Ring - Always Home Reviews

by Credd0514

Ever since the latest update was released video has been delayed. A person walks up to my door, the frame freezes. The camera is no longer recording the entire thing. It's pretty much only taking a snap shot. A get a motion alert and nothing is there because the camera is constantly freezing. I paid the yearly fee for video not pictures or nothing at all. this app Pro is absolutely useless and like having no security feature at all if not doing what it was intended to do. I'm also glad to see I'm not the only one having this problem so support can't say it's on your end.

Update: Almost a year later and this doorbell is still a disaster. It worked great for about three months and then the developers started rolling out updates and the thing hasn’t worked like it should since. I have been through four of these doorbells within a year. The last one just stopped working completely. I’m a software engineer for over 20 years and sometimes being on the phone with CS for over an hour can be insulting. The video stream is choppy and not consistent. I continue to get pixelated video and freezing. UPS rings the doorbell and the video shows the driver leaving in his truck. I just wish they would get these firmware updates right or allow clients to rollback. New hardware but the developers are constantly putting out new software updates that are obviously not ready.

by Love0905

My husband and I have the Wireless Spotlight cameras. One on our front door for package thieves and one on our garage to watch over my car because we only have one garage. While the cameras come in handy in us keeping an eye on our packages while we aren't home, they're really good for nothing. They're inconveniently dysfunctional. The motion detector really isn't that great. There has been two incidents right in front of our driveway and the cameras caught nothing. One of our guest's car got broken into. When we looked back at the videos, it recorded cars driving by and all, but nothing of what happened. The front door camera captured a small glimpse of someone already walking right off so we have no idea if it was that person or not. So helpful, right? The other time, someone threw a glass bottle at our guest's car. Once again, nothing. I noticed that if there's continuous movement, the camera records the first 30 seconds and that's it. Basically, all it'll catch is someone walking up to your house and what they do is history. This makes this app not a reliable security system at all. My biggest problem with the cameras is, sometimes the live video won't even load! And NO, it's not because of our wifi. We plan on getting rid of this app for a security system that records 24 hours instead. If you are looking for some pros or special features of this app cameras, that can be found on the product description.

by SpeleoWorm

I get motion alerts at 21 minutes after the hour during the day and night (8:21pm, 2:21am, 3:21am, 6:21am, etc) from my this app mailbox sensor when no motion occurs. This looks like a programming bug to me since the timing is so consistent. I have one of those super strong set in concrete mailboxes that doesn’t move a millimeter, so it is not blowing in the breeze, and the motion sensor is properly installed inside the mailbox (which has no bugs living inside). I also have a strong signal to the bridge which sits in a window facing the mailbox and the wire is sealed with a grommet so no moisture gets inside. I have reviewed the video footage and looked out the window when alerts occur and nothing is happening (I live at the end of a dead end road). There must be something happening in the device or bridge or this app service on an hourly basis which is causing these invalid alerts. I have also tried to silence them at night (6pm to 6am) using the disable schedule feature, but that doesn’t seem to work either. In addition, all of the mailbox sensor functionality lives under the “lights” section in this app, which doesn’t make any sense…it should show up with the other motion alerts from my doorbell which also cause the camera to record any activity, not be buried under the lights section where no one will look for them. this app missed the ball with this one.

by Upsettyspaghetti1101

We got a this app for Christmas last year and were so excited to set it up! It had always sounded like a nice idea to be able to check who was at the door and I park on the street in front of our house so I could keep an eye on that as well. I think the only time motion is detected is when I walk walk out the front door myself or if a car drives by. I’ve had deliveries arrive and people knock on the door and there’s no motion detected and no recording in sight. Luckily the doorbell function seems to work (unless the battery is dead which is every other week) and I’ll never know who is at the door because of all the connectivity issues and super long waiting times to load the feed (even after upgrading the internet several times). Our neighborhood has had several instances of car parts stolen and even a break in at our neighbors and of course every time the battery has either been dead, no connection during the time it occurred to record, or simply no motion detected. Don’t even get me started on the online community! I shared a video I did catch of a strange man taking pictures of my neighbors house (two days before the break in) and was repeatedly called stupid and a terrible person for not calling the police despite the first sentence of the post stating the police had already been called and this was a warning to others that saw him in the neighborhood. Save yourself the time, money, and frustration and keep it simple with a button and a battery.

