Ring Introduces Updated Video Doorbell With Improved Night Vision and Solar Charger Accessory, but No HomeKit

[macduke]

They told me they would support HomeKit on the last Doorbell Pro and Floodlight Camera and they never did. I'm not going to do business with them again. Once some good HomeKit enabled 4K doorbells and cameras come out, I will upgrade in the next few years. I tried HomeBridge but it was super unreliable.

I’m a huge Apple fan and a huge smart home fan. I can’t understand why not having HomeKit support is such a deal breaker for people. Is it because you want all your items in 1 app? I mean I see appeal over the the convince, but to be a deal breaker on what otherwise are some great products...Mind blowing. 🤯

For one thing, HomeKit enables you to use Siri to control your devices effortlessly. That's the #1 reason for most of us.

On top of that, having everything under one system makes integrations easier. I had to use Stringify to connect things together because IFTTT is too basic and doesn't even support triggers within certain time frames. Then Stringify was bought out and shut down, I think my Comcast of all companies, and I've had trouble getting my setup to work properly ever since. Since Ring doesn't support standard integrations with some of their products like the Ring Alarm, you can't even extend the functionality of the system. Like when a door opens, I should be able to set that to turn on a light, but I can't without HomeBridge, which like I said has been really unreliable. Furthermore, the app itself doesn't even let you schedule a set time of day to enable and disable the alarm, and there's no way to do this without HomeBridge which only actually set the alarm about 2/3 of the time for me. By having these smart devices connect to a unified system, we can have a standard set of automation tools to control things so that everything is on the same level playing field and behaves as expected for the user. What we have now is a frustrating mess that is a poor user experience.

Lastly, things that support HomeKit Secure Video are fully encrypted and run through our iCloud accounts instead of big corporations like Amazon. Most of us here trust Apple way more than other companies because of their support for privacy and strong end-to-end encryption. With HomeKit Secure Video, you can use your iCloud storage so you don't have to pay for an additional plan from a company that might end support and brick your device, like Belkin recently did with some of their cameras, only giving customers a one month notice in the middle of a pandemic lock-down so they won't be able to check on their remote properties.

With Apple we can depend on a more reliable, unified system. Unfortunately, Apple hasn't done the best job with expanding their foothold in the market, mostly due to unnecessary restrictions when HomeKit first launched to require special chips to encrypt the devices instead of just using software encryption like they do now. That slow start seemed to kill interest for a lot of manufacturers.

 

[BrentD]

That last one is the deal-breaker. I have it hardwired with power, but if you press the doorbell the dang phone will ring before the physical bell does. There's like a 3-5 second delay before the bell rings, minimum. As far as I can tell, it doesn't ring the bell until it can check in with the servers, which if you're at home is just stupid. It might be nice for the 10% of the time someone comes to the door when I'm away, but the other 90% of the time when I'm at home the experience is embarrassingly bad.

We have our inside doorbell disabled in the app because we have toddlers who nap. But it seems strange to me to be so seemingly angry about the delay of ringing your mechanical doorbell. Yeah, it's odd, but an extra 3 seconds of someone waiting outside isn't a big deal...
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As someone who has Wyze cams, Ring cameras, and a single homekit enabled Nursery camera from Netgear, I don't care a whole lot about Homekit integration. Would it be nice? Sure. But it's not that much of a pain to switch between apps to me. All my outdoor cameras are ring, and indoor ones are Wyze. If I want to check outside, I use the Ring app. If I want to check in on things indoors, I use the Wyze app. It's not a dealbreaker. I didn't buy into Ring because of Homekit promises, but for the picture quality and ease of use. Nobody really offers and easy to use video recording option with elegant apps and ease of access at home or away WITHOUT some sort of subscription. With the Ring stuff I pay $100 a year for as many cameras as I could ever want to add (right now we just have 4, counting the Doorbell Pro). And if I add their alarm system like I am considering doing, professional monitoring is already included in that $100 a year I pay for their services. With a 20% discount on my homeowners policy because I have a professionally monitored alarm, the service pays for itself and then some. Something I also just found out with Ring when they released this new (admittedly confusingly named) Doorbell 3 is that they offer upgrades by just paying the difference between the product you own and the new product as long as you are still under warranty on your product. And if you're already using the Protect Plus service at $100 a year, your products are ALWAYS under warranty. So say they release an updated Floodlight Cam for $249 and drop the price of the old one to $199...I can pay $49 and get the newly updated version no matter how old mine is since I subscribe to the service. I probably sound like I work for them, but I don't. I just like the product and how it has improved our lives. Just installed the security system and Doorbell Pro at my in-laws' new home and they're already loving it also.

