Doorbells Feature Request

Products Video Doorbells
#3

Hello,

I recently got a Ring Doorbell 2 to complement my existing ring setup (Ring Alarm, two Sitck Up Cams with solar panels and Floodlight Cam). So far I am really liking the doorbell though it is a bit of a nuisance to only hear the doorbell ring through the app on my phone. I know I can get a chime, but I already have a Ring alarm which has a pretty powerful speaker. I would _ LOVE _ to have the doorbell ring through the alarm base station and keypad. I honestly _assumed _ that this would automatically be the case - teach me to assume :wink:

Thanks for the opportunity to offer a feature request!

18 Likes
#4

Hi - In the app it would be great to see if the doorbell cam is being charged via the doorbell wiring. I have confirmed the appropriate voltage coming through the wires, but in the app you only see ‘battery’ similar to solar stick-up cams. Having the ability to know you are charging, even if slow, would be great. Right now, I don’t know if my Doorbell 2 is getting a charge via the wiring or if it is 100% on battery. I have no way of being sure if I am getting a charge though I _think _it is as I am only seeing about 1% drop every couple days despite HDR video and near max motion zone sensitivity. Thanks for considering this.

11 Likes
#5

The live view feature needs to have a video quality setting that can be adjusted. For example I’m currently having an issue because I have a budget phone plan with Sprint and they limit video streaming to ‘DVD’ quality for the price I pay. Apparently behind the scenes they’re really just limiting any video stream to 1.5Mbps. Unfortunately streaming from my Ring Pro is considered the same as video streaming apps to come carriers so my live view will not connect.

It would be great if there was a way to select the quality of the live view. If I could select a lower quality I could still use live view with my cell carrier. Also I’d go a step further and recommend even a voice only option. Like if I was somewhere with pretty poor service I’d still like to be able to talk to someone at my doorbell even if I couldn’t see them in a pinch. So a drop down that had options like: Auto, 1080, 720, 480, audio only or similar would be very beneficial to a lot of people. Additionally it may help keep more customers as I nearly returned my Pro once I found out this was going to be an issue.

10 Likes
#6

Hi Jennifer.

Thanks for reaching out to the customers for suggestions; that’s awesome.

There are two things I’d love to see:

(1) I use a hearing aid which I then pair with my iPhone. When I use the Ring app on my iPhone, sometimes the audio correctly comes to my hearing aid, but other times it comes out the speaker of the phone (even when the phones “mute” button is turned on). When this happens, I have to quickly stop ring or try to lower the volume or put my hand over the speaker. It can be very embarrassing and annoying.

It would be great if the app had a way to choose where the audio comes out (phone ear piece, phone speaker, hearing aid (Bluetooth device), etc).

(2) I really like my Ring Pro video doorbell. My existing intercom is a KSU, i.e., a phone/intercom system which has speaker/pushbutton modules by the front and back doors. I would like to have a way to easily interface the Ring Pro to my KSU.

What would be nice to see is a small box that simply has a set of relay contacts (Common, Normally Open, Normally Closed) such that the relay is activated when the Ring Pro button is pressed. This box could either go inline with the video doorbell, or it could be stand alone and simply paired to the video doorbell. This way I could wire up the COM/NO relay contacts in parallel with the existing KSU push button to have the existing KSU ring the phones when someone hits the button on the Ring Pro.

I hope this all makes sense. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or recommendations.

Thank you for your time. :slight_smile:

5 Likes
#7

I just installed a Video Doorbell Pro and there is a serious problem that needs to be fixed immediately.

For some reason, you don’t have a “Motion Record” on-off switch in the app for the doorbell. This is despite your website saying this:

Using the Motion Record Control to Disable Recording

If you don’t want your Ring device to record any motion, you can disable motion recording by using the Motion Record control in your Ring app.

I want to be able to prevent private conversations that I have on my front porch from being recorded and sent to your servers. Why in the world would you leave this feature off your doorbells and then falsely claim on your website that you have it?

