If you’re shopping for smart home gadgets, you must have stumbled across Ring. The Amazon-owned company sells a wide range of smart home accessories, including indoor and outdoor cameras, doorbells, lighting, and pet rings.
You might have also noticed that Ring has a monthly subscription called Ring Protect for some of its devices, including doorbells.
The question is, does a Ring doorbell need a subscription?
Well, you can use your Ring doorbell without a Ring Protect subscription, but you’ll only have access to a few basic features and miss out on multiple perks.
In this post, we’ll break down the features of Ring doorbells and see what the Ring Protect subscription offers. By the end of the post, you should be able to decide if Ring Protect is worth the extra cash.
Overview of Ring Doorbell Features
Before you decide on whether you need a Ring Protect subscription or not, let’s take a look at the features offered by Ring doorbells.
Ring’s video doorbell is an essential device for your house. It’s equipped with a high-definition camera that can record a clear picture of what’s happening outside your doorstep.
The camera also features night vision, making it easier to see what’s happening outside even if it’s dark. But that’s not the end of it. The main purpose behind Ring doorbells is to let you interact with visitors, even when you’re not at home, like responding to a delivery guy.
Ring has different versions of doorbells, including the basic, plus, and pro versions. The Plus and Pro versions come with advanced features, but every Ring doorbell has at least the following features:
High Definition Video
Ring doorbells have HD cameras that capture crisp and clear videos of everything happening outside your door. That way, you can see detailed footage of what’s going on in your yard even when you’re not at home.
Real-Time Notifications
Once you connect your Ring doorbell to your smartphone, tablet, or computer, you’ll get real-time notifications as soon as the device detects motion or someone rings the doorbell. These alerts are handy as they let you respond to visitors and delivery men promptly, even if you’re away from the door. Not only that, but these alerts are also pretty helpful as they can notify you about security threats when you’re not at home.
You can customize real-time notifications by controlling the sensitivity of the motion detection feature. This is useful when you don’t want to be bothered by unnecessary notifications—a stray cat walking by, for example—and only get alerted by important events.
Customizable Motion Zones
Ring Video doorbells offer users the ability to customize motion zones and select certain areas in which motion is recorded.
So, if you’re getting false alarms because of pedestrians or cars passing in front of your house, you can easily set the doorbell’s motion detection to focus on a certain spot and eliminate detection outside of that area.
Integration with Alexa
Voice commands make things much easier for smart homeowners. Fortunately, Ring doorbells are compatible with Amazon’s Alexa, enabling users to control their front door security seamlessly through the app.
You can link your Ring doorbell with your other Alexa-compatible devices, such as FireTV or EchoShow, then use voice commands to instruct Alexa to respond to the door, display live footage, and so on.
What’s Ring Protect?
The Ring Protect plan is a monthly subscription offered by Amazon for Ring’s doorbells, security cameras, Car Cams, and alarms. The plan unlocks a wide range of features and services that aren’t available to people using Ring devices without a subscription.
For example, if you have a Ring doorbell, you won’t be able to go through the recorded footage to see what happened earlier in front of your home. With a Ring Protect subscription, you can watch, save, and share any recorded footage.
There are three basic plans for Ring Protect:
- Ring Protect Basic: Unlocks video recording for one Ring camera/doorbell and additional features such as in-app arming/disarming and notifications.
- Ring Protect Plus: Unlocks video recording for all Ring home cameras and doorbells in one location, as well as digital features such as real-time notifications and in-app arming/disarming.
- Ring Protect Pro: Includes everything from the Plus plan, in addition to a wide range of home security features for Ring Alarm and Ring Alarm Pro devices.
Is a Ring doorbell subscription worth it?
As you can see, Ring Protect plans are optional, and your Ring doorbell will work normally without a subscription. But the question of whether the subscription is worth it or not remains a personal preference.
Without a monthly plan, you’ll have access to the following basic Ring doorbell features:
- Event Notifications: you’ll receive real-time notifications whenever someone approaches your door or rings the doorbell.
- View Real-Time Video: you can view the live feed of your Ring doorbell on your phone without a subscription, but you can’t record what’s happening.
- Two-Way Talk: when someone knocks on your door, you can see them through the camera’s live feed and interact with them by pressing the call button.
- Motion Detection: You can customize motion zones to avoid unnecessary notifications without having a Ring Protect subscription.
Now, you’re probably wondering what you’ll miss out on without a subscription. Here are the benefits that come with a Ring Protect subscription:
- Record and store camera footage in the cloud for up to 180 days. That way, you can see and share any missed events.
- See what triggered the alert with a photo preview without opening the Ring application.
- View recorded messages through Ring’s Quick Replies Service.
- Enjoy a 10% discount on selected Ring and Amazon products, as well as an extended warranty.
Final Thoughts
Does a Ring doorbell need a subscription? The short answer is no. Your Ring doorbell doesn’t require a monthly subscription to operate normally. However, all Ring devices, such as doorbells, cameras, and alarms, come with advanced features that are only available to Ring Protect subscribers.
Without a Ring Protect subscription, you’ll have access to the basic features of your doorbell. That includes event notifications, two-way talk, motion detection, and real-time video. However, you’ll miss out on additional features such as recording the camera footage for up to 180 days and storing the videos in the cloud.
To make an informed decision, we recommend you try Ring Protect’s 30-day free trial to see if the unlocked features and services are worth it.