by Km Jailjljh

We’ve had our this app Pro for over two years and have intermittently had an issue where it would stop working right after someone rang the doorbell and wouldn’t work again until it was unplugged and plugged back in. This issue has been prevalent since a few months after we purchased. Any time I called customer service they would just have me run a reset and say it was working again and that there was nothing else they could do for me. Well finally a customer service person was unexpectedly helpful and had me do all sorts of tests to check how much power it was getting and come to find out it gets enough power, but there’s some sort of ‘fluke’ issue some of the doorbells have that prevent them from being able to operate all the time when the in-house chime is also activated. And wouldn’t it happen to be that we finally figured the cause of this problem out a few months after the warranty period expired. They were gracious enough to offer a discount on purchasing a new one, but if I didn’t want to buy another possibly faulty doorbell I would need to deactivate my internal chime, and just keep checking my app to see when it stops working so I can go home and perform another reset. I just got done with another reset because I realized today that my doorbell hasn’t worked for over a week. I would definitely not recommend this doorbell to anyone, and I will be searching for a replacement as soon as I finish posting this review.

by Stewbabyq

this app does not keep your serial numbers in Ring nor in your account. If your device is stolen and the police want the serial number, it is not easy to get. After searching all over Ring and your account and you cannot find it you decide to search for a phone number to call this app. When you finally get a human on the phone and you explain that your device was stolen and the detective needs the serial number and the human tries to tell you where to find the serial number in your stolen device, you about lose it. She finally got it for me. Then I asked about the report that I filed with this app to try to get a replacement device, she found it supposedly. I never got ANY response from this app after I sent it in. None. After I got off the phone with the rep I got a customer service survey AND the same email that I had gotten before on how to file the report about a stolen device. Why did I get this? Do I have to fill it out again? Just write down your serial numbers. With all of that said, I have to say that Ring has gotten VERY SLOW. I used to love my this app cameras over my Arlo ones. This has changed. The Arlo app is so much better and faster and you can easily flip through videos without closing one and opening the next or trying to keep a timeline from resetting to the end. Get it together this app. I have 9 of your cameras and I will probably switch back to Arlo if you continue to slide.

by Mark Evens 601

this app technical support has done nothing but make excuses for the past month. They refuse to refund my money for the monthly service they can’t supply. Refused to refund for the doorbells I purchased .they are not usable on their app Any longer . It reads the locations will not load. Bottom line they blocked me out of my account. But they continue to claim that it’s a bug in their system. I have spoken with several of their customer service reps. Each one has a different story and different line of BS. Appears they read off a 3 x 5 cards and have no clue what they’re really doing. Although based in the United States I still feel service is no better than what I get if you were calling overseas. My last two phone calls requesting supervisors were left on hold for over two hours. No one ever came on. Eventually I hung up . Very bad customer service. My first this app was original before they change their name. My current one is less than eight months old . The old one and new ones are still in service. We cannot access the system through any of the phones we own ,computers or iPads. With the lack of knowledge customer support has about their product in their inability to fix the problems. I would think very hard before purchasing any of their equipment. Also as a follow-up I am still waiting for return call for the last five days. Never came!!

by LaciDRoy

Update!
this app sent me a new this app doorbell as well as a chime extender. Very nice of them. However, now when my videos record, it’s just a black screen 2 out of 3 recordings. The videos that do actually record, some of them are basically just a frozen screen shot but no video. So I’m paying to keep these videos, that do me absolutely no good. I’ve been troubleshooting with an Ashlei O. But can’t figure it out. I’ve done everything she asked. I’ve sent her 6 emails since her email telling me what to try. She just won’t respond to me. It’s now been a week since I’ve heard from any one that can possibly help me. Not sure if they sent me a refurbished this app which is why it’s having issues. My internet connection is great. My router is in a good place. I have no idea. But a few of my clients that have come to my home this last week have asked about my this app doorbell. I’ll continue to tell them to stay far away until someone actually calls or emails me to figure out the broken replacement this app doorbell that they sent me.