 

[gaximus]

The problem I have with the design of Ring ... the doorbell video camera seems senseless in location where a traditional door bell would be (house) ... belly-dancer belly button views up close lol.

Sure I've not used one though.

The Ring Door View camera placement seems to fit a large market yet with the apparatus it just is easy to damage from vandilizers or from people that just dislike being seen when they're aware they can be recorded.

I have a better solution.

Its hard to vandalize without being seen, or setting off the motion detector. Could where a mask, but then it would look suspicious before you even got there. Also the camera uses a very fisheye lens so you don't see just belly buttons.

What is your better solution?

 

[imola.zhp]

The problem I have with the design of Ring ... the doorbell video camera seems senseless in location where a traditional door bell would be (house) ... belly-dancer belly button views up close lol.

Sure I've not used one though.

The Ring Door View camera placement seems to fit a large market yet with the apparatus it just is easy to damage from vandilizers or from people that just dislike being seen when they're aware they can be recorded.

I have a better solution.

Well don't leave us hanging... what is your solution?

I've been wanting to add an additional camera to our front porch that shows the door from a different angle. I realize this isn't something that everyone can do, not every house has a front porch.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Its hard to vandalize without being seen, or setting off the motion detector. Could where a mask, but then it would look suspicious before you even got there. Also the camera uses a very fisheye lens so you don't see just belly buttons.

What is your better solution?

For a house dwelling I see your point. There are houses where (or were in this case?) doors are portruding from the main unit and have blind spots ... so yes side bat could be used. Then for hours out the house you'll see nothing. Just how loud is that alarm anyway? Is it like a parking lot light which everybody has been desensitized to ignore?

In a condo or apartment building ... you'll have several people at all hours (save for overnight) walking past your door and your field of vision, regardless of how wide the camera lens can go will be obstructed. Doors in these settings are not flush with the hallway, and I think it's not architect's design choice (that I've seen in Toronto, Vancouver, Queens/Jamaica NY).

Either way it physically is outside of the door and peek hole which in my mind is a very poor hardware design choice. A person walking by Condo/Apartment/House can stick an electricians tape over it and your unit is done (even when peeled off you're going to have fun). Peek hole lens can be easily and much cheaper to replace vs an entire units cover.
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Well don't leave us hanging... what is your solution?

I've been wanting to add an additional camera to our front porch that shows the door from a different angle. I realize this isn't something that everyone can do, not every house has a front porch.

My solution ... is a business idea not giving it up, but easy to figure out for 1 part. The best peek hole solution is one that doesn't appear to have been replaced.

The best way for any home dweller or cop to find a criminal is not to make it aware they're being watched: before, during or within a few minutes after their crime.

 

[HouseofG]

We have our inside doorbell disabled in the app because we have toddlers who nap. But it seems strange to me to be so seemingly angry about the delay of ringing your mechanical doorbell. Yeah, it's odd, but an extra 3 seconds of someone waiting outside isn't a big deal...
[automerge]1588789892[/automerge]
As someone who has Wyze cams, Ring cameras, and a single homekit enabled Nursery camera from Netgear, I don't care a whole lot about Homekit integration. Would it be nice? Sure. But it's not that much of a pain to switch between apps to me. All my outdoor cameras are ring, and indoor ones are Wyze. If I want to check outside, I use the Ring app. If I want to check in on things indoors, I use the Wyze app. It's not a dealbreaker. I didn't buy into Ring because of Homekit promises, but for the picture quality and ease of use. Nobody really offers and easy to use video recording option with elegant apps and ease of access at home or away WITHOUT some sort of subscription. With the Ring stuff I pay $100 a year for as many cameras as I could ever want to add (right now we just have 4, counting the Doorbell Pro). And if I add their alarm system like I am considering doing, professional monitoring is already included in that $100 a year I pay for their services. With a 20% discount on my homeowners policy because I have a professionally monitored alarm, the service pays for itself and then some. Something I also just found out with Ring when they released this new (admittedly confusingly named) Doorbell 3 is that they offer upgrades by just paying the difference between the product you own and the new product as long as you are still under warranty on your product. And if you're already using the Protect Plus service at $100 a year, your products are ALWAYS under warranty. So say they release an updated Floodlight Cam for $249 and drop the price of the old one to $199...I can pay $49 and get the newly updated version no matter how old mine is since I subscribe to the service. I probably sound like I work for them, but I don't. I just like the product and how it has improved our lives. Just installed the security system and Doorbell Pro at my in-laws' new home and they're already loving it also.

