Amazon's Ring Unveils AI-Powered Features and 4K Cameras for Enhanced Home Security

Ring cameras can now recognize faces and help to find lost pets | TechCrunch

At an event on Tuesday, Amazon unveiled a range of new AI-powered features for its latest Ring cameras and doorbells. The features will enable Ring users to recognize visitors' faces and find lost pets by connecting with other Ring users in the same neighborhood. Amazon also launched an Alexa+ feature that functions as a smart doorbell assistant, providing details about visitors before users answer the door. Ring is also introducing its first 4K product line along with "Retinal Vision," a new imaging technology designed to provide clearer video. The most notable feature revealed at the event was "Familiar Faces," which uses AI to identify friends and family. Users can enroll the faces of their loved ones into the device, enabling Ring to alert them when it recognizes a visitor. The AI will also alert the user when an unfamiliar person is detected, helping them to make an informed decisions quickly. The company explained in today's blog post that the new feature is meant to empower "customers to reduce notifications triggered by familiar people's routine activities" and eliminate guesswork for people detection. "Equally important is that if someone you don't recognize is lingering, you'll know immediately [they're] unfamiliar," Ring founder Jamie Siminoff told press at the event. Ring has faced criticism for its close ties with law enforcement and its history of poor data management. Last year, following numerous complaints, the company announced that it would no longer accommodate police requests for footage from Ring users without a warrant. The Familiar Faces feature can be integrated into the broader Alexa+ Greetings system, which will enable specific greetings when the camera recognizes a specific face. This feature transforms the voice assistant into a smart doorbell attendant, enabling it to interact with visitors, manage deliveries, and identify the purpose of visits to keep users informed. Another AI feature, Search Party, helps find lost pets by networking Ring cameras. When a user registers a lost pet, neighboring Ring users will receive a description of the pets and can report sightings. The system uses AI to deliver possible matches, although sightings have to be voluntarily reported. The company states that users are in control of their privacy and can choose to ignore the alert if they don't want to share information with a neighbor. Both Familiar Faces and Alexa+ Greeting will roll out to customers starting in December. Search Party for dogs will launch in November, with support for cats and other pets planned for release in the future. The features will come preloaded onto Ring's new Retinal 2K and Retinal 4K devices, the company's new products that use "Retinal Vision," imaging technology that improves the imaging process with advanced AI. The Retinal Tuning function continuously checks the camera's video quality and optimizes the settings to deliver the best possible picture quality to users. Ring Retinal 2K is available on two new products: Indoor Cam Plus ($59.99) and Wired Doorbell Plus ($179.99). The 4K line includes the Ring Wired Doorbell Pro ($249.99), Outdoor Cam Pro ($199.99), Spotlight Cam Pro ($249.99), Floodlight Cam Pro ($279.99), and Wired Doorbell Elite ($499.99). The devices are available for pre-order today. In addition to the Ring announcements, Amazon also debuted a 2K Blink lineup of cameras and the Blink Arc, a $99.99 security camera that combines two Blink Mini 2K+ cameras into a single device, providing a 180-degree panoramic view of the surrounding area.

