Ring launches hub-free sensors with AI alerts, app store, and wildfire monitoring at CES 2026

Amazon's Ring doorbells get fire alerts, an app store and new sensors | TechCrunch

Amazon's augmenting its Ring smart doorbells with new features, including new fire alerts, an app store, and a new set of Ring Sensors. The company said the new Ring Sensors can detect motion, openings, glass breakage, and smoke, and can also monitor carbon monoxide levels, leaks, temperature changes, and air quality. They also let you control lighting and appliances that are connected to your smart home network. Amazon is also adding a new app store to the Ring app to allow users to use its cameras with third-party apps. The store is currently available in the U.S. only, and users will be able to browse a selection of apps in the coming weeks. While the company didn't specify what kind of apps the store would feature, it said these apps would focus on small business operations and everyday needs around the house. And as fires grow more common in drought affected areas, the company has teamed up with the fire monitoring app, Watch Duty, to show real-time updates and early warnings in the Ring app's Neighbors section. Users can also share live updates using their Ring cameras to this section. Notably, the new devices being launched support Amazon's Sidewalk shared network feature, which creates a mesh network between the company's Echo and Ring devices by sharing a small portion of your bandwidth, enabling devices to work even when they aren't in wireless range of your Wi-Fi router. Amazon is also adding a new AI-based feature to Ring cameras that learns the everyday patterns of a property and alerts users if anything unusual occurs. Dubbed "AI Unusual Event Alerts," the company said the feature enables the Ring camera to surface specific warnings when it detects a person, based on location, actions and clothing. For people who subscribe to Amazon's Virtual Security Guard services, these warnings could trigger intervention automatically. In the last month, the company has rolled out features that use video recognition to trigger Alexa responses and send you personalized notifications based on a database of 50 faces. The company has also launched a new Ring Car Alarm with in-built GPS for vehicle monitoring.

Ring's New Sensors Drop the Hub Requirement, Make Setup Delightfully Simple

LAS VEGAS -- Ring's new lineup of sensors aims to do away with the most tedious aspect of smart home security: setup. On display at CES, the sensors supposedly work out of the box without requiring you to establish a connection to a hub or even your own Wi-Fi router. This lineup of sensors will be grouped into three categories. The Protect category includes sensors like motion detectors and door sensors. The Safety category groups flood and freeze sensors with sensors that listen for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Finally, the Control layer aims to help with automation through smart plugs, smart fan controls, and more. Ring is also debuting a Car Alarm using the same tech to help you track your vehicle. Connection Without Effort The sensors do away with the need for setting up a connection by using Amazon's Sidewalk signal. Thanks to Sidewalk, the sensors come ready to connect out of the box, so you simply need to turn them on and add the device to your account. Sidewalk is a low-bandwidth, long-range protocol that makes use of ordinary Wi-Fi in homes, and carves out a small chunk of bandwidth to transmit this signal. Sidewalk debuted a few years ago, and if you have an Amazon Echo smart speaker or smart display, your Wi-Fi might be participating in its mesh network. We actually recommend disabling Sidewalk for the time being, but that could change, as products like these sensors are finally making use of it. According to Ring, Sidewalk is just now ready for practical applications in the US, as it can reach roughly a quarter of a mile from the bandwidth of a single router. In the US, its coverage is equivalent in quality and consistency to cellular service. Not needing to connect sensors to Wi-Fi could be particularly useful for those with a large home, or those looking to place sensors at the edge of their property. Ring hasn't announced a price for the sensors, but they'll be available for purchase in March, with the Ring Car Alarm already set for preorder. The Security sensors come with optional 24/7 monitoring available through a Ring subscription, but the basic functionality of all sensors won't require a premium plan. New AI Features in Cameras Aside from the new sensors, Ring is launching a few additional features at CES. The company's cameras will use AI to detect and alert you if they sense an unusual event, reducing the number of unnecessary notifications as you and your family go about your ordinary business, and watching for anything out of the ordinary. Ring noted that this unusual activity doesn't have to be something dangerous, but a delivery person or a visit from a deer could qualify. The AI will also be able to deliver Active Warnings if it does detect a threat. Instead of just blaring an alarm, the AI will be able to talk to an intruder with details such as location and perceived actions for specific deterrence. It can tell the intruder that it's recording a package theft from the front porch, for instance. Fire Watch Partnership Ring is also partnering with nonprofit Fire Watch, which crowdsources relevant emergency information and up-to-date status info in case of a wildfire emergency. Rolling out this year, you'll now be able to contribute footage from your outdoor cameras to the network, to help those in need see warning signs of an approaching fire. The AI in Ring cameras will be trained to detect smoke and fire, automatically sending an alert. The Ring App Store Finally, Ring is launching a separate app housed within the main Ring app. Developers will be able to use Ring's software to develop specific features that customers might find useful. Examples at launch include pool safety software to notify you if the cam sees pets or toddlers near a pool without supervision, and dog behavior detection to determine if your pet is acting in an unusual manner while you're away. The app store itself will be live with a handful of initial offerings within a couple of weeks. We'll aim to test as many of these features as we can in the coming weeks, and we'll be excited to try the sensors in particular to see if setup really is as easy as the company makes it sound. In the meantime, check out everything else we're seeing at CES.

Ring relaunches its suite of smart home sensors

Ring turned up to CES with a whole host of announcements, including a revamped range of home sensors. Ring Sensors (for that is their name) is a new lineup of tools, built on Amazon's Sidewalk low-power networking protocol. That includes updated versions of its door, window and break glass sensors, as well as a new OBD-II car alarm, motion detectors and panic buttons. You'll be able to pre-order the new car alarm today, while the rest of the new sensors will be available at some point in March. And, in tandem with that news, Amazon is announcing that Sidewalk is expanding outside of the US, starting in Canada and Mexico. At the same time, the company is launching a number of enhancements to its app platform, including the Ring Appstore. This will let users purchase and integrate with third-party apps which have been built to cater to "specific use cases, from small business operations to everyday needs around the home." The company added that, in the coming weeks, users will be able to browse a growing number of apps designed to help "you get more value from your Ring cameras." The company is also throwing more AI into its system to better coordinate its alerts, including Unusual Event Alerts. These will learn from the patterns around your home and, when it spots something out of the ordinary, send you a ping. Active Warnings, meanwhile, will use computer vision to identify potential threats and offer "specific warnings based on details like location and actions." Finally, Ring has teamed up with Watch Duty, a non-profit alert platform designed to share useful information about local wildfires. The pair have added a Fire Watch feature to the Neighbors app to enable communities keep each other in the loop about local fire and smoke events. Ring users are encouraged to share details from their own Ring cameras to "support first responders on the ground."