LAST-MINUTE packages coming to your doorstep? Pressies stuffed under the tree? Christmas is finally upon us – but so are conniving crooks.
If you’re worried about keeping your home safe, there’s no guarantee – even with video doorbells and security cameras. But you can keep a more watchful eye on home with the right Ring settings.
Here are some of the must-use Ring doorbell tricks to try out this festive season.
SMART REPLIES
One of the easiest ways to lose a package – whether to theft or rain – is by a delivery driver putting it in the wrong place.
And even though Ring doorbells let you chat through the built-in speaker, you might not always be free to speak.
There are plenty of times – like during a work meeting – where you might not be free to speak.
Read more on Ring doorbells
TIME TO BUY!
Exact times to buy new tech each year to save £100s on iPhone, TVs and MORE
DING DONG
Ring doorbells receive major upgrade that catches intruders EVEN FASTER
Well you’ve got two options for resolving this issue.
First, go to Menu > Devices > More (on a doorbell) > Settings > Smart Responses > Quick Replies and turn it on.
Then choose a response time and a quick reply message, then hit Save.
Then you can have it automatically play a reply after a certain amount of time if you don’t answer the door, including one about leaving the parcel, which could save you from missing a delivery.
Most read in Phones & Gadgets
You can also use this to give the delivery person an alert that it’ll take you a little while to get to the door.
That’ll be helpful if you’re miles away from the front door or you have mobility issues – potentially saving you from the delivery driver scampering off because they thought you weren’t home. Just make sure to set the response time very low for this.
Another option is to go into your camera’s Live View, and then tap on Replies.
This will let you manually send the parcel message with a simple tap.
MOTION ZONES
Motion Zones are meant to save you from accidentally ruining your own Ring doorbell security.
Part of the problem with Ring doorbells for some people will be overactive alerts.
You end up being bombarded with warnings about passing cars, visiting dogs, or people simply walking past on the street.
So you shut off notifications to protect yourself – and potentially miss where an important package was left, or a dodgy intruder in your garden.
But keep your notifications on, and use Motion Zones to make them better.
Go into Ring, then More > Device Settings > Motion Settings > Camera Motion Zones > Add Zone.
Then you can drag the points to set up a zone on, say, your driveway.
Your camera will still capture its full field of view, but now you’ll only get motion notifications for movement in that specific Motion Zone.
If you find that it’s not working properly, you can edit it at any time.
MOTION SENSITIVITY & FREQUENCY
Once you’ve got Motion Zones set up, you might then want to increase Motion Sensitivity.
That way, you’ve got a much better chance of spotting intruders who might hop into your garden for a bit of Christmas pilfering.
You can use your Ring doorbell app’s Motion Sensitivity slider.
And while having it high means you’ll risk more false alerts, it should ensure that you don’t miss events.
If you’ve got a battery-powered Ring doorbell, you can also ramp up how often the device checks for motion.
Just go to Advanced Settings > Motion Frequency.
Then you can set it to Motion Detection Always Stays Active.
This will drain your Ring doorbell’s battery life faster, but it’s also the safest option.
So consider turning it on for the festive season, and then reducing it for the rest of the year.
VIDEO PREVIEW ALERTS
If you get a lot of Ring doorbell notifications, you’ll probably have fatigue in terms of checking them.
That’s a parcel-snatchers dream come true.
One good tactic is to use Video Preview Alerts, which are like animated snippers of motion recordings.
Then you can view the preview on the notification to decide whether you actually need to open the Ring app or not.
Just go into the Ring app, tap on More > Device Settings > Device Settings > Notification Settings > Rich Notifications and toggle Video Preview Alerts to the on position.
RING DOORBELL HEIGHT
So this isn’t a setting, but it’s still important.
You need to make sure that you’ve installed your Ring doorbell at the correct height.
“The camera on your Ring doorbell has a wide field of view and does not need to be mounted higher or lower to view approaching visitors,” Ring explained.
“If mounted too high or too low, you may encounter inconsistent motion detection or undesired motion events.”
According to Ring, you need to mount the doorbell 1.2 metres (or about 47-48 inches) from the ground.
This will give you what Ring says is “optimal motion detection”.
If you don’t like the angle of your video doorbell, you can change that too.
You can buy a Wedge or Corner Kit to adjust the angle of your doorbell, which is handy if you have a front garden that’s slightly skewed relative to your front door.