New Ring Cameras Can Detect Solicitors and Find Your Missing Dog, Amazon Says

Salesman knocking on your door for the third time this week? UPS driver delivering another package? Or worst case scenario, your beloved dog is missing? Your Ring camera can handle it all now, Amazon says. Today, Amazon announced an array of new devices and features during its Devices & Services event in New York, but a few stood out: Alexa Plus Greetings, Search Party, and Familiar Faces. These three AI-powered features are meant to make your Ring Camera even smarter and your life easier. Alexa Plus Greetings can "manage deliveries, send away solicitors and provide specific instructions to visitors," Ring's founder, Jamie Siminoff, said during the event. "So it's one less thing that you have to manage." In theory, this eliminates you from the equation completely. It can also create customized greetings for whoever comes to your door. "When a neighbor reports a lost dog in the Ring app, those with nearby outdoor Ring cameras start a Search Party," a press release from Amazon reads. "Using AI to look for possible matches, outdoor cameras will notify camera owners if they spot what might be the missing dog." We're turning individual concerns into community actions," Siminoff said during Tuesday's event, adding that Search Party for cats and other pets will be rolled out later. The Familiar Faces feature will lessen the number of notifications your Ring app sends you. If your mailman comes to your front door daily, you can train your camera to recognize the face and the routine instead of alerting you each time. Perhaps even more importantly, it pings you when an unfamiliar face makes their way to your doorsteps, too. It's currently unclear if these three features will be available on all Ring devices or just Ring's brand new 4K lineup and the new Ring Retinal 2K cameras, which were announced today and are now available for pre-order.

Amazon's AI Won't Stop at Finding Your Lost Dog

Amazon.com Inc.'s new Search Party feature was one curious highlight among the raft of updates the company offered up on Tuesday at its annual hardware event in New York. It works like this: Your dog has escaped. Luckily, you own an Amazon Ring camera, and it sends an alert telling you he's on the move. You can post an alert to your neighbors to be on the lookout. Then, if a Ring camera somewhere else recognizes a dog that looks like yours, it'll give that homeowner the option to let you know. From there, you can arrange a reunion.

Ring's latest doorbell cameras can identify guests and help find lost dogs

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. The takeaway: Amazon has rolled out a suite of artificial intelligence - powered upgrades to its Ring home security devices, including facial recognition and a system that leverages neighborhood cameras to help locate missing pets. The announcement marks a significant escalation in the race for smart home security, as Amazon doubles down on AI-driven monitoring and convenience. The unveiling comes as Ring, long a dominant player in the consumer surveillance market, introduces its first 4K video models and debuts a proprietary imaging system called Retinal Vision. These new cameras are paired with machine learning tools designed to improve accuracy in identifying people and animals, while also giving users more control over notifications and privacy. One of the standout features, Familiar Faces, uses facial recognition to identify pre-enrolled individuals such as friends and family. Subscribers can upload photos of trusted contacts, allowing Ring devices to automatically recognize and announce approved visitors at the door. If the system detects someone not on the list, it flags the presence of an unfamiliar individual. The new tools are integrated with Alexa+, a software layer Amazon describes as a "smart doorbell assistant." When a familiar face approaches, Alexa+ can greet them by name, interact with guests or couriers, relay package instructions, or provide pre-set messages. This effectively transforms the Ring network into a digital concierge, automating tasks such as answering the door and screening visitors. Ring's rollout also includes another AI-powered feature called Search Party, designed to help communities locate lost pets. When a user reports a missing animal, Ring devices in the neighborhood can share descriptions and images with nearby users, who may voluntarily respond with potential sightings. The system uses computer vision to match reported animals against footage captured by participating cameras. These advances come amid ongoing scrutiny of Ring's privacy practices and its ties to law enforcement. The company has faced criticism over its handling of personal data and its history of sharing footage with police. In 2024, Ring ended its policy that allowed police departments to directly request videos through the Neighbors app, shifting instead to a system where legal access requires a warrant. Earlier this year, the company reversed course. The new AI features will roll out on devices equipped with Amazon's latest Retinal Vision technology, now available for pre-order. Search Party for dogs will launch in November, while Familiar Faces recognition and Alexa+ Greetings are slated for release in December. The company added that support for cats and other pets will arrive at a later date.

