Having a video doorbell became a necessity nowadays, a lot of creeps or weird people might try to steal your house or trick you in any way, so it’s a good thing to see who’s at the door ringing the bell, who did what and when, having more than one camera is recommended too to cover all critical areas in your house and yard, making your house a smart home, in today’s post we cover an issue that a lot of people reported which is related specifically to Ring’s doorbells, your Ring device could go offline and stop recording, or even weirder, it could go offline and keep recording but you can’t see the live video of the front door for example.
Let’s find out together how to go about this problem.
Why is my Ring Doorbell offline but still recording?
According to Ring’s website, this issue could happen due to several reasons, some of which are:
- A power surge causes a problem with your Internet router.
- You temporarily lost power.
- A wire in your router setup temporarily came loose.
- You changed your Wi-Fi network password.
- Low power is provided to the Ring device.
We’re going to investigate the problem together by trying some tips in order to solve the issue.
Reboot the cameras
Rebooting the Ring Doorbell might be the first step in order to fix the problem, try doing so by disconnecting it or then from the power supply and then connecting them back on.
Wait for about 30 seconds before reconnecting them to make sure they’ve discharged all stored energy.
Reconnect to WiFi
Try disconnecting your phone from the Wi-Fi network or you can restart the router, this is a quick tip that could make it work again.
If it still doesn’t work, try connecting the Ring Doorbell to another Wi-Fi network or router, if the problem still persists try the other solutions mentioned below.
Ring says in their website that some Ring devices are not compatible with 5 GHz wifi. All Ring devices are compatible with 2.4 GHz. If you’re not sure if your device is 5 GHz compatible, connect with a 2.4 GHz network.
You can change the Wi-Fi settings from the router settings page, look for the Wi-Fi network settings you’re connected to, and change it from 5 GHz to 2.4 GHz, if you don’t know how, the process may differ from one router to another, it won’t be hard to perform a quick search on Google or YouTube to know how.
Get a stronger WiFi signal
Some people noticed that the Ring doorbell keeps asking for a stronger WiFi signal in order for it to work correctly, even though you might think you have a fast Wi-Fi connection, moving the router closer to the door might resolve the problem.
If you don’t want to move the router from its original place, you can get an access point or a Wi-Fi extender to give the Ring device a stronger signal.
Factory reset
This is maybe the last thing you can do on your end, sometimes performing a factory reset can fix many issues, the process is easy and depends on what model you have.
First, unscrew the safety screw which is located below using the special screwdriver which was given to you when you first bought the device, then remove the top cover.
Second, look for an orange button on the side of the device, it could be orange or black or whatever, then hold down the button for about 15 to 30 seconds until it starts flashing or showing a spinning light circle.
Third, the Ring device should reconnect to your phone automatically as long as there’s a Wi-Fi connection.
A bonus tip, try removing the Ring device from the phone app and then add it back.
CAUTION: removing the device from your phone could remove previous recordings so be careful and read every warning before going through.
Call support
There’s no harm in calling the support team and telling them about the problem, they may have other suggestions or solutions for you to try out.
You can also find instructions on their support page and how to contact them.
Ask for a replacement
If nothing above works, I think it’s your right to ask for a replacement, I guess they wouldn’t mind giving you a fresh one.
Does Ring still record if the Internet is down?
The way Ring cameras work is that they store recordings on the cloud (AWS), that way is safer and it won’t be a headache for you to think about all the local storage you’ll need, helping you save a lot of money, of course, that won’t be possible without a working Wi-Fi connection.
So the answer is no, Ring won’t record if the Internet is down.
Ring Camera Offline After Power Outage?
If you noticed that the Ring camera went offline after a power outage or power surge, apply the same tips mentioned below, this includes removing the power source to the camera and connecting it back after a minute or so, it’s also a good idea to install a power supply or a voltage regulator to prevent future power surges from damaging your device, a quick hard factory reset could also fix the issue, the steps are also mentioned above.