setting camera to record only on alarm?

Products Ring Alarm
#1

I read: https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036107792-Control-All-your-Ring-Cameras-with-Modes

So I see the living room motion is checked in AWAY mode. But I don’t want the camera to record ANYTHING unless the alarm is triggered, or if I’m live viewing.

So if I goto settings for my “living room camera” and slide the switch to record motion to off, will it still record if the alarm goes on?

And lets say someone gets into my house without setting off any door sensors. Will motion cause the alarm to go off from the camera motion detection? And will it record for that? Do I need to turn on motion recording? I only want recordings while the alarm is armed.

#2

Hey @Starstreak. The article that you are referencing is slightly different than the current Modes for the Alarm, so I want to make sure there is no confusion. This Modes feature, you may not have yet, as it is slowly being rolled out. This feature is to control your cameras though, so when you are home you can disarm your cameras to not record anything. In comparison, when you are in away for your cameras, it will record and notify you of motion and so on.

The feature you are looking for will be Linked Devices. If you go into your Alarm’s Base Station in Devices, you will see a tile for “Linked Devices.” Under Linked Devices, you can have it so when your alarm goes off, it will start recording on all of your cameras that you select. I have this feature for my Indoor Cam as well. For my Indoor Cam, I have record motion turned off so that it doesn’t record when I am home. Although, with this device linked to my alarm through Linked Devices, whenever my alarm goes into an entry delay or is triggered to siren, it will start recording and override me saying no to “record motion.” This is the way you can achieve your first objective.

For your second concern, if your alarm goes off and your cameras are linked through Linked Devices, it will trigger the cameras to turn on and start recording if not already recording for any reason. This may be what you are looking for, over modes. For Cams and Doorbells that you cannot turn off “Record Motion” like the Indoor Cam, you will need to wait for this Modes feature to be available to you, so that they are only recording when you are away. Hope this helps clear it up for you!

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#3

I am looking at getting battery spotlight camera so are you saying now that you can link this to your alarm system to start recording when alarm sounds? May be deciding factor on me getting them. didn’t know you could link them

#4

@DavidW Yes, you can. You can learn more about this feature in our Ring Help Center Article here. :smiley_cat:

#5

Thx. I think answered part of my question. About recording when alarm goes off.

But let’s say someone didn’t set off a window sensor (broke the glass and no glass breakage senses) would the motion sensor in the indoor camera set off the alarm? Or only from a motion sensor (the hardware that has no camera, just the sensor)will it set off the alarm?

#6

@Starstreak The latter will be correct! Only Ring Alarm Devices (contact sensors, motion sensors, etc) can set off the Ring Alarm system. You can only have the devices linked so that if the Alarm goes off, that it can then record on whichever cameras you have. :slight_smile:

#7

This ability is our reason for purchasing the system. Any idea when the rollout would be complete? Is there a beta program that we can enter to get these features in advance?

thanks

#8

There is a program called the Ring explorer program. It’s only by invite. They randomly invite people…
https://blog.ring.com/ring-explorers-program-agreement/

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