Ring's 4K upgrades go beyond video to find lost pets and deter strangers

Amazon is introducing significant updates to its Ring devices, including 4K video support and new AI features designed to enhance home security. The update covers several smart home security systems from the brand, including the Ring Wired Doorbell Pro, Outdoor Cam Pro, Spotlight Cam Pro, and Floodlight Cam Pro, with both Wi-Fi and Power-over-Ethernet options. The headliner here is Retinal Vision 4K, an image processing system that sharpens video, improves low-light clarity, and supports up to 10x zoom, making it easier to identify details like faces or license plates. Until now, Ring devices topped out at 1080p or 2K resolution, so this is a notable leap. For those who don't need 4K, Amazon is also refreshing its 2K offerings with the Indoor Cam Plus and Wired Doorbell Plus. Alexa+ steps in, so you don't have to talk to solicitors But better video quality is only one part of the update. Amazon is adding a new AI feature called Alexa+ Greetings. With this, Alexa can answer the door for you, handle solicitors, take delivery instructions, and even ask follow-up questions. If a solicitor knocks, Alexa can find out what they want before you get involved, and deliveries can be managed without needing to open the door. Ring is also introducing Familiar Faces, which recognizes regular visitors, such as family or friends. This helps reduce repeated notifications and lets the system alert you only when someone unfamiliar arrives. Perhaps the most unexpected new tool is Search Party, a community-driven feature to help track down lost pets. Rolling out in November and starting with dogs, Search Party enables Ring owners to report a missing pet directly in the app. Nearby outdoor Ring cameras then use AI to scan for animals matching the description, alerting owners if there's a possible match. Users can decide whether to share footage or keep it private. Support for cats and other animals is expected later. Pricing for the new lineup spans a wide range, from around $60 for entry-level devices to $500 or more for top-end 4K models. Preorders are already live, with Alexa+ Greetings and Familiar Faces scheduled to launch later this year. Search Party will arrive in November, and Amazon says additional capabilities will be expanded over time. Some questions still remain. The most advanced new features rely on AI and cloud services, so a Ring subscription is needed to get the full experience. Privacy concerns are also still present. In the past, Ring has been criticized for how it shares video data with law enforcement. While Amazon has dialed back those practices, trust will be key as these more advanced features roll out.

Alexa+ can greet your visitors on Ring's latest video doorbells

When someone's at your doorstep, Alexa+ can size up your visitors and tailor its greetings depending on whether it recognizes them. Also: Ring cameras go 4K, at last. Who goes there? With its latest video doorbell, Ring is enlisting Alexa+ to greet your visitors, instruct delivery personnel on where to leave packages, and even give personalized welcomes to people it recognizes. Amazon announced the new "Alexa+ Greetings" feature at its big fall event in New York City today, where it showed off a series of new Ring cameras-including four that can capture video in 4K, a first for Ring- along with yet another AI-powered feature that can help find wayward pets. The new Ring cameras include the Ring Wired Doorbell Pro ($249.99), the Spotlight Cam Pro ($249.99), the Floodlight Cam Pro ($279.99), and the Outdoor Cam Pro ($199.99). Those four cameras boast an AI-enhanced video technology called Ring Retinal Vision 4K, which boosts video quality though a two-week calibration process while also offering 10x zoom and "enhanced" low-light performance, Ring says. Also new are the Wired Video Doorbells Plus ($179.99) and the Indoor Cam Plus ($59.99), both of which offer Ring Retinal 2K resolution. Finally, Ring is debuting three power-over-ethernet (PoE) models, including the Wired Doorbell Elite ($499.99) and variants of the previously mentioned Spotlight Cam Pro and Outdoor Cam Pro ($349.98 and $299.98, respectively). To be clear, Alexa's ability to greet visitors isn't all that new-the original Alexa Greetings feature debuted in 2021-but that older feature relied on canned responses programmed onto your Ring doorbell. With Alexa+ Greetings, it's the AI-enhanced version of Alexa that's speaking to those ringing your Ring doorbell, meaning it's able to converse back and forth with visitors as it figures out who they are and what they need. Coupled with Alexa+ Greetings is Familiar Faces, a Ring feature that allows your doorbell to recognize friends, loved ones, and frequent visitors for more customized greetings, as well as allowing Alexa+ to offer more detailed notifications or filter out alerts based on who it sees. Ring is playing catch-up as far as "familiar faces"-type functionality goes, as Google Nest Cam owners with Nest Aware have been using the feature for several years. Ring also announced another new AI-powered feature at Amazon's New York City event on Tuesday: Search Party, which Ring is calling a "community feature" that helps pet owners track down missing furry friends. Starting first with dogs and slated to add cats and other pets in the coming months, Search Party kicks into gear when a neighbor reports a lost dog via Ring's Neighbor's app. When that happens, other local Ring cameras in the area can join the Search Party, with AI helping to locate the wayward pooch. If your Ring camera spots what it believes to be the missing pet, you'll get an alert with a picture of the dog, which (if you wish) you can forward on to the pet's owner. All the new Ring cameras are available for pre-order now, with Search Party expected to arrive in November; Alexa+ Greetings and Familiar Faces will roll out in December. This story is part of TechHive's in-depth coverage of the best security cameras.