I talked to support on chat and they first suggested workarounds such as shrinking my motion zone or setting a schedule for when I don’t want my own device recording me, which is not acceptable. They then said I should make a “suggestion” here that will need to be reviewed by the development team. However, unfortunately, I believe you must have some other reason that you require our doorbells to record everything even if we don’t want them to, so there’s more here at play.

So where do we go from here?

16 Likes
#8

I might add that this is a problem especially here in Washington state, where we have strict laws about recording private conversations. Garmin’s newer dash cam models sold in the U.S. don’t record audio (even though, on the older models, you at least had the option to turn off the microphone) because of these legal concerns. That’s why I am so surprised that Ring devices don’t have the option to turn off audio recording, and that, for the doorbells in particular, you can’t turn off motion recording (video with audio). And, further, Ring doorbells immediately upload your private conversations to their company servers!

I would like to know if your company considered different state privacy laws and how and why you chose to make a hardwired product that records all conversation without the ability to turn it off, and, again, what are our remedies?

Thank you.

7 Likes
#9

On the app you can go to your device, Motion Settings, Motion Zones and uncheck the ‘Active’ box. This will disable all motion zones without having to resize/move them each time. This should (I haven’t personally tested it) disable all motion recording. Then when you’re finished you can check the active box again to enable normal operation.

6 Likes
#10

@Dwain77 wrote:

On the app you can go to your device, Motion Settings, Motion Zones and uncheck the ‘Active’ box. This will disable all motion zones without having to resize/move them each time. This should (I haven’t personally tested it) disable all motion recording. Then when you’re finished you can check the active box again to enable normal operation.

Well I’ll be… it worked! Thank you! I don’t know why customer support didn’t suggest that.

I still think they should simply have a “Motion Record” on/off slider for doorbells just like their other devices.

5 Likes
#11

Agreed, it could be more straight forward with a slider…hopefully that’s on the way. Until then though I’m glad this takes care of it.

2 Likes
#12

Further to the ability to disable monitoring, there is another condition that I’d like to see: Scheduling should allow the disabling/activation of zones. This would allow users to choose when to automatically turn on/off motion recording. My doorbell is on a very busy pavement, so during the day I’d like to be able to disable all recording as I’ve had instances where the doorbell rings, I pull up the app for live view only to get a “processing video” message because passing traffic (foot or vehicle) has already started recording - which completely interferes with the reason for the doorbell in the first place. So, using the previously mentioned method of deactivating the motion zones I can “tame” the recording during the day, but I’d like the zones to become active overnight so that recording takes place for security. You can use the schedule to stop notifications, but depending on whether the zones are active or not, recordings will or won’t take place. Currently I have to intervene every day to manually turn the zones on/off. Tied into this - even if motion recording is deactivated, doorbell pushes should (optionally) activate recording - again for security reasons.

5 Likes
#13

Great team work @Dwain77 and @JoEbYX with finding a solution that works for you! Sorry to hear support did not mention this. I’ll certainly be notifying the team of this experience and wording on the site. Thanks for sharing :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#14

Hi to everyone. Already posted a while ago about these two improvements that would be a real plus … In hope I am posting them again as last weekend we were at a friend house who has decided to go the other way all in (nest & G home) and he has a point in his purchasing decision that I can’t argue with. Actually if I would need to buy again I think I would also go his way and not mine. The only difference where I have a point is that Ring is cheaper but …

  • The main improvement would be the automatic display of the video feed when someone rings your bell on the Echo devices ar at least the ability to make it happen with a routine, IFTTT, HASS … Anything. Think this way. You are home, you don’t want people to know you are home but you are also waiting for the postman. You will have to wishper to Alexa to open up the video stream ? We are in 2019 a video doorbell must open up the video feed. I want to see I don’t want to ask to see. Nest does it instantly on the Home why can’t you do it ? Also a speed up of the connecting time would be great.

-Facial recognition would be also a plus. Now with GDPR here in Europe hummm that could lead to problems of people blah blah blah. But could be nice. The other one is doing it why can’t you .

In all honesty you are loosing people with these two missing features. The only one where you have a point is the Elite doorbell that you can cable on RJ45 however the price is a bit ouch …

Thanks for considering them.

