A Guide to Protecting Your Home or Business While You’re On a Trip

Whether you’re planning a spring break trip as a homeowner, business owner, or both, one of the biggest items on your to-do list is ensuring everything’s protected while you’re gone. That’s where Ring comes in. 

With these simple steps, you can help proactively protect what you’re leaving behind — and make the most of your time away.

1. Install Ring Alarm and Ring Security Cameras

To be certain everything’s okay at home, you have to know what’s happening in and around the house. With a Ring Alarm security system, indoor and outdoor cameras, and a Ring Protect subscription, sold separately, you can get notifications when activity is detected inside or out, no matter where you are. 

Ring Alarm Security Kits come with everything you need to protect your home or business in one box. Contact Sensors detect when a door or window is opened, while Motion Detectors sense movement inside entryways, hallways, or interior rooms. With a Ring Protect subscription, sold separately, the Base Station receives signals from your devices and sends real-time alerts to your phone. For added protection, consider Alarm Accessories that can help detect potential property damage, like Flood & Freeze Sensors, Glass Break Sensors, and Smoke and CO Listeners.¹ 

Ring security cameras and video doorbells provide another layer of visibility around your home. You can check Live View to get a real-time look at your front door, lobby, or back entrance and use Two-Way Talk to chat with visitors. With your Ring Protect subscription, sold separately, you can even set your cameras to record if Alarm is triggered, so you don’t miss anything important.¹  

No matter your skill level, it’s quick and easy to install Alarm and security cameras using the step-by-step instructions in the Ring App. But if you’re short on time, you can pay a little extra to have our pros handle the installation for you. 

2. Enroll in 24/7 Alarm Professional Monitoring With Your Ring Protect Pro Subscription

From digital notifications to Alarm cellular backup, a Ring Protect Pro subscription, sold separately, unlocks game-changing features for your Ring Alarm. It also gives you the option to enroll in 24/7 Alarm Professional Monitoring, so nothing gets missed while you’re away. 

After you enroll, a team of trained agents will monitor your Alarm notifications when your system is armed and respond if it gets triggered. Depending on the situation, the professional monitoring center typically calls at least one emergency contact before calling for assistance to avoid false alarms. If you or another contact requests help or no one responds, the professional monitoring center will request a police response or fire dispatch for your home.³

If you want to protect both your home and business, you’ll need a Ring Protect Pro subscription for each location. Opt into 24/7 Alarm Professional Monitoring for both addresses to get real-time assistance while you’re away.³ 

3. Subscribe to Virtual Security Guard

Monitoring the cameras on your property probably isn’t on your trip itinerary. That’s why Ring offers Virtual Security Guard, sold separately, as an add-on to Alarm Professional Monitoring with your Ring Protect Pro subscription.

When you’re enrolled in Virtual Security Guard, trained guards from Rapid Response will monitor your enrolled cameras for people. If the situation requires help, a guard will attempt to deter unwanted activity using your camera’s Two-Way Talk and siren and request dispatch in an emergency. You’ll get text messages about activity observed on your property, so you’re informed about what’s going on back home. 

Setting up Virtual Security Guard is quick and easy once your devices are installed. Just choose which indoor and outdoor cameras you want monitored, such as an Indoor Cam and a Floodlight Cam, for example. Then, you can head off on a trip knowing that guards are keeping an eye on what’s important back home. Plus, there are no long-term commitments — you can enroll in Virtual Security Guard at any time with your Ring Protect subscription, sold separately, and unenroll just as easily.⁴

4. Create a Mode Schedule

Chances are, your home and business won’t be completely free of activity while you’re away. If employees or friends plan to stop by, you’ll want to disarm Ring Alarm before they arrive to avoid an accidental alert.¹

With mode schedules, you can disarm Ring Alarm automatically at certain times of the day — so you can focus on enjoying your trip. For example, if your business manager will be working at the office during normal working hours, you can set your Alarm to Home mode during the day and Away mode after close. Or, if you know your pet sitter will arrive between 2:00 and 3:00 PM each day, you can set your Alarm to disarm during those times, so they can enter and exit without any issues.

5. Review and Customize Your Settings

Before you leave, be sure to double-check your settings in the Ring App, so everything’s ready to go before your trip. Here are a few things to review:

Emergency Contacts

If your Ring Alarm is triggered, the professional monitoring center will call your emergency contacts. Be sure your emergency contacts are filled in, and each person listed knows your verbal password, which is required to cancel a response. If you’re currently listed as the first emergency contact, consider temporarily changing it to someone you trust, so they’ll receive the first call if something happens at home. 

Devices Enrolled in Professional Monitoring and Virtual Security Guard

Check your settings to ensure all the devices you want to include in professional monitoring, like Flood & Freeze Sensors and Glass Break Sensors, are enrolled.¹ Then, choose which cameras to include in Virtual Security Guard. 

Police Response

By default, the professional monitoring center will request police assistance if no emergency contact answers the phone and cancels the response. You can also change your settings for the professional monitoring center to only send police if someone requests help. Choose the setting that’s right for your situation before you head out. 

Verbal Password

If you can’t remember the verbal password you chose during professional monitoring setup, or if you’d like to change it to something different, you can do so in settings. Pick a word or number you’ll remember, and share it with all your emergency contacts.

Notification Preferences

Review your notification settings to ensure you get the alerts you need while you’re away. For example, with your Ring Protect subscription, sold separately, you can enable Smart Alerts for your doorbell and cameras, with which you can elect to receive notifications only if people are detected.¹ Then, check and adjust your Ring Alarm alert settings. 

Shared Users and Guest Users

You have the option to add Shared Users, who can receive notifications from your Ring devices, arm and disarm Ring Alarm, and access camera recordings and Live View. 

You can also give others the ability to arm and disarm Ring Alarm only as Guest Users, like pet sitters or employees. If you have multiple buildings to protect while you’re away, make sure to choose the right Shared and Guest Users for each location. 

6. Let Ring Handle the Rest

Now that you’ve enrolled and adjusted your settings, you can head out knowing that trained agents and guards are helping to protect your home or business. So whether you’re traveling for a sales pitch or a weekend on the beach, sit back, enjoy the ride, and let Ring take it from here. 

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¹Ring Alarm and all Ring Alarm accessories require a subscription for in-app features and digital notifications, including digital arming / disarming and integration with other Ring, Echo, Alexa, and third party products. Subscription sold separately. View ring.com/protect-plans for pricing and details.

 ²Your Ring videos in the cloud are stored temporarily, up to 180 days. Changing your video storage time will only affect videos that are recorded after you adjust your storage time setting. Check Ring Protect Subscription Plans for more information.

 ³A compatible Ring Protect subscription is required to enroll in the Ring Alarm professional monitoring service. Professional monitoring service is available only within the U.S. (all 50 states, but not U.S. territories) and in Canada (excluding Quebec). Ring does not own its own professional monitoring center. Smoke and carbon monoxide monitoring is not available for a business or commercially zoned address. See Ring alarm licenses at: ring.com/licenses. Additional permit or false alarm fees may apply depending on your local jurisdiction. Additional charges may apply in areas that require permits or guard response service for alarm verification.

⁴Virtual Security Guard is an add-on service that requires the following (each sold separately): subscription fee per enrolled location plus a compatible Ring Protect plan, Ring Alarm system, enrollment in Ring Alarm professional monitoring, and an eligible device. Rapid Response is the seller and provides the service and agents monitoring person detected motion events. Learn more.

 ⁵Virtual Security Guard does not support Two-Way Talk for ONVIF-compatible cameras.