Ring's new Search Party feature can help you find your lost dog -- here's how it works

Over 1 million pets went missing last year and Ring's new AI feature might just change that Among other new features announced at Amazon's event, Ring announced Search Party, an AI-powered community feature that turns outdoor Ring cameras into a neighborhood network for finding lost dogs. The feature launches as pet owners posted over 1 million lost or found pet reports in the Ring app during the last year alone. Search Party uses artificial intelligence to scan outdoor camera footage for dogs matching descriptions of missing pets reported in the app. When a potential match is detected, nearby camera owners receive notifications with images and relevant footage that might help reunite the dog with its family. Rolling out in November to users in the U.S., Ring plans to expand this feature to cats and other animals at a later date. When your dog goes missing, you report it in the Ring app with a description and photo of your missing pet. This alert triggers Search Party for outdoor Ring cameras in the surrounding area. AI analyzes footage from participating outdoor cameras to identify dogs that potentially match the lost pet's description. The system looks for visual matches based on the information provided in the missing dog report. Camera owners receive notifications when a possible match is detected. The alert includes a picture of the reported lost dog alongside relevant footage from your camera showing the potential match. You control whether to participate in each Search Party. When you receive an alert about a possible match, you can choose to ignore it or share the footage with the neighbor who reported the lost dog. The feature reflects Ring's broader vision of using AI to create connected communities where neighbors actively help each other. Search Party represents one application of this community-focused approach to smart home technology. Search Party works with the following Ring cameras and doorbells: Doorbells: All Ring doorbell models are compatible with Search Party and can participate in lost dog alerts. Floodlight Cams: All models work with the feature to help locate missing pets in your area. Spotlight Cams: All models support Search Party functionality for finding lost dogs. Stick Up Cam: All models are eligible only if explicitly set to "Outdoor" Install Type in Device Settings. Outdoor Cam: All models are eligible only if explicitly set to "Outdoor" Install Type in Device Settings. We're curious to see how well this feature works, and if it will help set Ring video doorbells apart from the best video doorbells. Now that AI is being integrated into just about every company's product, it's features like this that could differentiate one device from another.