Seb

10 Likes
#15

I’d love to see real integration with the Google/Chromecast ecosystem. The existing ‘skill’ integration is basically usesless; I feel bad for whatever developer had to waste his time on it just so marketting could check of the ‘supports Google’ box.

I know this won’t get any real traction as the Amazon pettiness re: Google is well known; but I’m still hoping Ring will prove me wrong since there has been some thaw in relations re Youtube/Alexa/FireTV.

There is really no reason that Ring shouldn’t be on this list (lifted from Googles 'Supported Cameras) documentation. There are a few Tier1 vendors on this list, but the bulk of these are economy-grade products - and if they can manage to develop this, then there is no reasonable excuse for Ring/Amazon not to. Please stop with the petty bickering and actually serve your customer’s needs.

You can stream video from these security cameras to your Nest display.

  • Arlo
  • atomi smart
  • Geeni
  • homee Smart Home
  • mydlink Smart
  • ioe smart
  • iView iHome
  • KAFO Smart
  • Logi Circle
  • MCL DOMO
  • Momentum Smart Home
  • Nest
  • Netatmo
  • Panasonic HomeHawk
  • Q-See Plus
  • Smart K
  • Swann Smart Security Camera
  • TP-Link Kasa
  • Tuya Smart, Smart Life
  • Zmodo
  • SpotCam
6 Likes
#16

I just want faster access to the live view, 3 blooming clicks is outrageous and too many precious sections lot, how about a widget that takes you straight to the live view…

Oh and auto open on echo shows pleases and thank yous

17 Likes
#17

Yeah, I agree here. I don’t know if the app can be iOS app can be redesigned to open faster, but it is rather too slow right now (I have an iPhone 5S). When someone presses the button on my Ring Pro doorbell, I get notified right away, but when I then tap on the notification to open the Ring app, it can take upwards of 20 to 30 (or more) seconds for it to open, and the person who rang the doorbell has already left. It would be nice to make that whole transition faster so that you can actually answer the doorbell. Does this make sense? :-? :slight_smile:

Thanks.

8 Likes
#18

I just installed a ring pro and really like it so far. If these features already or have already been mentioned my apologies. If I have the orientation locked on my iphone and go full screen on the live view, there’s no way to back out of it. A “back” button or “X” would work I think.

Also, it would be nice to receive a notifcation thru email or such when the doorbell went offline.

Again, if these already excist my apologies.

1 Like
#19

I would love to see a feature in which I could set a timer to disable motion detections after the first detection. For example, I come in and out of my front door frequently for things like taking the dog out, taking out the trash, etc. As a result, I’ll get several notifications of motion. It would be great to have a feature by which I could snooze alerts for a certain time frame after detection - even 1-5 minutes would do the trick!

1 Like
#20

Good Day,

Since I don’t see a pinned thread in Accessories, I guess this is the next best place.

I purchased a Doorbell Pro for both the front and rear entrances to our home. Because there is also a senior citizen who resides here, I installed a couple of Chime Pro modules for strategic placement in the house. Much to my surprise, I can link each doorbell to a single chime, but there is no way to have the front door play a different chime than the back. As a result, I’ve had to double the number of Chime modules as a workaround. Unfortunately, I’m at the point of needing to install additional power outlets, or unsightly power bars to accomodate them. I really don’t care about hearing a chime whenever motion is detected, so even if the motion detected chime can be reconfigured to a second doorbell, I’d be thrilled. The original plan was to have announcements made over our Echo devices since there is one in virtually every room, but to have the alert volume loud enough for my mom to hear deafens us anytime other alerts or audio is played over the Echo.

4 Likes
#21

With my Ring Doorbell Pro I would like to get motion alerts from only one motion zone and not get alerts from the other.

2 Likes
#22

I have a ring doorbell, floodlight cam and battery powered floodlight. They cover my front door, driveway and backyard.
The feature I would like to request is the ability to swipe between the cameras in the app instead of having to “switch” between the different feeds. I am asking for this to be able to “follow” unfolding situations/alerts. I am considering adding one to two more cameras and believe this feature would further enhance my ability to know what is happening on my property.
Thank you for this consideration.
Jerry Eckert

1 Like