I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong or if I have a defective this app doorbell. It will only occasionally alert me when someone comes to my front door. I had a group of kids, on my porch, leaving a derogatory comment spelled out in rocks, and it didn’t record them at all. I would’ve loved to see who that was. But it’ll record a car driving by on the street in front of me. Not really worth the money.

by NREMTP3070

I bought the this app doorbell and it worked good for about 5 months then problems. They switched out my doorbell but Ring won't allow me to delete videos from the old doorbell. When I try to delete them it asks me to login again. I was told the next app update would fix this but there have been a couple since then without a fix.
Also the company can see your battery status even if your doorbell is hard wired but you can only see battery status if it's not hard wired. Again I was told this feature was inadvertently removed and would be added back in the next update. No such luck so far. App needs some work in my opinion. There are better doorbells out there and when this one dies I will switch.
The neighborhood feature places me in a city I have never lived at. I have talked to tech support and they know it’s an issue but two more updates later and still it isn’t fixed.
Last is the doorbell “shows motion alert” at 3:47 every morning. Once again I was told they know about this bug but several updates later and it still is alerting me in the middle of the night to “motion” that doesn’t exist. What does tech support say? They will “eventually” fix it but in the mean time setup a time in Ring that you don’t receive alerts. That defeats the purpose of having the door bell. So basically tech support hasn’t been any help at all.

by JuanB001300

We like that we get the chimes straight to our phones and we can talk to people through the chimes. Motion is great. Live view only worked once for us and it was bad quality and kind of annoying that we can talk and see people clearly when the this app communicates to the phone but not when the phone communicates to the this app. Night vision is very over exposed. Faces are not recognizable. Sometimes motion activation is very late. Not all the time but that takes things down a notch on the trust factor. Battery also died after a week after charging. Thought it would be at least a couple months before we had to recharge. Might have to find a better option as we don’t have a doorbell wire so we have to rely on battery power. We’ll use it for a while before we make our decision but as of right now we’re just kind of happy with what we got.

Btw the chat bot for troubleshooting is very slow. Found articles online faster than it gave me answers. Waited 5 min for it to reply. Actually had to send a message to wake it up.

Update: trying to setup “spotlight cam battery” but because of the live view issue above. Don’t know what it is but motion is working but live view can’t? Is there anyone from this app that can help? Assistance is lacking, main feature of device doesn’t work. Rating drop and almost ready to send back.

by 581 Ford

I have a this app 2 that’s almost worthless. I am receiving alerts but they’re several seconds delayed. My settings are set to be as fast and sensitive as possible. Same problem many other of your other customers complain about. I wish you would at least have the option of turning off the 10 minute timer that shuts down live view. Should be the customers decision to drain the battery in live view. That’s why I bought an extra battery. Also, one of the times I tried calling you I was given the option of making an appointment for you to call me back but you never did. And Kaitlyn@this app, don’t bother to paste your typical reply telling me to email you because you’re so concerned. I’ve read your response back to other customers so many times that I’ve memorized it. Customers should realize if you have to paste that same cookie cutter reply addressing everyone’s concern then this app and your customers have a really big problem. I’m connected to my 2.4 GHz network and hitting roughly 8Mbps at -53 dBm power. Being an engineer I realize that the business unit and marketing/sales have more say than the technical staff at most companies. The technical people rarely want to release the product before it’s ready but the business side always makes that happen which is why your commercials on TV are so great but your product has a lot to be desired. And you Kaitlyn, I’m not sure which side of the house you’re on but I hope they’re paying you well.

by Professorofenglish

There is a major flaw in the this app app for iPhones. Whenever I’m alerted of motion or the presence of a person in front of my this app camera, the recorded video of the incident is visible but never available/clickable. I can see this most recent recording on the history page, but it won’t open, yet all of the other recordings can be opened and played. I then have to close out Ring that I had just opened and access the recording after that. This is a waste of time that could be dangerous if someone were trespassing on my property and looking to break in. I even made sure to download the update for Ring , yet this problem still persists consistently. What is the point of having a security camera if I have to twiddle my thumbs and jump through hoops to watch the video that alerted me of the presence of unexpected motion? Being alerted at 3 a.m. of motion and then having to open and close Ring a couple of times before knowing what triggered the alert is nerve-wracking. This needs to be fixed ASAP. We spent a lot of money on three this app cameras, which are only as good as the software that comes with them.