That's awesome to hear about upgrades. I didn't know that. I am also impressed that they'll replace anything stolen for free as long as you provide a police report (not that I'm really anticipating that happening, but it's peace of mind).

I only just figured this out yesterday - that I am paying $25 per month for Simplisafe monitoring (and interactive features for which they charge that $25 instead of $10 or $15 for just monitoring) when I could add Ring alarm equipment to my camera set up and literally pay $0 more for monitored service. That was a forehead slapping moment.

Yeah, I have to buy all new equipment but we're under construction and my Simplisafe system is old as dirt, so time for new stuff anyway.

Also was torturing over a system that would work with Schlage smart locks, so Ring checks that box too, as well as other Z-Wave devices like light switches. So I don't have to geek out on a hub...just yet!

 

[EchoplexSE]

I’m surprised anyone would install one of these that follows anything tech related

 

[LV426]

Do these new Ring doorbells have a chime that sounds just as awful as the original? I bought one of those, but the sound was so grating on my ears I just threw it in the bin and didn't bother installing it. It sounded like one of those terrible birthday cards that play electronic tunes!

It's such a shame that Nest fell out with Apple and scuttled off to Google. Nest kit looks like it could have been made in an Apple lab.

 

[HouseofG]

It's such a shame that Nest fell out with Apple and scuttled off to Google. Nest kit looks like it could have been made in an Apple lab.

You aren't far off the mark! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Fadell

Yes, my Nest thermostats have withstood the test of time and I'm not sure I'd ever switch, other than to upgrade.

 

[Onelifenofear]

The problem I have with the design of Ring ... the doorbell video camera seems senseless in location where a traditional door bell would be (house) ... belly-dancer belly button views up close lol.

Sure I've not used one though.

The Ring Door View camera placement seems to fit a large market yet with the apparatus it just is easy to damage from vandilizers or from people that just dislike being seen when they're aware they can be recorded.

I have a better solution.

Vandilizers might just be my new favourite word!

It has lifetime warranty against theft and Vandilizment

Tradional button placement is different from country to country.

But I do Get your point. A normal Camera is just as useful - Motion notification opens app.

Personally I don‘t get why why ring’s belltones are so awful - They have like 10 and they are mostly unusable. Why can’t I have any old MP3... my doorbell from 2003 Did that!

 

[1144557]

We have our inside doorbell disabled in the app because we have toddlers who nap. But it seems strange to me to be so seemingly angry about the delay of ringing your mechanical doorbell. Yeah, it's odd, but an extra 3 seconds of someone waiting outside isn't a big deal...
[automerge]1588789892[/automerge]
As someone who has Wyze cams, Ring cameras, and a single homekit enabled Nursery camera from Netgear, I don't care a whole lot about Homekit integration. Would it be nice? Sure. But it's not that much of a pain to switch between apps to me. All my outdoor cameras are ring, and indoor ones are Wyze. If I want to check outside, I use the Ring app. If I want to check in on things indoors, I use the Wyze app. It's not a dealbreaker. I didn't buy into Ring because of Homekit promises, but for the picture quality and ease of use. Nobody really offers and easy to use video recording option with elegant apps and ease of access at home or away WITHOUT some sort of subscription. With the Ring stuff I pay $100 a year for as many cameras as I could ever want to add (right now we just have 4, counting the Doorbell Pro). And if I add their alarm system like I am considering doing, professional monitoring is already included in that $100 a year I pay for their services. With a 20% discount on my homeowners policy because I have a professionally monitored alarm, the service pays for itself and then some. Something I also just found out with Ring when they released this new (admittedly confusingly named) Doorbell 3 is that they offer upgrades by just paying the difference between the product you own and the new product as long as you are still under warranty on your product. And if you're already using the Protect Plus service at $100 a year, your products are ALWAYS under warranty. So say they release an updated Floodlight Cam for $249 and drop the price of the old one to $199...I can pay $49 and get the newly updated version no matter how old mine is since I subscribe to the service. I probably sound like I work for them, but I don't. I just like the product and how it has improved our lives. Just installed the security system and Doorbell Pro at my in-laws' new home and they're already loving it also.

