AMAZON has revealed the Ring doorbell features all holidaymakers need to know about.
The tech giant’s popular home security gadget is perfect if you’re going away for a while.
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Amazon says that several features in particular can “give you peace of mind while travelling”.
“It will literally eliminate any worry you have about what’s going on at home,” a Ring spokesperson explains in the clip.
The video uses the example of Live View and Two-Way Talk for a delivery.
A delivery driver appears but the homeowner is away in the South of France.
The Ring doorbell owner is able to tell the delivery driver where to place the package using the app via an iPhone or Android.
It means you won’t miss a delivery even if you’re far away.
The video also highlights the motion detection feature that flags if someone is at your front door.
This allows you to keep track of any visitors, and make sure no one is doing anything suspicious on your property.
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Ring doorbells vary wildly in price depending on the model you want.
A second-gen wireless Ring doorbell at Amazon costs £89.99 / $99.99.
An Amazon Ring Doorbell Pro 2 costs £249.98 / $259.99.
Or there’s a cheap option for the Ring Video Doorbell Wired at just £46.95 / $38.99.
Here are some Ring doorbell tricks to try out…
Turn on 2FA
One way to shield your Ring device from attackers is to add an additional step to the login process.
This ensures that, even if your email address and password are exposed, cyber crooks cannot access your account.
One way to do this is to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your Ring account.
Once activated, you’ll have to go through a second authentication step after plugging in your password when you sign in.
This extra step involves Ring sending a verification code to your smartphone that you then enter on the login page.
Anyone logging in to the account will need both the registered password and the code to access your Ring data.
To activate, open the Ring app and tap the three-line menu in the top-left corner.
Hit Account and tap Two-factor Authentication. Now tap Turn on Two-Factor, enter your password and hit Continue.
Enter your phone number and tap Continue. Enter the numbers sent to your phone and hit Verify.
Battery saving tip
If your Ring doorbell isn’t hardwired, it can burn through its battery pretty quickly with constant use.
The gadget’s pretty useless without any power so employing a battery-saving trick or two could save your blushes.
Turning on Motion Detection, for instance, is one way to ensure the device isn’t constantly running.
When activated, your doorbell only records video and audio when it senses movement within a certain range.
It can make your battery last much longer as clips are only recorded when there’s some action near your door.
This spares your battery life and has the added benefit of saving your cloud storage space.
- Open the Ring application, and select your Ring device.
- Tap Motion Settings.
- Tap Motion Zones.
- Move the slider on the Motion Zones screen to the spot named “MIN” and then make sure all zones are turned off on the next screen.
Add shared users
If multiple people live in your home, you may want each of them to have access to your Ring account.
This allows them to view alerts, and cameras and share videos, access to which can be granted or revoked by the owner.
Rather than share your login info with multiple people – which could jeopardise your account if the wrong person gets hold of your password – try adding them as shared or guest users.
- Open the Device Settings page in the Ring App for one of your Ring devices.
- Tap Shared Users.
- Tap Add User.
- Enter the email address of the person you want to add as a Shared User.
- Select the devices you want to share with this person.
- Tap Send Invite.
This gives them access to the account while keeping your credentials secure.
It also prevents housemates from changing system settings or account information.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