New Ring cameras get AI superpowers to help spot lost dogs

Ring's first 4K lineup also brings sharper video and smarter alerts, but the biggest news is for pet owners. What's happened? Ring has unveiled its most advanced camera lineup yet, pairing new 2K and 4K models with an AI platform that expands their role beyond home security. The launch includes the Wired Doorbell Pro, Spotlight Cam Pro, Floodlight Cam Pro, and Outdoor Cam Pro with Power over Ethernet options, plus Retinal 2K devices like the Indoor Cam Plus and Wired Doorbell Plus. The Search Party feature uses AI across outdoor Ring cameras to help locate missing pets. When a dog is reported lost in the Ring app, nearby camera owners may get an alert if AI detects a possible match on their feed. Owners then choose whether to share that sighting with the pet's family. Expansion to cats and other animals is planned for future updates. The 4K Retinal Vision technology boosts sharpness, low-light visibility, and zoom, producing more natural footage and enabling AI tools to work with greater accuracy. The launch also integrates Alexa+, Amazon's new AI agent platform. Alexa+ Greetings acts as a virtual doorman, managing deliveries, speaking with visitors, and reducing routine interruptions. This is important because: Ring is reframing what a home security camera can do. Instead of only monitoring property, the cameras are becoming tools for community safety and family well-being. Alexa+ integration marks the arrival of a generative AI agent within Ring capable of conversational interactions. It can handle context, like asking visitors their purpose or managing deliveries without the homeowner. Alexa+ Greetings, together with Familiar Faces builds on that by recognizing known people, reducing redundant notifications, and labeling events with names in the Ring app. Lost pet detection adds a new human element to home tech, extending Ring's role beyond property protection. Higher-resolution 4K video makes all these features more reliable, capturing clearer details in day or night conditions. Why should I care? If you own a pet, Ring's new feature could be the difference between a stressful search and a quicker reunion. For everyone else, the cameras still bring meaningful improvements. Pet owners gain peace of mind with an AI network that can actively look for missing animals in their neighborhood. Families get sharper 4K video for identifying people, vehicles, or events with more accuracy. Smarter alerts mean fewer false alarms and more useful information when something important happens. Okay, so what's next? Ring's new lineup is available for preorder now, with features rolling out later this year. Prices start at $59.99 for the Indoor Cam Plus and go up to $499.99 for the Wired Doorbell Elite, with 4K Pro models starting at $199.99. Search Party for dogs launches in November, followed by cats and other pets next year. Familiar Faces and Alexa+ Greetings will roll out in December.

The latest Ring doorbell free upgrade can send away unwanted callers and find lost pets | Stuff

Amazon revealed an upgraded Ring smart device lineup at its Devices and Services 2025 event, but even better is the software bells and whistles that have also debuted Amazon revealed an upgraded Ring smart device lineup at its Devices and Services 2025 event, but even better is the software bells and whistles that have also debuted. Alexa+ Greetings is essentially an AI smart doorbell attendant. If you choose, it can ask callers why they are there and provide them with instructions. While some might find the feature a step too far, I'm thinking my misunderstandings with delivery drivers could be a lot easier to handle. Familiar Faces will also be very useful for me. It's a feature intended to reduce alerts from routine events such as the children leaving for school or a family member who feeds the cat during the week. It's able to show who has been detected on the timeline and therefore make it easier to find the events you need. At the event, Ring founder Jamie Siminoff explained a little more how this works. "It's so easy to use, just enroll your friends and family. Think about it, your day-to-day, when your friend comes over for dinner, you get a notification saying Emma is at the front door. "But equally important, if someone you don't recognize is lingering, you'll know immediately it's an unfamiliar person. Our advanced AI provides contextual notifications that help you make quick decisions, and this intelligence becomes even more powerful when paired with our next feature." Search Party is a community feature that can keep a look out for lost pets in a neighborhood. If a pet is reported lost in the Ring app, local cameras will notify the camera's owner if it's potentially spotted. Search Party for dogs is rolling out from November, with cats and other pets to follow. In terms of hardware, Ring's introduced quite a few products including the $180 Wired Doorbell Plus 2K and the $60 Indoor Cam 2K. There are also 4K products including the $250 Wired Doorbell Pro 4K and several cameras, too. Ring didn't mention battery devices in the context of either 2K or 4K, so it seems that these higher quality devices are intended to be wired at the present time, with battery models topping out at 1536p. There are also some Power over Ethernet options for custom installers, too. The 4K cameras include Retinal 4K Vision; Ring's 'next-gen' tech for capturing sharper video with up to 10x zoom and much-improved low-light performance. The 2K products also have enhanced video tech, unsurprisingly called Retinal 2K. Retinal 4K is described as "mind blowing" by Ring's Siminoff.