Amazon smart home devices are popular for a lot of reasons (such as their reliability and pricing), but the impressive Amazon Sidewalk network is often overlooked. This intriguing network helps keep your gadgets online even if your Wi-Fi goes out during a storm -- and the company has big plans for its implementation.
Using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and 900MHz radio spectrum broadcast signals, Sidewalk networks are transmitted by a variety of Amazon devices in your neighborhood. And when the power goes out at your home, your Amazon devices can still stay online thanks to the Sidewalk network. Sidewalk also helps streamline the setup process for compatible smart cameras, doorbells, locks, and other products.
A popular member of the Amazon family, various Ring devices are Sidewalk-enabled, with the Ring Spotlight Cam Wired, Spotlight Cam Mount, Floodlight Cam, and Floodlight Cam Pro designated as Sidewalk Bridges. While there are many Sidewalk-ready devices that can receive Sidewalk broadcasts, Bridge products are capable of receiving and broadcasting Sidewalk's range of signals.
Can you turn off Amazon Sidewalk?
Enabled by default, Amazon Sidewalk is an excellent emergency network for your Ring devices, but some users may not want to be sharing precious bits of bandwidth across the zip code. While the amount of data that Sidewalk pulls is very small, that doesn't mean the feature needs to be turned on.
If you own a Ring device with Sidewalk compatibility, here's how you can disable Sidewalk networking altogether.
Step 1: Grab whatever phone or tablet you have the Ring app installed on and launch the application.
Step 2: You'll see a three-lined menu button in the top-left corner of the screen. Select that menu button, and then select Control center.
Step 3: On the Control center screen, select Sidewalk. On the next screen, you'll be able to toggle Sidewalk either on or off. Once you toggle Sidewalk off, the Ring app will ask you to confirm this decision.
Once you've officially confirmed, Sidewalk will be disabled.
Step 4: If you have a change of heart, you can follow the same steps to turn Sidewalk back on.
Is Amazon Sidewalk dangerous?
Sidewalk's network sharing may make some users a little uneasy, and that's not an unfounded fear. Once any web-connected gear is online, there's always a small chance that the peripheral and your web connection can be targeted by hackers.
Fortunately, Amazon's Sidewalk development team has designed Sidewalk to be extremely defensive when it comes to your bandwidth and personal data.
Three powerful layers of encryption are applied to all Sidewalk networks, and any and all transmitted data cannot be viewed by Amazon or other companies.
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