I want to add that it takes forever to connect with the live view for one of my cameras, which makes that camera virtually worthless. I always have to walk to that side of the house and look out the window after receiving an alert about motion that was detected there.

by MDK1705

I own both a this app doorbell and a this app floodlight cam. Overall I am pleased with both. The cameras are excellent, day and night. The motion sensing is almost perfect (but occasionally does miss activity). Notifications are almost immediate (most of the time). I purchased the Floodlight cam to replace a motion sensing fixture that had a photocell for dusk to dawn operation year round at 50% intensity until it detected motion, then 100% intensity until no longer detecting motion. This was a great product that worked well. The this app floodlight cam was advertised to have a dusk to dawn feature but all I can find is to set specific on/off times, even though dusk and dawn change throughout the year. I have yet to find a way to program the lights to come on at dusk and off at dawn regardless of time of year. FAQ said that although dimmability was not available yet it would be offered in a later update. When I purchased the floodlight cam I was promised by the this app rep that it would be an available feature soon. I’m still waiting for the dimmer feature. I’ve tried to leave the lights on all night but my neighbors say it is too bright and shines in their windows. Please update Ring with both the dawn to dusk feature and the dimmer feature as promised. Then I will be pleased to give 5 stars.

by FloridaNeighbor

I love the concept of the this app device and instant notifications triggered by motion or a doorbell this app. Unfortunately, this falls short when timing is critical. To only see the back of someone because of the delay in activation defeats the purpose of the device. Now for the recent update. I updated Ring , as prompted, to ensure the best results for my security device. BIG MISTAKE!! All of my recordings were deleted! When I tried view even the most recent motion activation, I was able to receive the notification, but I had a message stating my plan was expired attached to every single notification (Motion, Live View and Doorbell). I spent an hour on the phone with customer service as my plan was not expired. The rep couldn’t explain what happened. On a whim, I deleted Ring and reinstalled it, and tadah, everything came back. this app People: if you are reading this, please correct whatever went wrong!!! I didn’t even know that my videos were deleted or that newer stuff was not being recorded until I went into the videos to delete the ones I didn’t want. This is potentially dangerous when homeowners think they are protected by surveillance and that surveillance fails from a flaw in Ring without even knowing it until it is too late. Hopefully everything doesn’t get screwy again as I only discovered the issue today.

by Magnum6363

First, I want to say that I have been a fan of this app for 3 years. In fact, I have recommended this app over other systems to friends and family many times. I have multiple AC powered only flood cams and doorbell cams around my property. I have AC only cams because of the detail and flexibility in the configuration of multiple motion zones on these devices. However, in a recent update, they removed the Active checkbox that allowed for the selection of one of multiple zones defined on a cam. As a result, you must delete your other 2 motion zones when you need one of them active. Then, when you want them back, you must redefine them! Why is this an issue? Let’s say you have cams looking down on a basketball court. When the team is practicing, you do not need to record all activity. Instead, you just want the area/zone around the court protected by your camera system. If someone enters the zone, you want notified. Otherwise, no alerts. As someone who designs interfaces and software as a profession, I can tell you that this was an unforgivable decision. You need to think long before ever removing a powerful feature that has been inherent for years. For this reason, my experience with Ring is now a frustrating experience. I have since stopped recommending this app. I am now looking for another solution.

by Sircoffee

Use the power of amazons AWS to tag possible motion that sets off my cameras. Simply place a blue or red box around the item triggering the camera detection. Take a still of the video with the item triggering my motion detector and send that image as a notification on my iPhone. That way I can chose to open Ring and view the video or see that it was my wife pulling into the driveway.

It takes too long for me to move from the notification to the video, even on high speed WiFi with my iPhone XS Max. By the time I view the live video, the item setting off my motion detector may no longer be in frame. Then, I have to wait for the motion history to load the video to your servers in order to view. I spend a minute refreshing the list, all the while the item setting off my motion detector has moved to a new location.

