I got it working on two (2) Echo Spots which are bedside, but the video doesn’t last very long. Is there any setting in the Alexa App to show the video longer?
I see this in every article I’ve Googled - but I do not HAVE a Announcement Devices option in my Alexa app…no such item to click on! What the heck am I doing wrong? Is this another incredibly stupid limitation Amazon has for Canadians? There are a LOT of them, so I wonder…
I had the same problem and I went to look for an updated version of Amazon Alexa in Google Play - and there was one…no idea why it didn’t automatically update. After the update, now this option is there.
Amazon treats countries outside the U.S. very badly…
remove ring doorbell in ring app and alexa, and then re-add doorbell to ring app and then to amazon skill then discover devices
Reset everything (obviously!)
Checked all firmware and software up to date
In the Amazon skill, I see all my devices as Announcement devices, 2x echo 5’s, 2x echo 8’s. All of them say ‘there is someone at your front door’, but NONE of them will show the blinking video.
Wastes a couple of evenings on this, and its something that should just work, period.
Without this, the usefulness of the ring is limited for me - I just want to see if its worth answering the door. The whole ‘Alexa ask ring to show me the front door’ thing is far too long winded - caller generally gone before video feed shows!
500Mbits both ways internet, its not that!
Paid alot of money for something that simply does not work.
The solution on this thread suggests it only works on newer models of the echo show.
I have followed the suggested steps and neither my 1st or 2nd gen Show will automatically display the camera feed when the bell is activated.
There are no settings in the app or skill relating to this either. Has anyone else been able to set this up as BrotherBob suggests?
This must be one of the most requested features on Ring and Echo forums. I can’t believe Amazon are not addressing this.
@ItsUpForGrabsNow wrote:
The solution on this thread suggests it only works on newer models of the echo show.
I have followed the suggested steps and neither my 1st or 2nd gen Show will automatically display the camera feed when the bell is activated.
There are no settings in the app or skill relating to this either. Has anyone else been able to set this up as BrotherBob suggests?
This must be one of the most requested features on Ring and Echo forums. I can’t believe Amazon are not addressing this.
You can try creating a routine in the Alexa App. I have the latest Echo Show 8 and did this to automatically show the video feed when it detects motion. It would show the live feed when the button was pushed, but not when motion is detected.
Create/add a Routine within the Alexa App:
Enter routine name.
When this happens > Select Smart Home > then select the ring device.
Doorbell (When Door bell event occurs) > Save
Add action > Select Custom > Type in “Show (Name of Ring Device)” > Next
Thanks for the suggestion but that requires the custom action in routines.
I’m in the UK and for some inexplicable reason that’s not available here yet…
So without the routine you cannot make it happen either? OP talks like this is just out of the box behaviour for him.
You and me both Karen. If I get a solution I will post it here but looks like the best option is custom actions in routines when Amazon decide to roll it out to us in the UK (it’s available in the US now).
Guessing you are UK based from the use of the work blinking!!
This works great, thankyou. But now how did we get it to automatically close the live view after say, 1 minute? The probelms is that if I am not around and there is motion, the live view comes on, and stays on, which will drain the battery on the doorbell. I would like to automatically close the live view (on the show) after a minute or two.
This works - but how can you get it to close the video? I can setup another routine to close it if there has been inactivity, but then that routine will run over and over. I also looked at IFTTT, but couldn’t find a solution
I got this to work for just motion. As INCONNU suggested, setup a routine to show the video when it detects motion. To hid the motion, setup a 2nd routine to fire when it detects motion (just like the initial trigger), but this time start with a wait (of however long you want, I went with 1 min) and then set a custom action of “hide [name of your camera]”