The Ring Doorbell and Amazon's Echo Show are a match made in heaven. The Ring Doorbell offers a smart doorbell experience that'll let you know exactly who's at the door without having to actually go answer it. You can then use that functionality with the Amazon Echo Show to manage those visitors by viewing them through the Ring Doorbell's camera and communicating with them using the Show's microphone. Thanks to Amazon Alexa, you don't even have to use your hands.
Products used in this guide
- Amazon: Amazon Echo Show ($230)
- Amazon: Ring Doorbell ($100)
How to connect your Ring Doorbell with Amazon Echo Show
Connecting your Ring Doorbell with your Amazon Echo Show is easy. It'll just involve adding the Ring Doorbell as an Alexa skill through the Amazon Alexa smartphone app. Here's how:
- Download the Alexa app and sign in with your Amazon account. You can find the Android app at Google Play, while iOS users will be downloading it from the Apple App Store.
-
Once you're all set up, open the menu by tapping the three lines in the upper left-hand corner of the app, then tap Skills & Games.
- On this screen, tap the search button in the upper right-hand corner. Type "Ring" and hit the search button.
- Ring should show up as the top result under the Smart Home category. If you're unsure what it looks like, Ring's logo is a blue and white speech bubble with a bell inside of it. Tap it.
- Tap the blue Enable To Use button.
-
You'll now be taken to the in-app browser to log into your Ring account. Enter your credentials and tap Sign in.
- Once your Ring account is connected, you'll be asked if you want to discover your Ring devices. Tap Discover Devices to initiate that process.
- Before too long, your Ring Doorbell should show up in the list and automatically connect.
- If your Ring Doorbell doesn't connect, make sure it's on and ask Alexa to find it by saying "Alexa, discover my devices."
What you can do with Ring Doorbell and Alexa on the Echo Show
Now that you have your Ring Doorbell connected to your Amazon Echo Show, you can immediately begin monitoring your home. There are a few cool things you can do once it's all set up.
How to "answer" the door
When someone rings your Ring Doorbell or it detects movement, you'll get an audible and visual notification on all your Amazon Echo Show devices in the home (you can specify specific devices if you wish). Alexa will announce that someone is at your door, and will use the label you set up for that particular Ring Doorbell to let you know which exact door they're at.
Note that you can customize the labels for each of your Ring Doorbells, so you can distinguish between different areas of your home. For example, if you want one for your back door, you can label it "back door," and just say the name of that label whenever you want to interact with that particular doorbell.
To answer the door, you can say "Alexa, answer front door" or "Alexa, talk to front door" (or whichever door you fancy) to be taken to the video feed and open up a two-way line of voice communication with the visitor. Note that in the case of using multiple Amazon Echo Show devices, only one of them will be able to communicate with your Ring Doorbell at a time.
Of course, answering the door with a Ring Doorbell alone won't actually let the visitor into your house, so you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way and walk to the door — unless you have a smart lock. We should also note that there's no way to mute your microphone after you've answered the doorbell until you've completely shut down the video feed, so make sure you end the feed when you're doing talking to your visitor by saying "Alexa, stop."
Worried about using voice at all? Thankfully, there's a way to view who's at your door without enabling your microphone.
How to check your live video feed at any time
Sometimes, you don't want to answer the door but you still want to know who's there. If that's the case, you can say the command "Alexa, show my front door" or "Alexa, show the front door camera" to get a live video feed of whatever it is your Ring Doorbell is seeing without having to enable your microphone and speak to your visitor. To end the feed, say "Alexa, stop," "Alexa, hide my front door," or "Alexa, hide the front door camera."
Our top equipment picks
Of course, to do all this, you'll need both an Amazon Echo Show and your Ring Doorbell. To set the two up, you'll need a smartphone handy so you can download the Alexa app to set the Ring skill up.
Alexa, Supercharged
Amazon Echo Show
Alexa is ready to show and tell
The Amazon Echo Show is the most capable Alexa device yet. Thanks to its built-in display, your Alexa skills get even more useful and Alexa becomes the true center of your smart home.
With an Amazon Echo Show, you can see who's coming and going without shaking a leg or lifting a finger. Its display gives you a live view of your front door, and you can engage or dismiss your visitors without even having to open your door. Plus, Alexa has tons of other skills compatible with many of the most popular smart home products on the market, making it a versatile device that you're sure to find more usage out of.
Alexa-Ready
Ring Doorbell
Answer the door without lifting a finger
The Ring Doorbell takes five minutes to install and is infinitely more useful than that regular old thing that used to sit beside your door.
With a camera and microphone equipped, unknown visitors are a thing of the past. Ring Doorbell works great on your smartphone or with a regular Echo already, but the addition of a display on the Amazon Echo Show makes this duo an attractive addition to any smart home. Plus, it doesn't require any elaborate installation methods for those who aren't quite so tech savvy.
0 Response to "You Can See More: How to use an Echo Show with Ring's Doorbell to see who's at the door"
Post a Comment