I don’t yet have a Ring system but I’m considering buying the alarm. However through one particular Amazon review I’ve discovered that (despite what the website claims) the ability to arm/disarm the alarm through the app is only available to subscribers. This seems to be a recent change.
I’m not really wanting to sign up to a plan but my question is: for those of you who do have this arm/disarm feature, how do you use it and do you consider it important/vital? For example, do you find it convenient to disarm through the app when you return to your house instead of having to go to the keypad?
Hi @SiH. Recently, some changes were made to the Ring Protect plan for neighbors in the United States and Canada. You can find an overview of those changes in this Community post. If you plan to use the Ring Alarm without a Ring Protect plan, you would need to arm and disarm the system via the Keypad. In that case, you’d likely need the Keypad to be located close to the door so it’s easily accessible when leaving or entering the home.
Hi @Caitlyn_Ring, thanks very much for the info … although it raises more questions than it answers. Firstly, the post that you’ve linked to states that “there are no changes for neighbors outside of the United States and Canada.” So do those changes not apply to the UK? I suspect that some or all of them do apply to the UK, hence my question in the first place as to whether signing up for a basic plan is value for money if it unlocks the remote arm/disarm feature. However I also see from that post that there are a few other features that are now behind the paywall, most notably the email/push notifications. This is a pretty fundamental feature to make plan-only - in fact without it the alarm system is no better than an old-school hard-wired burglar alarm which is precisely what I’m wanting to move away from.
In light of these recent changes, it appears that the Ring website can’t be trusted to be accurate because it still states that remote notifications/arming/disarming are available for free. So please can you confirm to me as a potential UK customer what is included for free and what requires a basic subscription?
@SiH The changes you are referring to apply to neighbors in the United States and Canada, not the UK. Amazon reviews could be from neighbors in different regions, and may not necessarily apply to you. Neighbors in the UK can arm and disarm their Ring alarm system via the Keypad or the Ring app, with or without a plan. The Ring Protect Plus plan is optional, and will provide access to additional features for your Alarm, such as Assisted Monitoring and Cellular Backup. You can find information on Ring Protect plans in the UK here.
@Caitlyn_Ring, thanks for the quick reply. That is indeed good news that I’ll have what I need with the plan-less product and that the website is accurate. For info, the Amazon review in question clearly stated that it was in the UK. I’d also previously been in contact with product support (online chat & telephone) and in both cases they told me that arming/disarming needed a plan - maybe they weren’t taking regional variations into account. Anyway, I’ll put my faith in your answer. Thanks again.