Is Your Ring Camera Not Recording? Here's How to Fix It
A Ring camera that doesn't record defeats its primary purpose: to capture important events around your home. When you receive a motion alert but find no corresponding video in your event history, it's a significant security concern. Fortunately, the issue is usually caused by a handful of common problems that are easy to fix.
This guide will walk you through the essential troubleshooting steps to get your Ring device recording again.
## The Most Important Check: Your Ring Protect Subscription
Before you check anything else, you must verify the status of your Ring Protect plan. This is the number one reason that Ring devices stop recording.
- What it is: Ring Protect is a paid subscription service that allows your devices to save video recordings to the cloud.
- Without it: Without an active subscription, you can get motion notifications and watch the live view, but no video clips will be recorded or stored.
How to check your subscription:
- Open the Ring app.
- Tap the menu icon (☰) in the top left.
- Tap on "Account".
- Look for your Ring Protect plan status. If it has expired or been cancelled, you must resubscribe to enable recordings.
## Essential Settings to Verify in the Ring App
If your subscription is active, the next step is to check the settings for the specific device that isn't recording.
### Check Motion Detection Settings
It's possible that recording has been inadvertently turned off.
- From the app's dashboard, tap the settings icon for the problematic device.
- Ensure that "Motion Detection" and "Motion Alerts" are both toggled ON. If Motion Detection is off, the camera will not be triggered to record.
### Review Your Motion Schedules
Motion Schedules allow you to disable motion alerts (and thus recordings) during specific times. You might have a schedule active that you've forgotten about.
- In the device's settings, go to "Motion Schedules".
- Check if any schedules are enabled that might be preventing recordings at the time the events are happening. Disable any unwanted schedules.
## Connectivity: The Unseen Barrier to Recording
A poor connection between your Ring device and your Wi-Fi router can prevent video clips from being successfully uploaded to the cloud.
- Check Signal Strength: Go to the "Device Health" page for your camera in the app. Look for the Signal Strength (RSSI) value. For reliable video recording, this value should be -60 dBm or better (e.g., -55, -45).
- What to do about a weak signal:
- Move your router: Try moving your Wi-Fi router closer to the Ring device.
- Reduce interference: Ensure the router isn't placed near dense building materials or other electronics that could cause interference.
- Use a Wi-Fi extender: A Ring Chime Pro acts as a Wi-Fi extender specifically for your Ring devices and can solve connection problems.
## Final Troubleshooting Steps
If you've confirmed your subscription, settings, and Wi-Fi, here are a couple of final steps to try.
- Reboot the Device: A simple power cycle can resolve many temporary issues. For battery devices, remove the battery for 15-20 seconds. For wired devices, turn off the power at the circuit breaker for 30 seconds.
- Check for Firmware Updates: Ring devices update their internal software (firmware) automatically. However, a failed update could cause issues. Rebooting the device will usually trigger it to re-check for any available updates.
By systematically checking these key areas—subscription, in-app settings, and Wi-Fi connectivity—you can solve almost any issue causing your Ring camera to stop recording.