggle switch, and then besides just turning down the “Motion Sensitivity” way down to “Less Motion” , also try setting the “Motion Frequency” to “Light.” You will get less text-type ‘pushed’ Notifications and App Alert Tone sounds, but it still might still make video recordings even if you don’t get notified/hear sound. Also, re-adjust/select your “Motion Zones” to the minimum that is acceptable to you, t o excluded the area of your frequent motion , to help prevent unwanted video recordings (pick a single zone with the least activity). These setting will have NO effect on the Snapshot , which will still take a photograpgh for the camera’s entire field-of-view. I’m not sure if this helps meet your desired outcome, but I wanted to make sure you have also adjusted the “Motion Frequency” and “Motion Zones” setting.

Hopefully this will get you closer to mostly just Snapshots with much less video recordings. I hope that you might find this information helpful :slight_smile:

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Oh yeah @AlfieJ , I forgot to mention in my above post that:

  • If you also want all those text-type ‘pushed’ Notifications to completely stop on your Ring App, then toggle “Motion Alerts” to off.
  • To stop all “App Alert Tone” sounds to your App, on that cam’s device page, select “Device Settings” (gear shaped icon) > Alert Settings > App Alert Tones > Silent.

:slight_smile:

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