Really unhappy about this. I find it convenient when I’m working to see notifications and run live views from my office computer. Why would they force us to mobiles - something sat on my desk which I’m not staring at 24/7.
Bad move Amazon/Ring.
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I agree – I don’t understand why they would completely discontinue the desktop app.
I leave this up and running on a laptop so I can quickly view it - especially while on my phone and sitting at my computer.
Unless/until the WEB PAGE will offer a LIVE VIEW, the desktop app needs to remain. There needs to be an option that doesn’t force someone to use their phone to view things.
Forcing people to use a mobile app ONLY is really a poor decision, IMHO. Did they do any sort of user experience research on this before making this decision?
Agree that this is a very bad move.
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I wonder if I can send my Ring products back to them and get my money back?
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Apparently Ring Customer Service knows nothing about it
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Windows is obviously a very popular operating system, used worldwide by numerous users.
Since Ring is discontinuing the Ring desktop app for Windows and Mac… does that mean that Ring will ensure that accessing Ring.com through a browser on a Windows device will afford the user the full functionality found in Ring mobile apps?
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If you have more than one location you cannot view it at the same time also. Cannot control the lights or siren from the ring website.
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Without a functioning LIVE view, like in the desktop app, my ring will be nothing more than a pricey door ornament
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A truly awful decision to drop the Windows & Mac desktop apps!! I use them all the time and appreciate on-screen notifications without having to be logged in to the Ring website. This is obviously a decision to save money by Amazon, but why? Aren’t they already the richest company in the world.
I won’t install any new Ring products going forward and will explore the competition instead. Please reverse this decision!!!
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I agree! I’m so disappointed! I love the Windows app! My vision isn’t the greatest so having to use my phone app all the time sucks! Please reconsider!
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I’m with all the other posters so far, I think this is a poor decision and certainly detracts from the user experience.
Please re-think this one Ring
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I cannot believe that the powers that be at Ring/Amazon believe that everyone only uses their phone to access their Ring. While I may have my phone next to my desktop and laptop, that does not mean that it is the most convenient way to access your Ring.
This was a very bad decision on Ring’s part and will definitely cost them business. There is now a lot of competition out there.
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Agreed, this is a really bad move. I signed up to these boards today to request the desktop application does not get retired. The interface on ring.com is too slow and cumbersome. Features like live view and using my PC to answer the door are extremely important to me. I work from home, and on the phone constantly, my PC is my go to place to answer the door or give delivery instructions.
My kids use the living room PC desktop app, to see who is at the door and either answer it or ignore the door. A definite safety feature. Again keep the desktop app, it’s the second feature that actually made us choose ring. Remove it and I may go elsewhere, along with most of my older family who need the app, and don’t have a mobile phone.
Please reconsider!
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Apologies for starting my own thread on this - I didn’t see it, though I did search. I commented:
I opened the Ring desktop app on my PC tonight and was greeted with the information that the app will be discontinued on PC and MAC from 15 October, and that we should use the website instead (it contains ‘most’ of the features of the app, apparently).
The website does not currently allow live view, and that means you can’t communicate with whoever is outside. There also appears to be no access to ‘device health’, and as many Ring owners will be aware, being able to check that periodically (or because you missed a call and need to find out if a reboot is required) is rather important.
I use the desktop app because you don’t get the full benefit of a HD camera on a fiddly smartphone screen anyway, and I don’t like being forced down that route.
I hope that the missing features will be added to the website before 15 October, otherwise I might start looking for an alternative system
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The problem is, it doesn’t. There’s no live view, so you can’t talk to anyone at the door unless you use your smartphone.
Edit: The live view feature has been added since yesterday when I posted this. It wasn’t there before - I checked.
1 Like
I just started looking, and an ONVIF doorbell seems to be the way to go.
You can connect one of those to your home network, and you control all the traffic without it having to go to someone else’s cloud.
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I have the live view on my laptop and I’m able to talk over the mic…I hope they reconsider this decision because I like the full screen view on my laptop. I really only use it on my phone if I’m away from my home.
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In addition to needing to add live view – if they do add live view to the website, they’re going to need to correct the perpetually being timed-out/logged out of the website and the constant annoying ‘two factor authentication’ business required to access it. It takes long minutes to keep reconnecting/reloading the website. Long minutes that will make live view entirely useless.
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In a way, this has come at just the right time for me.
I recently bought a birdbox camera and as a result I learned a lot about ONVIF and networking. On top of that, I also recently installed a NAS system, and the surveillance software on that, in combination with the birdbox camera, prompted me to buy two ONVIF security cameras that I can also integrate with it (and they worked instantly). Adding an ONVIF video doorbell after this would be a doddle, with the advantage of owning the footage in its entirety.
When I consider how many times I have to reboot the Ring, or the network extenders, and when I think of now many times I go to ‘live view’ only to be met with a black screen or an ‘application error’ just when I’d rather it didn’t do that, or when I look at recorded footage that shows me what happened after the caller had left several seconds/minutes ago (and if it isn’t just a black screen recording), or when I leave the house, get in my car, drive off, and my phone vibrates to tell me that someone is at the door (i.e. me, a minute or two ago) when I get to the end of the road… and don’t get me started on WiFi network issues.
I think my way forward is clear.
The only issue - and a nice little project I see before me - is having the required two remote chimes in different parts of the house.
I’m not seeing Live View.
Anyone seeing a Live View “button” on the website?