A video doorbell is an excellent option to see who is at your door without getting off the couch or if you aren’t home. A popular choice is Amazon’s Ring. Tap or click here to see what Amazon knows about you when you use a Ring doorbell.
A significant benefit of Ring products is that they connect to your Wi-Fi network, so you can easily use the app to access your devices. This lets you view your property, see your front door or arm your house alarm remotely.
Most of these features are free, but that’s soon changing. Read on for all the changes coming to Ring devices and how they will impact you.
Free Ring features moving behind a paywall
Ring offers more than just doorbells. The company also makes indoor and outdoor cameras, alarms and more. Users of Ring gadgets have free access to several security features through its app. With only a few taps, you can remotely arm and disarm your alarm or get in-app notifications of triggered alarms.
However, if you want to get the most out of them, there is the Ring Protect subscription service. A $4 monthly fee for the Basic service gets you personal alerts, extended video storage and snapshot capturing.
But Ring is making several changes, forcing many users to pay for some features that were previously free. Starting at the end of March, you’ll need a subscription to:
- Arm and disarm your alarm through the app.
- Get real-time notifications from the Ring app or via email.
- See 60 days of alarm history.
- Link Ring doorbells and cameras and compatible smart locks to your Alarm.
- Set your Ring doorbells and cameras to Home or Away mode.
The most significant change for Ring doorbell owners involves the Home and Away Mode. According to Ring, the changes will begin on March 29, 2023.
Then you will need a Ring Protect subscription to “set your Ring doorbells and cameras to Home or Away Mode and customize settings to specify whether Live View and recording is turned on or off in certain Modes, all from the Ring app.”
You can check out all of the changes being made here.
Good news for Ring alarm owners
It’s not all bad news for Ring alarm owners, as the changes only apply to new users after the March 29 cut-off. “If you owned an Alarm before this date, your current device will keep these in-app features. If you did not own an Alarm, these features would now require a subscription,” Ring explains.
That’s not the case for Ring doorbells and cameras, though. The incoming changes apply to existing and future owners, who will need to buy a Ring Protect Plan subscription to access the Home and Away Mode features from the Ring app and Alexa.
The Basic Ring Protect plan is $3.99 per month or $39.99 per year, and the Plus plan is $10 per month or $100 per year.
Keep reading
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