Wyze are nice and I like the company generally. And all of their stuff is super well priced. Still trying to figure out how they sell it so cheap and give you a week of free storage. Something is a bit off with that.

If I needed an indoor cam sure. But I dont see the point for security. Once someone is inside its too late. And modifying them in an outdoor housing can be done but then you have a cable for power which is a total pain. There just isnt a good option for outdoors with them

 

[Black Belt]

I wish someone were to make a HomeKit door bell that doesn't scream "smart door bell". These all look like a tech product with little regards for architectural aesthetics.

Netatmo said they were making one TWO YEARS AGO. But still have yet to see it sold. I guess the French don’t like to work that hard.

 

[drjacka]

I use a Raspberry Pi with Homebridge to link my Ring Doorbell and other non homekit devices to Homekit. Not the easiest way to do it but until a better smarthome standard is implemented it's the best option so far.

 

[jlc1978]

I'm guessing the percentage of Ring (and other systems) users who would use Homekit is a very small percentage of their user base. Most people are not that tech savvy but want a security setup at home. I'd bet most users don't even open their system's app on any frequent basis.

 

[Ifti]

I use the Ring Video Doorbell Pro. I prefer it being wired so I don't have to worry about batteries/charging etc.
Does everything I need - so I have no need to change it any time soon.

 

[1144557]

If you needed any other explanation for "buh whyz homekitz!!"

https://9to5mac.com/2020/05/07/wink/ "Wink accused of extortion as it says smart home products now need subscription"

I'm guessing the percentage of Ring (and other systems) users who would use Homekit is a very small percentage of their user base. Most people are not that tech savvy but want a security setup at home. I'd bet most users don't even open their system's app on any frequent basis.

Cmonnnnnn man! Ring is Amazon. They arent making money on a $99 doorbell (maybe a little). They ar getting you on the subscription and your data. The same way an Echo doesnt cost $30; there is no profit in that.

It has NOTHING to do with it being too complex or x% of users. Homekit doesnt let them steal/sell data.

 

[Onelifenofear]

I use a Raspberry Pi with Homebridge to link my Ring Doorbell and other non homekit devices to Homekit. Not the easiest way to do it but until a better smarthome standard is implemented it's the best option so far.

Ah awesome. Thanks. I did think about home bridge. I get a bit lost with Linux though... but there are some turnkey solution now tight?

 

[BrentD]

That's awesome to hear about upgrades. I didn't know that. I am also impressed that they'll replace anything stolen for free as long as you provide a police report (not that I'm really anticipating that happening, but it's peace of mind)

I wasn't aware of the upgrade program either. I just happened to see an ad in my Facebook feed about the new Doorbell 3 last week, and in reading the comments I saw where someone asked about a discounted upgrade since they just recently bought the previous generation. Ring replied with that info about being able to upgrade for the price difference between the previous gen and current gen if your previous gen is still under warranty. I chimed in on the conversation asking them if since you are technically always "still under warranty" as long as you have a Plus subscription, could you upgrade at any time then? They confirmed that this was the case in a reply to me, which I as pleasantly surprised about.

 

[Apple Mac Daz]

I want one but ino it will end up getting stolen

 

[matthew23]

I'm close to switching away from Ring to Eufy.

