How to Make the Ring Doorbell Less Sensitive

The Ring Doorbell is an innovative security system. Not only does it alert you when people ring on your doorbell, but it also provides you with a video feed from your home entrance. It also has a pretty powerful and customizable motion sensor.

That is both good and bad news because, despite keeping you safe, it can trigger a lot of false positives. This article will teach you how to make the Ring Doorbell less sensitive, so you don’t get too many notifications about false positives.

How Does the Ring Doorbell Motion Detection Work?

Motion detection on the Ring Doorbell might be too sensitive, according to some users. People often get false positives and that makes them worry even when there’s no cause for alarm. This is especially true when the weather is really bad.

Wind and rain can mess with the motion detection sensors, causing your Ring Doorbell to spam you with false alerts. Sometimes, even cars that are just passing by your house can trigger the heat sensor and score you an alert. You will check the video feed on your Ring app and just scoff at another false alarm.

Many people complained about their pets triggering the motion sensors too. Thankfully, there are several ways you can get minimize the number of false positives you get from the Ring Doorbell app.

You can download the app from the official App Store for iPhones, or Google Play Store for Android devices. The infrared technology Ring Doorbell uses for motion detection is far from perfect, but with the app, you can adjust the sensitivity.

Use the Ring Doorbell App to Adjust Motion Settings

As you probably already know, the Ring Doorbell has a great app with many useful features. You can use it to customize your Ring Doorbell to suit you. Here are the steps you need to follow in order to lower the Ring Doorbell’s motion sensor sensitivity:

1. Start your Ring Doorbell phone app.
2. Select the Ring product you want to adjust at the top of the app window.
3. Then, select the Motion Settings.
4. At the top, you will see a slider ranging from People Only to All Activity. By default, the slider rests in the middle. If you think that’s too sensitive, move the slider left, closer to People Only. You can pull the slider all the way to the left if you want.
5. Exit the app.

That’s it. The app will instantly apply the setting without you having to save it. You can see how that suits you, and if you want to increase sensitivity once again, just follow the same steps. However, you will then need to move the slider to the right, towards All Activity.

You have probably already noticed some other nifty Motion Settings on your app. Let’s talk about them too.

How to Set Motion Zones

Motion zones are also great because they allow you to choose a specific zone in which your Ring Doorbell will pick up motion. You can choose between three custom motion zones. Here is how:

1. Open the Ring Doorbell phone app.
2. Select your Ring Doorbell at the top.
3. Then select Motion Setting, followed by Motion Zones.
4. Next, tap on Add a Motion Zone.
5. In the next window, you will be able to draw a motion zone. When you are done, press Save.

Motion zones on older Ting Doorbell models work a bit differently. You can adjust the size of the motion range via a slider (the slider shows the distance in feet). When you are done, tap Save, and then Continue.

Motion Scheduling

The final option in the Ring Doorbell Motion Settings is Motion Scheduling. This option can come in very handy and reduce the number of false alerts you get. If you know that the motion sensor will be triggered at specific times – e.g. if the mailman brings mail sharp at 8 AM on Mondays – you can turn the sensor off during that time.

Here is how to do it:

1. Start the Ring Doorbell app.
2. Select the appropriate Ring device at the top of your screen.
3. Tap on Motion Settings, and then Motion Scheduling.
4. Pick the exact day and time when you want the alerts disabled and save the changes. You might want to name the rule to avoid confusion.

This is a very useful feature you can use on any – or every – day of the week to reduce the number of alerts you get.

No More False Alerts

The Ring Doorbell is an amazing gadget, but its motion sensors might be too sensitive for some. Luckily, you can customize them and make them more to your liking. If you use all of the advice mentioned here, you can fully customize your Ring Doorbell, and minimize the number of false alerts.

You know what they say about the boy who cried wolf. The same can be applied to these alerts. So, it’s better to make each one count, than have a bunch of false ones. What do you think about the Ring Doorbell’s motion sensor? Let us know in the comments.