I love the cameras and the system overall, but the time delay from notification to viewing my camera feed is too slow and cumbersome. This eventually causes me to pass on viewing some motions. If it happens to me, then I know it happens to others. One day my lack of motivation is going to cause harm and render your services null, the whole reason I’ve paid for cameras and video storage in the first place.

by Fallen_Anjel

Either something happened with the new update or idk what. I’ve been using my two spotlight cams for 9 months now. The doorbell for 20 months. I have a Wasserstein solar panel hooked up to one spotlight cam. The battery stopped charging two weeks ago. That’s another story. I haven’t used these cameras in the cold yet. We had a few cold nights in the teens. I thought maybe it was the cold so I brought them all inside, charged batteries for over 12 hours. Even tho the website says operating temp is like 4°. But that’s the operating temp or the DEVICE. I’m wondering what the operating temp of the BATTERIES are.
Installed everything again. Solar panel still not charging battery. (I’ll deal with Wasserstein later).
In all three products the video is choppy and pixelating and slow. I cannot touch the screen to dismiss the onscreen controls. Nothing has changed in my WiFi settings. The router is in the same spot it’s been for four years. This seems to have started after the recent update.
I have 4 stars because while they do what I mostly want there is a LOT of room for improvement. If I could install a real security system I would but I rent and can’t be drilling holes into the house or the walls or floors for wires.
Please check into this.

by Tddmore

I’ve had my this app Video Doorbell installed almost 2 months. It’s been great! I live in a rural area and the only traffic I usually get are family members or deliveries. I had a digital doorbell prior to this app and although this app was simple to install, I apparently didn’t install this app correctly (because the doorbell no longer works), but I also have “Chime” and prefer Chime over the digital doorbell any day! I also love seeing pictures/comments from the neighbors with this app (there seem to be a lot of us) - this app makes a great neighborhood watch.

I have two very small complaints (which is why I scored it a 4 and not a 5): I thought with power the battery would last a long time without requiring a charge. It lasted almost 2 months. The bright side is that I was sent an email warning me about the battery requiring a charge and the battery took seconds to remove/replace to charge it. My second complaint is that activation is supposed to be triggered by infrared activity and not motion, yet when it’s windy, this app goes off a lot. I could have gnats or something flying by, but I never see anything in the video.

Overall - I love this app and think it’s a great product and am exploring other products in the this app family.

by Chmsyd

I must say it is awesome knowing what is going on at home when your away. I gave this product only two stars initially because I have had numerous problems with it ever since I got it. I have had problems with WiFi connection, batteries and poor video quality or delayed play back when someone is either at the door or in my driveway. I contacted this app support more than I can count and every time I did the same trouble shooting that never fixes the problems, you would be better off getting something that actually works, I am taking it down and replacing it with something that works. I may consider using this app again when all the problems are fixed, until then better luck next time

Update:
After speaking with Sam from this app headquarters, she did everything she could to help me. Sam offered a full refund for the products and stayed in touch even after I received my refund. Because of Sam, I may consider using this app Cameras in the future. Sam know how to treat a customer and she made sure I was satisfied. I am updating my review to 5 stars because of the service Sam provided me with. This is what I call customer service, Thanks Sam.

by Heiliner

I love the concept of the product. The reviews about slow lag times are true. To make the cameras functional I have had to purchase two cameras per each location. For example I have a RingPro doorbell and a second camera facing 90 degrees off the other camera. One of the two cameras gets the intruder. I have the same set up for the driveway; two cameras at different locations. The cameras caught some fellow around 2 in the morning walking up into the driveway and trying the door handles of the locked cars. The RingPro extenders don’t have enough range. I have had to purchase a more powerful extender to get the speed and quality up on one of the cameras. The notification on the iPhone cannot be changed so the sound is like tinker bell. I have asked for a vibrate only notification but so far nothing. Bottom Line: don’t expect to purchase ONE camera and have everything work without problems. This product is still being developed. UPDATE: this app keeps getting better...they have done away with the “tinkled bell” alert sound as the only alert sound and added voice alerts which are much better. this app has also added a “snooze” function which will stop alerts up to 2 hours.