With our new house, I did switch from Ring to Eufy. Best decision. I love how Ring in incorporates the word "reliable" in their statement re: the new doorbells. It was absolutely not reliable at all. It would take anywhere from 30-60 seconds from the time someone rang the doorbell to the time it would finally load the live feed on the app to show and by then, they had already left. Read the reviews, I was not the only one who had this issue. I hope it is resolved with the new Ring doorbell but I am not holding my breath. Eufy was cheaper, I've never had an issue and there are certain features (like their notification on the ios app that shows you a thumbnail of who is at the door) that really make it more polished. Plus, it looks so much better (imo). It is slimmer and less of a brick. Jut my opinion and experience with Ring.

 

[jlc1978]

Cmonnnnnn man! Ring is Amazon. They arent making money on a $99 doorbell (maybe a little). They ar getting you on the subscription and your data. The same way an Echo doesnt cost $30; there is no profit in that.

It has NOTHING to do with it being too complex or x% of users. Homekit doesnt let them steal/sell data.

While I agree in principal, nothing prevents them from keeping sending data even if you are using Homekit. Jkust build it in so the data still goes to their servers.

 

[HouseofG]

I want one but ino it will end up getting stolen

See my comment above about this, or: https://shop.ring.com/pages/warranty
"If your Ring camera or doorbell product is stolen at any time after your purchase, Ring will replace the stolen device at no charge to you. This theft protection is not transferable and applies only to the original consumer purchaser. Coverage of this theft protection is limited to one (1) replacement only for each Ring camera or doorbell product that you have purchased. Theft protection does not apply to any products purchased from third party sellers on eBay and other online marketplaces. Any claim based on theft of your Ring camera or doorbell product must be submitted within fifteen (15) days of the theft and include the original sales receipt, and a copy of a police report evidencing that you reported the theft to the police. Failure to report the theft to police voids this theft protection."

So, I guess the concern could be that it might happen twice!

 

[1144557]

While I agree in principal, nothing prevents them from keeping sending data even if you are using Homekit. Jkust build it in so the data still goes to their servers.

My understanding is if you use Homekit secure video then that has nothing to do with the company's servers and only Apple. It would defeat the security purpose of the iCloud feature to go to the company first.

Who I trust FAR FAR FAR FAR more than Amazon on what they do with data.

 

[jlc1978]

My understanding is if you use Homekit secure video then that has nothing to do with the company's servers and only Apple. It would defeat the security purpose of the iCloud feature to go to the company first.

Who I trust FAR FAR FAR FAR more than Amazon on what they do with data.

True, but that doesn’t mean a company can’t be Homekit compatible but still send data to their servers.

 

[Makosuke]

We have our inside doorbell disabled in the app because we have toddlers who nap. But it seems strange to me to be so seemingly angry about the delay of ringing your mechanical doorbell. Yeah, it's odd, but an extra 3 seconds of someone waiting outside isn't a big deal...

3 seconds is more the minimum, and it's not a matter of unusable, it's just pointlessly awkward. If I'm in another room, people are often starting to walk away by the time I get to the door because there was a 5+ second delay between when they pushed the button and the bell rang, which is on top of however long it takes me to get to the door. I didn't pay $200 (on sale) for a product that is barely serviceable at the same job as a $5 mechanical button.

My friends just started knocking, since they don't want to stand there on the porch waiting for the bell to ring when I can get to the door before it does.

I bought the thing under the premise it did the same thing as my old doorbell, but if I wasn't at home it would also ring my phone, and record things.

It doesn't do two of those three things well. The hardware doorbell rings are awkwardly delayed, and it's literally unusable as a remote camera on a slow internet connection. I was in Japan recently for a while and twice someone rang the bell that I could have answered, but on a 1Mbit internet connection it couldn't bring up a functioning video stream so was worthless. Even watching the recorded video took an inordinately long time for it to buffer (as in minutes).

I was also disappointed by the functionality of the motion detector zones. I tried to set it up so it would only trigger when someone was on the porch, not on cars driving by on the street, but it frequently didn't register motion until they had already pressed the doorbell.

Later models might work better, but I expect better out of a list $250 product that is only supposed to do three relatively simple things.