Ring doorbells continue to pop up on homes all over the UK with these clever cameras sending alerts when a courier has been or someone arrives at the front door. Their simple DIY installation and live connection to our phones has seen these devices soar in popularity and the Black Friday sales are making it an even more tempting time to invest or upgrade your current equipment. Amazon, which owns Ring, has a swathe of deals currently available including some of its latest and greatest doorbells which are now half-price.
For example, the Ring 2nd Gen battery-powered model is now just £49.99 (was £99.99) which is one of the lowest prices we’ve seen. This improved camera gets 1080p HD video recording along with crisper Night Vision. You can even see who is at the door via the screen on your Echo Show smart speaker along with your phone and tablet.
If £50 is too much then there’s also money off the wired Ring device which now starts from just £34.99 (was £59.99). This camera doesn’t feature so is a little more tricky to install but if you have some DIY skills it does make it cheaper and you don’t have to keep charging things up.
If you already own a Ring here are six top tips to improve the experience and get more from this camera.
Customise your alerts with Motion Zones.
By setting up customisable Motion Zones in the ‘Motion Settings’ section of the Ring app, you can ensure your doorbell only detects motion in the areas that matter the most to you. Configuring your Motion Zones to exclude high-traffic areas like public footpaths and roads can help to reduce the number of “false” motion alerts such as cars driving by.
See more with Rich Notifications
With a Ring Protect subscription plan (from £3.49 per month), you can toggle on Rich Notifications in the ‘Notification Settings’ section of the Ring app. Rich Notifications are snapshot images that appear with your doorbell notifications that can show you a preview of your event video, so you can easily see what’s going on without needing to open the Ring app.
Answer your doorbell with Quick Replies.
Available in the ‘Smart Responses’ section of the Ring app, Quick Replies are like an answering machine for your doorbell if you can’t get to the door, or just don’t feel like answering. You can choose from a list of preset responses such as “We can’t answer the door right now, but if you’d like to leave a message, you can do it now”.
Configure a Geofence for your mobile device.
When you set up a Geofence under ‘Location Settings’ in the Ring app, the app can remind you to set your Mode to “Away” when you exit the Geofence. When you come home and re-enter the Geofence, your Ring app can automatically snooze alerts from your doorbell, so you won’t be alerted by your own arrival home.
Mark areas as “off limits” with Privacy Zones
If your doorbell camera’s field-of-view includes areas that you’d like to exclude from Live View or video recording, such as a neighbour’s property, you can use Privacy Zones to mark those areas as “off limits”.
Once set up in the ‘Privacy Settings’ section of your app, your designated Privacy Zones will be covered with black rectangles, so the Ring app won’t display anything in that area in Live View and that area won’t be video recorded.
Never miss a thing with Snapshot Capture.
With a Ring Protect plan, you can enable Snapshot Capture under your ‘Device Settings’. Snapshot Capture is a feature that takes snapshots at certain intervals and stores them in your event timeline, allowing you to review what’s happened in front of your doorbell in between notifications and motion events.