by Compassionate247

I thought this this app product would help with seeing who’s coming in my property to deliver, guest coming over etc... Oh yes, I can see partially who after the fact. What’s the point in having live viewing after a package has been delivered, guest after they walk away etc... This now seems like a ploy to get people’s hard earned money for an iffy product.
More developer work needs attention to the quality and functionality of the doorbell etc... Half the time the video will show dark or washed out when it starts playing then get clear a few seconds later and not revealing anything worth seeing. You make the commercials look great and inviting but in real life, it’s not as clear and real time as falsely advertised.
I will no longer encourage ANYONE to get these products until you all fix or come out with better quality products and fix Ring . This review is for any and everyone considering this app and that has this app who’s experiencing multiple issues. By the way, I have read the instructions on how to use and maintain Ring , spoke with this app support, did troubleshooting steps and had the unit replaced. This and the replacement this app was professionally installed.
Please attend to these issues if you expect to keep and remain getting new customers. In the meantime I’ll have to spend extra money on another product to see if it’ll do a better job. SMH

by DustyJay

I have both a spotlight cam and a doorbell cam. Both have issues picking up cars. Always the same box truck or fire truck, it’s consistent at least... the spot light cam has more customization in regards to the customizable area that you can set where it picks up motion. The doorbell cam is too simple and not customizable enough which is weird because naturally that’s where more vehicle movement will be.. the flood light cam was worth every penny even though I can only use on about 25% sensitive due to said issues, it still picks up everything I need. The doorbell cam I’ve actually considered removing other then it offers one simple function, when someone rings I can talk to them. Other then that I’ve turned it’s sensitivity all the way down on the doorbell, I don’t need to know every time a box truck or the mail man goes by.

All in all the floodlight cam is worth the money! The doorbell would probably be worth it if you lived in a quit neighborhood will low traffic. I would also love if the loading time to get into the camera after it spots motion would speed up, sometimes it takes up to 30+ seconds before my view of the live footage is available. Add more functionality to doorbell cam, speed up connection times and I’d give 5 stars.

by KB6Y

First off the this app alarm is a great system if you’re looking for a basic alarm system with the added bonus of instant camera access. The system is easy to setup and additional sensors are available at a descent price. I especially like the tie in of the Z-wave Co2 and smoke sensors.
The only issue I had was locating a place for the module so the cellular function would have connection (not sure what network this app connects to, I have several cell towers within two blocks that apparently don’t cover this app). I only get one to two bars at best.
My other issue is the keypad. I mounted the keypad in a place convenient and was able to plug it in permanently through a plug on the opposite side of the wall in a closet. After a week the keypad locked up and I learned from this app that the keypad can’t stay plugged in. In my eyes that's a poor design. I understand what the thinking behind it is, being portable. this app please upgrade so customers can leave the keypad plugged in so it won’t lock up.
Both my issues can be worked around and the system works nice.
Overall I would rate the this app five stars for setup and general use, just wish the annoying keypad issue could be upgraded along with better cellular connection.

by Paint Cup

I am giving 5 stars because both my flood light cam and spot light cam work perfectly. No delay, sharp clear video, I can hear and speak through the device very well. I am 100% thrilled with these cameras at almost a year after installing them. They were easy to install. I am a 60 yr. old widow and it was easy to wire in the flood light cam. My spot light cam is the one that plugs into a outlet. I wonder if these work so much better than my this app doorbell because my door bell is battery operated. I keep the doorbell charged up, and have the this app extender chime, but the delay on the doorbell is frustrating. By the time the live feed kicks in the people who this app the bell are walking away. I imagine it is because it is battery operated. I wonder if the direct wired models are faster. This camera has caught someone up by my bay windows trying to decide what to do once he noticed it was a this app doorbell and I was able to have my local police view the video with ease and a better description than I could see in the dark.
I wish this app could discount their products for us older folks on a fixed income. I would love to get more camera or the security system, but I just can’t afford them. What I do have makes me feel safer than if I didn’t have them. Oh! The neighborhood part of Ring . Is the best thing ever! Sharing info with the neighbors also makes me feel safer.