Ring Video Doorbells are among the fastest to set up, providing an easy way to increase your home’s security. They allow you to view visitors and deliveries and get notified when there’s motion in the area in front of your door, day or night. While normally you need a smartphone and the Ring app to view who’s at the door, there is a way to have the doorbell camera pop up in more places.
You can make viewing your doorbell rings or motion alerts even more convenient by connecting your doorbell to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant Amazon Echo smart speakers and displays. Not only can you get verbal alerts when someone is at the door, but if you have an Alexa device with a screen like the Echo Show 10, you can instantly see who’s there without doing a thing. Here’s what you need to know.
Step 1: What you need to connect Ring to Alexa
In order to connect your Ring Video Doorbell to an Amazon Echo device, you need a couple of things first: A Ring Video Doorbell (any model will work), an Amazon Echo smart speaker or Echo Show smart display, and Wi-Fi.
For the purposes of this article, we will assume you already have your video doorbell installed and set up and that you’ve already got your Amazon Echo device up and running in your house as well.
Step 2: Link your Ring account to Amazon
To get these two smart home systems to work together, you need to link them, but fortunately, it’s easy. In your Ring app, go to Settings> Account Settings and look for Linked Accounts. Underneath that, you should see Link Your Amazon Account.
When you click on this setting, you’ll be prompted to first verify your Ring password, then to sign in to your existing Amazon account, which will also automatically enable the Ring Alexa skill.
Step 3: Listen or watch for notifications
With the passwords and approvals all done, you will now be able to view your Ring Video Doorbell on your Echo Show device or get a verbal alert from Alexa (“Someone is at the front door/back door/garage door”) if you’re using an audio-only Echo or Echo Dot for example.
When the doorbell rings, an Alexa-powered smart display like the Echo Show 10 will automatically open the video feed on the device’s screen so you can see in an instant who’s there. Plus, at any time, you can ask Alexa to show you the “front door” (or whatever the name of your video doorbell is), and you can check in on your live view. This same process also applies to viewing Ring’s video cameras on an Echo device with a screen.
Ring has made it super easy to integrate with Amazon since the company was purchased by Amazon back in 2018. The entire experience has become extremely seamless. Google Assistant or Google Home users, take note that Ring doesn’t play nicely with Google or with its video displays, and the only integrated way to view Ring cameras on a smart display is by using Amazon’s Echo lineup. Fortunately, there are budget-priced Ring Video Doorbell options, and the Amazon Echo Dot and Echo Show 5 are modestly priced, particularly if you choose a previous-generation version instead of the newest model.
