The Ring Video Doorbell allows you to see who is knocking on your door, from your phone. It brings convenience, safety, and permanent video access to whatever is happening in front of your front door.
The whole thing is as simple as taking the phone out of your pocket and running the dedicated app to take a look at what’s going on. However, the introduction of the Apple Watch has made the life of many iPhone users significantly easier. But, how well does it work with the Ring Doorbell app?
In this article we’ll discuss the Ring Doorbell’s compatibility with the Apple Watch.
How to Get Ring Notifications on Apple Watch
Although the iPhone makes it incredibly easy to tweak your notifications, the Apple Watch complicates things just a tad. While the App Store does have a Ring Doorbell app for its phones, it doesn’t have a designated application for the Apple Watch. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t get the Ring Doorbell notifications on your watch. In this section we’ll walk you through all of the steps to enable these notifications.
Turn Ring Notifications on in the iPhone Settings
To enable notifications on your Apple Watch, you’ll need to start out by working on your iPhone. Follow these steps first:
- Download the Ring Doorbell app from the App Store.
- Log into the application and tap Allow in the Notifications pop-up. Note: If you miss this pop-up, you can enable notifications using this path: Settings > Notifications > Ring > Allow Notifications.
Turn on Notifications in the Apple Watch App
Next, we’re going to make sure that your Apple Watch is receiving the same notifications as your iPhone. Here’s how:
- Using your iPhone, open the Watch app. Note: If you have trouble finding your Apple Watch app you can swipe all the way to the left on your iPhone and type ‘Apple Watch’ into the search menu on the top.
- Tap on the Apple Watch application then tap on Notifications.
- Scroll down to Ring and make sure that the notifications switch is toggled on (it will be green).
That’s all there is to it! We have included more information about the Ring Doorbell and the Apple Watch below.
Can It Do Video?
Apple Watch allows its users to watch video. To play the video that someone sent you, you should just tap it. But, can you access the live video footage from your Ring Video Doorbell? No, you can’t. Your Apple Watch can’t provide live video content. Not for now, at least.
However, it can show the videos that are stored in your iPhone’s memory. Well, not by directly accessing the Photo app. Clearly, the Apple Watch doesn’t feature this option, but a workaround does exist.
- You can access the messages stored on your iPhone with your Apple Watch. This means that you can actually send the video that you’ve recorded to yourself – just type “Me” in the “To:” section when starting a new message. This will allow you to play the video on your Apple Watch.
You may wonder what this has to do with the Ring Video Doorbell. While you can’t view the live footage that the Ring app feeds to your phone, the app does come with a recording option. So, technically, you could record a video, send it to yourself in a message, and then view it on the Apple Watch later. It is not an ideal solution, but it’s as close as you’ll get to viewing the live Ring Video Doorbell footage on your smartwatch in the foreseeable future.
Ring Notifications Troubleshooting
Following the steps above, you should be good to go. But what can you do if you still aren’t getting notifications? In this section we’ll walk you through some basic troubleshooting steps to get everything working properly.
Every time someone rings the Ring Video Doorbell on your door, you’ll get a notification on your phone. By default, this should send the notification to your Apple Watch, as well. Additionally, the app sends out notifications when there’s movement in the particular area that you have selected, so you’ll get notified about that, too.
All the notifications that you get on your iPhone should be mirrored on the Apple Watch. However, you should give this a check, just to be safe.
- To access the global notification settings on iPhone, go to Settings, then locate Notifications and tap it. This will show you a list of all apps installed on your device.
- Navigate to the Ring app and tap it. From this menu, you can customize your settings.
- Next, check that the notifications are turned on within the Ring Doorbell app.
- To do this tap on Devices in the menu on the left-hand side of the app.
- Then, make sure the Ring Alerts and Motion Alerts are turned on (the switch will be blue).
Assuming all notifications are turned on you’ll also want to make sure that your Ring device is connected to WiFi and that your WiFi is working properly.
Lastly, you may need to update your Apple Watch, iPhone, or both. An outdated operating system can be the root cause of technical glitches including those involving notifications and connectivity.
The Downside
The main problem with the Ring Video Doorbell system is that it doesn’t have a dedicated app for Apple Watch. This not only means that you can’t get video access to the Ring Doorbell’s live video footage, but also that the notifications won’t spell out what you’re getting notified about. You will only know that you’ve received a notification on your phone.
This means that you will know your Ring Doorbell was triggered, but you’ll need to use your iPhone to figure out why. Unfortunately, the company has given us no updated information about when the Ring Doorbell will offer more functionality on the Apple Watch.
Frequently Asked Questions
We get a lot of questions about the Apple Watch and the Ring Doorbell. We’ve included this section to answer more of your questions.
Can I answer the Ring Doorbell with my Apple Watch?
Unfortunately, no. The only way to answer your doorbell is with the Ring app. Because this application is not available on watchOS you can’t use this feature.
I received a preview image on my Apple Watch, but it’s gone now. What happened?
Although Ring has not released any official word on this topic, there are plenty of online forums and customer complaints about the temporary feature. Unfortunately, it was removed with an app update and there is no word whether it will return as a standard feature available for every Apple Watch user.
Safety First
Despite the mentioned downside, the Ring app works with iOS devices seamlessly. And, let’s be honest, you probably carry your phone around everywhere, anyway. All you really need is a notification to remind you to take the phone out of your pocket and respond. The Apple Watch video option would be nice but, as of now, it is still unavailable.
Have you ever used the Ring Video Doorbell? What do you like about it? What do you feel it lacks? Let everybody know in the comments.
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