The New Control Center Empowers Ring Customers to Manage Important Privacy and Security Settings

By Ring on January 30, 2020

At Ring, our mission is to make neighborhoods safer. At the core of that mission are our customers — dedicated neighbors everywhere who are working together to make their communities safer. We believe that privacy, security, and user control are more than just ideas; they're the tools our customers use to help protect their homes, their loved ones, and their neighborhoods.

That’s why today we’re launching the new Control Center, a feature in the Ring App that lets customers manage important privacy and security settings from one simple, easy-to-use dashboard. This feature will be rolled out to all users in the next few days, and will require updating the Ring App to the latest version on iOS and Android. It can be found by clicking on the drop-down menu icon in the top left corner of the app. With Control Center customers can:

See if they’ve enabled two-factor authentication for their Ring account.

View and remove all devices and third-party services authorized to log into their Ring account.

Add and remove Shared Users on their account.

Opt out of receiving video request notifications when local police seek information related to an investigation.

Security and privacy have always been our top priority. The new Control Center is one of the many features we’re looking to introduce this year that helps give customers more command of their device security and privacy.

View and Manage Account Security

Control Center lists your account’s two-factor authentication status at the top of the new dashboard. If you haven’t authorized two-factor authentication before, it now takes only a few clicks in the app to easily access and enable this feature for added security. When two-factor authentication is on, you’ll need to provide the unique verification code that is texted to your phone number when you or someone else attempts to log into your Ring account. This reduces the possibility of someone accessing your Ring account without your permission.

Rest assured, if you want to give any family members or close friends access to your Ring devices, you can still add them (and remove them) as a Shared User on your account from the Control Center on the Ring App. No need to ever share your login credentials with anyone. Instead, have them create their own by adding them as a Shared User, ensuring that you are always in control of who has access to your account.

Control Center is also helpful for those who use multiple devices to access and control their Ring account — like a tablet at home, a cellphone, or a computer at work. The new feature lets you see every device that's authorized to connect to your Ring account and easily disconnect all of them whenever you want. From Control Center, you can also view and disconnect any individual app or service that links to your Ring account, like Alexa, when you need to.

Manage Video Requests

The Neighbors App lets users share and receive local crime and safety updates, as well as upload videos, photos, and text posts and get real-time alerts from neighbors and official sources. In communities where local police are using the Neighbors App, users can choose to share information or video recordings when local police seek information relevant to an investigation in their area by using the video request tool.

For example, in Westminster, California, the video request tool helped to recover stolen guns after the police department received hundreds of videos from their request that helped identify vehicles involved in the robbery of a gun safe. The video request tool was also helpful in Pembroke Pines, Florida, where videos shared by residents via the Neighbors App assisted the police in identifying and arresting suspects on burglary and theft charges.

With the video request tool, police cannot see your video recordings unless you explicitly choose to share them by responding to a specific video request. While you have always had the ability to opt out of these requests after you received your first one, Control Center now ensures that you don’t have to wait for that first request — you can easily opt out from the start. Control Center also enables you to learn how Ring protects your personal information and video recordings when local police use the video request tool.

In addition to helping you enhance your privacy and security, the new Control Center includes an Active Law Enforcement Map. This map shows which police departments have joined the Neighbors App, including those in your local area. We hope this will help inform you about when police are working with your community.

What’s Next?

At Ring, we are committed to continuing to deliver important privacy, security, and control features to our customers. We take these matters seriously, which is why this is just the beginning. Future versions of Control Center will provide users the ability to view and control even more privacy and security features.

Update, June 3, 2021: The Video Request feature referenced in this blog has been discontinued. To learn more about how public safety agencies share information and request help from their communities, please see our blog post Ring Launches Request for Assistance Posts on the Neighbors App.