Video Doorbell random alerts for shadows and trees, NO ALERTS FOR ACTUAL PEOPLE

I have had the Ring doorbell for just over a year and it is now worthless! Unless anyone wants a $150 paper weight. It worked somewhat well for the first 8 months then just decided to do whatever it wanted. (yes the battery is fully charged, wifi connection is good, device health fine according to the app)
I am getting constant motion alerts when nothing is there, it’s picking up shadows and tree branches though I have set, reset, the reset again all the recommended motion settings/customizations that do absolutely nothing. I’ve included a photo (since they only allow 1 per post of course) of the alerts I keep getting just today. All day alerts and nothing to see. It’s even picking up cars driving by though I’ve got my custom motion zones set that do not cover the street.
Worst of all IT WON’T ALWAYS ALERT ME FOR ACTUAL PEOPLE AT MY DOOR! I have literally walked right up to my front door, stood in front of the doorbell for a second, and entered my home without a single notice from the app! Yet I need to know that the tree branch swayed in the wind and made a shadow on the sidewalk???
The IT team at Ring seriously needs to do something with this. I honestly can’t believe the company is okay with such horrible product and technology.

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Exactly the same issue I’m having, I walk down my drive and nothing but picks cars up nowhere near my zone, I’m fed up of paying £2.50 a month for security of being able to look at videos if anything happens, a little boy walked on my garden with his dog which I saw through the window but I got no alert, could of been a burglar.

This has been happening to me as well for about 2 months now. If it does set off motion, it’ll be the very back end of a car, or right after a person turns the corner from leaving our front door… its infuriating. But I always no when a semi drives by a half acre away and when a bug flies by

Hi neighbors. There a few things to look at when you are experiencing these symptoms of inconsistent notifications. First, you’ll need to adjust your Motion Frequency. This will determine the dwell time that is set between motion events. You can learn about Motion Frequency here.

Also, you’ll want to make sure that your Doorbell is properly positioned. This Community post here has great information on optimizing your Doorbell Motion detection. You can also share an image of your Doorbell so the Community can offer insight on ways to help improve.

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Tom, unfortunately this is useless information. I have 2 separate ring devices, wired one in the back of my house and wireless one in the front door.
This exact thing happens to me as well. More so on the wired device. Sensitivity is on lowest setting and on a windy day it will go off every minute. Custom zones have been identified and now when someone walks up it doesn’t even pick up a person, there’s over 70’ of distance the camera has to pick up someone. For the wireless doorbell is absolutely worthless as well, this will continue to pick up cars that are outside of the custom Motion Zone as you mentioned to use but it will pick up people walking by on the sidewalk at times but it will never pick up someone coming right up to the house. Had dozens of conversations with customer support and this product is useless, we have self driving cars and lots of technology but we can’t pick up a person walking right up to a doorbell. Will be throwing these in the trash due to the countless useless calls. It’s unfortunate for such a large company.

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Hi @Rmcrty. Try sharing a screenshot of the view from your Doorbells. This will help the Community offer suggestions that are specific to how your Doorbells are setup. Many people have found great success after modifying the placement or settings of their doorbell.

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It’s only taken me about 6 weeks to realise no matter how I fiddle with settings the doorbell detects passing traffic and shadows. It’s basically becoming ineffective as a security camera due to me ignoring the multiple false alerts.
Even limiting the zone detection area doesn’t make any difference when I have it so it would really only detect someone’s feet!!!
If Ring can’t offer some sort of software upgrade I’ll be selling this soon and
Moving on.

Hi @user22442. If you feel comfortable sharing a screenshot from the Live View of your Doorbell, I can try to help suggest some settings or positioning adjustments. If you do, ensure that any personal information in the screenshot is blocked out. There are also some helpful resources suggested in the marked solution from Tom.

Hi neighbors. I’d like to offer some clarification regarding motion settings and inconsistent notifications. Person notifications are part of Smart Alerts and can help you reduce unwanted notifications for motion. Different environmental factors as well as the placement of your Doorbell or Camera can also affect this option, so it may or may not work for you. For neighbors with battery powered devices, you can utilize the Motion Frequency setting to help optimize motion detection alongside adjusting the motion sensitivity as needed.

If you have a Doorbell, you can check out our guide on optimizing motion detection here for some additional tips. For Security Cameras, check out our placement guide on our Help Center here. The placement of your device is equally as important as your settings.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that everyone’s home and environment is different, so what works for one neighbor may not work for you. It may take some trial and error with your motion settings to find a combination that works best for you. I hope these suggestions and articles are helpful. For more in-depth support, please give our support team a call at one of the numbers available here. If you are outside of the US, please visit here to see how to contact support.

Caitlyn and Tom, please stop with the same BS canned responses. They are absolutely useless. I am also having the same issues. The doorbell has been in use for over 5 years with no issues and suddenly has started the random alerts. Settings have not been changed and the unit is clean and hardwired. Nothing has changed environmentally. Based on other users issues here, I am guessing it is dying. Guess I’ll try another brand.

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