Home security company Ring has long made an effort to differentiate its app and services from the rest of the competition, and a big portion of how it does so is through Neighbors.
The idea behind the Ring Neighbors app is that it allows people living nearby to communicate with each other. The end goal is to help create safer neighborhoods, where individuals can communicate with each other and help each other with issues that may come up in a community.
But there are also some privacy concerns associated with Neighbors, considering the fact that it’s connected to your security system, like video doorbells and security cameras, which is itself owned by Amazon. Ring has said that it will work with law enforcement with Neighbors, which could create its own issues.
The end result is that you may be curious about opting out of Neighbors, especially if you don’t get much from it yourself. Here’s a look at how.
What is the Ring Neighbors app?
Credit:
Reviewed / Rachel Murphy
The Neighbors service is free and even handy for community settings, but could also be considered a bit intrusive.
Neighbors is a free service offered by Ring, and it’s built to allow those in a community to be able to communicate. It’s similar to Nextdoor, another social community app. Neighbors, however, is also built into the Ring app, which is how you control and monitor Ring doorbells, security cameras, and other devices.
You don’t need a Ring device to use Neighbors, though—you can download the standalone Neighbors app without one.
When you post on Neighbors, you do so anonymously—and the goal is to help warn those in your community about crime, get help with neighborhood issues, post about your lost pet, and so on. Neighbors also encourages users to include acts of kindness.
Of course, Neighbors can be a little frustrating at times. All kinds of different people likely live in your community, and that makes for a more diverse environment, but it can also mean that occasionally, you’ll see posts that you may deem to be racist, classist, or just generally concerning.
While Ring does moderate content it can’t prevent every problematic post from going live, and it largely relies on user reports for moderation in the first place. Racial profiling, in general, is common on Neighbors, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Simply seeing posts that you don’t agree with doesn’t really impact how Neighbors treats your privacy, but it may still push you towards disabling it.
Neighbors by Ring isn’t all bad, though. There are times when posts could be genuinely helpful, and the ability to source help from your community could come in handy. A prime example of this is if you lose a pet.
Does Ring share videos with police?
Ring says that users have “full control” over who views their videos in the app. So, it’s up to you whether or not you share images or videos on the public platform.
According to Ring, videos that are not shared to Neighbors will not be shared with law enforcement without your permission—except in special cases where a “valid and binding legal demand” is present.
How to opt out of Neighbors by Ring
Credit:
Reviewed / Rachel Murphy
Disabling Neighbors is as simple as toggling the feature on or off via the Control Center.
Thankfully, if you want to opt out of Neighbors, you can. Here’s how to disable Neighbors in the app.
- First, open the Ring app and tap the three line menu button on the top left.
- Then, select the Control Center option (not the Neighbors option).
- Scroll down and select Neighbors.
- Toggle the switch to enable or disable Neighbors.
You can also disable Neighbors from a computer. Here’s how.
- First, log into your account at Ring.com.
- Then, tap the Account tab, and select the Control Center option.
- Select Neighbors in the Control Center.
- Enable or disable Neighbors using the toggle switch.
After following these steps, you’ll no longer get notifications related to Neighbors, and you won’t be able to post or see posts in the Ring Neighbors section of the the Ring app.
Even if you turn off Neighbors, thankfully, you’ll still get notifications related to your smart security devices, from the Ring app.
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