What You Can Do With a Ring Video Doorbell Without a Subscription
Ring continues to put Video Doorbell services behind a subscription. If you’re considering buying one but don’t want to pay a monthly cost, you may wonder which features are included with just the device. We’ll cover the things you could do with your Ring Video Doorbell if you don’t have a subscription.
Sign up forfree
Forgot your password?
Create an account
*Required: 8 chars, 1 capital letter, 1 number
By continuing, you agree to thePrivacy PolicyandTerms of Use.You also agree to receive our newsletters, you can opt-out any time.
A Ring Video Doorbell provides security and enhances your smart home with a convenient communication and monitoring device.
The Ring Video Doorbellis simple and easy to use. You can install the small, rectangular device that includes a camera, microphone, and speaker at your front door. When someone rings your doorbell, you can use your smartphone app to interact with them, even if you’re not home.
The device also includes security features such as motion detection. It can record video when, for example, someone approaches your door. This is a nice feature for someone concerned about crime and specifically, porch piracy.
Ring makes you pay a subscription to record and store your video, and possibly provide it to the police. However, there are ways to record videos without a subscription as described in the workaround below.
What You Can Do Without a Subscription
There are many useful things you’re able to do with your Ring Video Doorbell without paying a monthly fee.
Event Notifications
Your Ring Doorbell will send useful notifications to your smartphone, helping you monitor and manage your device. You’ll receive event notifications and notifications when someone rings your doorbell. Event notifications include motion-detection notifications, which provide information such as whether the device detects a person at your front door.
For example, if your device detects someone walking down the sidewalk in front of your house, you can receive a general motion notification. But if someone approaches your home, your notification will indicate a person is detected at your front door, even if they don’t ring the doorbell.
Neighbors by Ring Social Space
You don’t need a Ring subscription to use theNeighbors by Ring app. You don’t even need to own a Ring Video Doorbell. However, this is the only feature mentioned that does not require that you purchase the Ring hardware.
The social space helps neighbors and community organizations such as police departments communicate and collaborate on things like crime prevention, safety information, and even tracking down lost pets. To use it, simply download the Ring app foriOSorAndroid, and create an account.
You can do things like post information about your lost dog, and check the community postings for information that might help. You can record video footage of someone stealing a package from your front door, and ask your neighbors if they recognize the person or provide the footage to the police. As we previously mentioned, Ring requires a subscription to record that video, but there are workarounds.
View Real-Time Video
Using your Ring app, you can bring up the live feed of your Ring Video Doorbell at any time, no subscription required. If you suspect your kids will be getting home soon, you can bring up the feed to keep an eye out for them. Or if you’ve received a motion-detection alert on your smartphone, you can look at the live feed to determine what caused it.
Can You Record Video Without a Subscription?
The short answer is yes. Though Ring requires a subscription to use the in-app ability to record and store video, there are ways tosave Ring Doorbell video for free.
For example, Ring provides a 30-day trial, during which you could store video and determine if the device is right for you. You can also try workarounds like using your phone’s built-in screen recording function while viewing video on the app.
But this workaround is limited. You need to be looking at your app while the footage you want is playing out in real-time.
Two-Way Talk
You also don’t need a subscription to use the two-way talk feature of your Ring Video Doorbell. When someone rings your doorbell, you’ll get a notification on your phone. You’ll have the ability to monitor that person through the camera live feed and press the call button to talk to them and hear their responses. Two-way talking is a primary feature of a Ring Video Doorbell, so it’s nice that you don’t have to pay extra for it.
Motion Detection
Motion detection is also free once you purchase a Ring Video Doorbell. This is another highly-useful base service that can enhance your home security, providing valuable peace of mind.
With the motion-detection feature, you can set a range within which your Ring Doorbell will alert you. Any kind of motion can trigger an alert— a person, an animal, or even tree branches blowing in the wind. You can adjust the sensitivity along with the field of detection.
For example, you can lower the intensity to weed out a notification when your neighbor’s cat walks by your door every day at 3 a.m. And you can prevent the notifications that will unnecessarily warn you every time a car drives down the road in front of your house.
Quick Replies
WithRing’s Quick Replies serviceit is kind of like having an answering machine for your front door. When someone rings your doorbell, and you don’t answer, they have the option to leave you a video message. The catch is that you’re able to only view their recorded message if you have a subscription, so using this service is pretty limited without one.
What you can do is enable the feature, and watch in real-time as the person leaves you a message. If you want to record their message, you could use the workaround mentioned earlier in this article for recording Ring videos without a subscription.
Many Great Ring Video Doorbell Feature Without a Monthly Price
Many people don’t like the hassle of paying for a monthly subscription. When you have already paid for the hardware, it’s hard not to feel cheated when you’re forced to shell out more of your hard-earned money for its features.
Fortunately, Ring provides a nice set of features that make a Video Doorbell useful even if you are on a budget. And if you decide to go with a subscription, a Ring Video Doorbell has some excellent additional features that may be worth paying extra for in a monthly fee.
We’re taking a closer look at the optional subscription plans for Ring devices.
Anyone with more than a passing interest in motorsports must see these films.
You’ve been quoting these famous films wrong all along!
Windows is great, but adding this makes it unstoppable.
Sometimes the smallest cleaning habit makes the biggest mess.
Some subscriptions are worth the recurring cost, but not these ones.
