Introducing: Modes

With all the different official statements saying November, end of Month, January and now end of the year 2020. Slow-rollout etc. and adding the complete lack of communication as to why.
You only accomplish this:

  1. Alienate your customers
  2. Cause a bad rep for an overall good product
  3. Show that your ”privacy concerns” are only marketing bull…

My suggestion would be, be honest as to the reason, be transparent. Then you might regain some lost reputation.
Outline your ”slow roll-out” process. Who gets it first and why etc.
Given some comments on the forum, people with one/two outside cameras has gotten the feature already. Makes no sense?

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@Chelsea_Ring wrote:

Hey neighbors! We appreciate your continued involvement and anticipation for our slow rollout of our new Modes feature. We’re excited to bring this new element to all of our neighbors by the end of 2020 and value your patience while you wait for the update. Please make sure to always keep your Ring app up to date, continue to keep us in the know when you receive this feature, and we look forward to hearing your feedback!

Not good enough, Ring. You would have been better off from the beginning if you had said Modes was in the beta testing phase, which would explain why everyone doesn’t have it yet. Since it’s currently in a “slow rollout” we can only assume it’s well past beta testing and ready to roll out to EVERYONE.

It shouldn’t take a year to get what amounts to a software update out to your customers. If you can’t make it happen automatically for ALL your customers in a more reasonable amount of time, at least make a downloadable update available on your website so the customers who actually give a crap about this feature can get it in a timely manner. While you continue rolling out this feature to three users at a time (who may or may not need, want, or even KNOW about Modes), you are disappointing and frustrating ten others who genuinely want it.

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I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that Ring can’t provide concrete release information on this, arguably very minor feature, that would greatly improve how people can use their cameras. I had quickly read the first page of this article and bought cameras entirely because I thought this feature was out already.

I spoke with someone on Ring chat and she told me “it definitely will be way before the end of the year” and I told her that the community team needs to do a better job engaging customers because there’s all sorts of misinformation here.

Really frustrating…especially since I’ve only been a customer for one day.

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Can you provide an update on the release of “Modes”. This looks like a great feature and was said to be out in November 2019.

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And 3 weeks have gone by without any reply from a moderator or community manager with concrete information on a release date… to a feature that’s already been announced as available. How is this possibly acceptable?

Hey neighbors! The Modes feature started rolling out November 25th, 2019 and will continue to slow roll to Ring accounts until all neighbors have this feature. Ring has millions of users, so we have to conduct phased rollouts. We appreciate your patience while we roll out Modes.

I understand this is a VERY slow rollout of the feature, but back in December my wife’s Android phone’s Ring app had Modes on it (including the New Feature explanation of it), but since the cameras were under my login she couldn’t really use the feature. I was waiting for Modes on my phone, and then sometime between December and now, Modes went away on her Ring app.

I could really use it with the 12 cameras and having to go to each one to change it’s “Mode” (enabling or disabling). Is there a way to sign-up for “fast-track” access to this? If you’re still debugging it, getting users who want to use the new feature should help the process.

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No, unfortunately, there is no ‘fast track’.

Dear Jennifer,

How do I got about receiving a refund from Ring? I purchased my ring alarm and cameras end of last year as you clearly stated in writing to millions of people that his feature, which is essential for my use case, would be with us by the end of last year. Months later and all you can tell us is that it might be out by the end of 2020.

I based my purchase on information about a feature you stated all users would have access to by end of last year. I do not have access to that feature and seem unlikely to receive it any time soon; I am therefore requesting a refund.

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I purchased ring doorbell pro and ring spotlight battery excited for this new Modes mode. but it is not available !!! what a rip off !! it is very uncomfortable that every time I leave the house I have to select each camera to activate the movement notifications !!!

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I am based in New Zealand and have version 5.22.5 of the Ring app and have ring spotlight cams and stickup cams but I dont seem to be able to access the new “modes“ feature to toggle between being home or away or disarmed from the app. Please can you advise how I enable this? I dont have the home security alarm app product from ring, but i understand i dont need that. Please advise

Was just again on support chat with Ring and got the same song and dance; “we don’t have any dates or timlines and we are slowly rolling this out.”

I switched over to Ring as I like the ecosystem and of course the $100/year for monitoring. But the lack of built-in automation, routines and of course this “roll-out”, I’ll probably be going back to an alarm.com service. They do cost more monthly, but they have much more of what I’m looking for.

I had a good investment in this so hopefully the next person has better luck. I really wanted to like Ring.

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How about making it possible to set a schedule for switching between modes?

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Out of the blue, I got the Modes update today. It’s working very well, and I’m truly very happy to finally have it.

There’s a minor bug I’ll post about in the App sub-forum, but it’s not specific really to Modes.

I truly don’t think it will take until the end of 2020 before this feature is fully pushed out to all users. --just my opinion, nothing more.

@Chelsea Ring: please know my rants earlier in this thread were nothing personal. You were extremely helpful in my other thread regarding Snapshot, and I thank you for that. I really don’t believe most Ring end-user support employees do truly know when Modes will be pushed to everyone. I still stand by my earlier comments but wanted to write that I’m actually a very happy Ring customer. I have a high opinion of Ring products, and in my experience, all wired devices work very well. That said, it was more than disappointing (and angering) to see this feature so delayed.

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I finally received the Modes feature 6 months after it was announced. I have to say that it is a total disappointment. It does not offer any additional features that I do not already have! I do not have any indoor cameras due to privacy concerns so those features don’t help me.
“Customizable” really means you have a few options to choose from. There is no way to really customize things like motion zones, lights, cameras etc.

I used to highly reccomend Ring products to friends and family but with the recent changes and hassles with Two factor authorization and this poorly executed rollout of the Modes feature, I am no longer an advocate.

Hello,

I have 8 indoor and outdoor cameras. I have set my new MODES settings for all my cameras.

Currently I have Alexa and a few Shows/dots. I can use Alexa to view any of my cameras on my shows. I downloaded the Ring Skills and linked my Ring account to Alexa.

Unfortunately, I am not able to arm or disarm my camera modes via Alexa. My daughter has cameras and the alarm system from Ring. She is able to set the modes via Alexa.

WHY can’t I set my modes to home, away, or disarmed via Alexa. I am not able to set change mode settings via Routines.

How do I get the new MODES to work with alexa when I don’t use Ring alarm???

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Great question @missinaz! When using the Ring Alarm system with Alexa skills, the Base Station acts as a hub allowing for skills and commands to operate its connected devices or features. At this time, the in-app Modes feature (without Ring Alarm) cannot be controlled through an Alexa routine.

You may still explore skills and routines that are available through Alexa, for your Camera devices. We are always working to improve and add to our features and devices, and will certainly share this interest with our teams! :slight_smile:

Can modes be set to change at time of day or changed by an Alexa routine?

Not at this time, @RingTim , but we love the feedback! We’ll share this with the team :slight_smile:

Well just by chance I opened the Ring app and was notified of modes

I usually use the desktop version of Ring so until I opened the app I was unaware that modes had become a thing

although I am delighted it is now here I am disappointed that it has taken Ring 9 month since I suggested this as a need to have feature before they finally decided to implement it

its a pity Ring didnt see fit to advise owners by email when modes had became available to existing camera and doorbell owners but hey

Anyway as others have already posted modes need to be linked to the motion schedule feature

either that or have some way to re-enable the disabled mode automatically at a user defined time

Hopefully I wont have to wait another 9 months for this feature