Amazon Smart Home

Can I use a Ring doorbell in a flat?

Ring doorbell in a flat
Hide and seek: the Ring Door View Cam sits on your peephole

When I used to live in an apartment block, one of the most irritating things was neighbours letting people in through the buzzer and then having people knocking at your door. Jehova’s Witnesses, utility salesmen, window cleaners – a pox on them all. Ring’s latest video doorbell – launched at CES 2019 – might alleviate some of that aggravation.

The Ring Door View Cam sits over the peephole in your front door. You can still see through the peephole as normal – it’s not replaced with a video screen or some such. However, you get all the benefits of a Ring doorbell, too.

What are those benefits? The ability to see who’s at your door when you’re not at home, or to see who’s knocking by looking at your smartphone from the sofa. Jehova’s Witness? No need to get up. Just send them on their way using the two-way voice system.

You can also trigger alerts if someone is hovering near your front door, which can be useful for spotting intruders or potential burglars that are scouting your property. It can also be handy to see if the Amazon courier who swears he left a package outside your door actually did. (Ironically, Amazon now owns Ring.)

As people aren’t necessarily used to ringing doorbells in apartments, the Ring Door View Cam has a motion/vibration sensor that can detect when people are physically knocking at the door. Clever thinking.

The Ring Door View Cam costs $199 in the US and will launch in the UK later in 2019. Bear in mind, you’ll also need a Ring subscription to be able to view video clips of visitors that you didn’t catch live, which is another £30 a year.

Now read this: Why is my Ring doorbell not ringing?

About the author

Barry Collins

Barry has scribbled about tech for almost 20 years for The Sunday Times, PC Pro, WebUser, Which? and many others. He was once Deputy Editor of Mail Online and remains in therapy to this day. Email Barry at barry@bigtechquestion.com.

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