Hi! I’m new to the community and hope someone can provide some insight. I have a contact sensor at my front and back doors, both “main doors” in Settings. How can I monitor these doors at night when I’m sleeping so that when someone breaks in, the alarm sounds, and also be able to get up and take my dog outside without having to disarm? It seems silly to have to arm/disarm Home everytime I set outside to my back yard or go get the mail, and if I set the doors to be not monitored when Home, than how do I protect myself at night, when I am Home, but need the doors monitored? Thanks!
Hello @R2R ,
Ah, those are good questions. And it really depends on what your mean by “monitored.” If your idea of “monitored” is to mean you want sirens to sound to let you know, well then yeah, you must use an Armed Mode (“Home” or “Away”) with the doors enabled in those modes. Now, if you really mean you want to be made ‘aware’ and can ‘monitor’ somehow and not necessarily with the full-blown alarm siren, YES, you can do that without the hassle of arming/disarming all the time.
Each alarm sensor (the Contact sensors for doors & windows, and the Motion sensors that detect movement) can make you ‘aware’ two different ways, without the alarm sounding. The sensor can be set to send your Ring App:
As for the type of Alerts you can get: (to alert you to make you ‘aware’)
Notifications Alerts : These are the text-type messages that appear (pushed) on your phone. These are toggled enabled/disabled for each device and/or camera. Whatever you set for that specific device, you are going to always receive these Notifications in all 3 Alarm Modes. The Modes have no control over these. On sensors (Contact or Motion), it’s pretty straight-forward about setting these text Notifications to ‘push’ to your phone or not. You can toggle to get (or not get) a text Notification on your phone for when the Contact-Sensor is “Open” (Open Alert), or when the Contact-Sensor is “Closed” (Closed Alert), or have both toggled OFF for no text Notifications at all ever. Or set a Motion sensor to Notify you when it detects movement too. Again, choice you make on these text Notification toggles will be the remain the same, and a text Notification with appear on your phone regardless of the 3 Alarm Mode selection.
- To set your Sensors text-type Notifications: Main Menu (the 3 horizontal line icon, upper-right-corner of Dashboard) > Devices > Alarm Base Station > select the appropriate Contact or Motion sensor > then while on this sensor’s Device page:
- For Contact Sensors : Toggle " Open Alerts" right (blue enabled) to get a text Notification when opened. Toggle " Closed Alerts" right (blue enabled) to get a text when closed. Toggle either left (disabled) if you do not want a text Notification.
- For Motion Sensors : Toggle " Motion Alerts" right (blue enabled) to get a text Notification whenever that sensor detects motion.
Chirps Tones Alert: These are audible sounds alerts for Alarm Sensors. Also labeled as App Alert Tones on Video Camera devices (different label, but does the same thing as a Chirp Tones on alarm sensors). Whatever Chirp/Alert-Tone choice selected on the “Owner” Ring App will be heard on that smart-phone and also the same tone heard on the Base Station and Keypad. “Shared Users” can select different Chirp/Alert-Tone to hear on their phones. Again, choice you make on these sensor Chirp Tones will be the remain the same, and you’ll always heard regardless of the 3 Alarm Mode selection.
- To set your Sensor’s audible Chirp Alert Tone Sounds: Main Menu (the 3 horizontal line icon, upper-right-corner of Dashboard) > Devices > Alarm Base Station > select the appropriate Contact or Motion sensor > select the button “Chirps Tones” > Select the Chirp Tone you prefer (note: to NOT hear any sound, select “None”)
So you do not have to be in an Armed Alarm mode if your definition of “monitor” the doors/windows/motion sensors. And to repeat, your get these Notifications on your phone, and you’ll hear these Chirp sounds on your phone and Base Station and all Keypads. Cool, huh? You can set up to have both Notifications & Sounds, or one or the other, or none at all on whatever sensors you desire. You’ll be aware and monitoring.
Ah, but for an example, what if you become “monitoring-aware” through your smart-phone (via a Notification and/or a Chirp Tone)? And you see an Intruder while you’re at the mailbox checking mail? And the alarm system is in Disarmed Mode so the alarm didn’t siren. Is this an issue? Nope, because you still have your SOS alarm button icon! Using the smart-phone is cool for this. In multiple locations on your Ring App, you have quick access to the Red Shield “Exclamation-Point” SOS icon (upper-right corner of Dashboard, Camera video device, or on “Live View” by first tapping the blue “+” icon). It’s safe to experiment with this. Go ahead and try . . . just tap that red “!” icon. Then you’ll see 3 slide-choices of which emergency agency you need (Police/Fire/Medical, with details on what actions will occur are written there in each choice). Then try sliding (swipe-right) one of the choices. Now you get a Count-down of 5 seconds to hit the “Cancel” at the bottom, before the signal actually goes out. Also, notice there is also a blue bar “Sound Siren Only” at the bottom, which does not notify the Professional monitor people. But tapping this blue bar will sound the Alarm Base Station Siren and Keypad Siren.
So my point is, most people don’t frequently set the armed modes of “Home” or “Away” as frequently as you might think. If you want to, then yes, you will have to select “Disarmed”, either on your keypad or with a single-quick tap on the main Dashboard page of your Ring App every time you want to go outside.
I personally find that I rarely use my two keypads anymore, and because we’ve all have become such high-tech creatures, that you rarely find me without carrying my cellphone either. So consider, if you don’t already, always keeping your phone with you, and with this all in mind, you should appropriately configure your “Home” Mode for at night asleep and/or home. And set your “Away” appropriately to protect your residence from Intruders.
I hope this makes you feel a bit more ‘safe’ with these other options, and you find this information useful 
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