Is Your Ring Person Detection Unreliable?
Ring's person detection feature is a fantastic tool for reducing the number of unnecessary motion alerts you receive. By using artificial intelligence to distinguish between people and other moving objects, it helps you focus on the notifications that matter most. However, sometimes the technology can get it wrong, leading to alerts for swaying trees or, conversely, missing a person walking up to your door.
If you're getting frustrated with inaccurate person detection alerts from your Ring camera or doorbell, don't worry. This guide will help you understand why it happens and how you can fine-tune your settings for much greater accuracy.
Step 1: Optimise Your Motion Zones
The first and most important step is to correctly configure your Motion Zones. This tells your Ring device exactly where to look for motion and where to ignore it.
### What Are Motion Zones?
Motion Zones are customisable areas you can draw on your camera's field of view. Your Ring device will only trigger an alert when it detects motion within these specific zones.
### How to Adjust Your Motion Zones
- Open the Ring app.
- Tap the three lines on the top left to open the menu.
- Tap Devices and select the Ring device you want to adjust.
- Tap Motion Settings, then Motion Zones.
- You will see your camera's live view with one or more default zones. You can delete these and create your own by tapping 'Add Zone'.
- Draw your zones carefully. Exclude areas that are prone to non-human movement, such as a busy road, a neighbour's garden, or trees and bushes that sway in the wind.
- Focus the zones on the paths people will take to approach your property, like your driveway, walkway, or porch.
Pro Tip: Create multiple, smaller zones instead of one large one. This can help the device better analyse motion within a specific area.
Step 2: Fine-Tune Motion Sensitivity
The Motion Sensitivity slider determines how much movement is required to trigger a recording. If this is set too high, it can lead to false alerts.
- In the Motion Settings menu of your chosen device, find the Motion Sensitivity slider.
- If you are getting too many false alerts, reduce the sensitivity by moving the slider to the left.
- If your device is missing actual events, you may need to increase the sensitivity slightly.
- Make small adjustments and test the results over a day or two. Finding the perfect balance can take a bit of trial and error.
Step 3: Use Smart Alerts
Smart Alerts are a powerful feature available with a Ring Protect plan that works alongside your motion zones to refine your notifications.
- In the Motion Settings menu, tap on Smart Alerts.
- Here, you can choose to be notified for Person detections and/or Other Motion.
- To reduce unwanted alerts, you can set recordings to be triggered by any motion, but only have notifications sent to your phone when a Person is detected.
- This is the ideal setting for most users. Your camera will still record everything, but your phone will only buzz for the events you really care about.
Step 4: Check Your Camera's Positioning
The physical placement of your Ring device plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of its person detection algorithm.
- Height: Ensure your camera or doorbell is mounted at the height recommended by Ring (typically around 1.2 metres for doorbells). If it's too high or too low, it can struggle to correctly identify the shape of a person.
- Angle: The camera should be angled slightly downwards to capture the full body of a person as they approach. Avoid pointing it directly at the sky or at a source of bright light, like the sun, which can interfere with the image analysis.
- Obstructions: Make sure there are no obstructions, like a wall, plant, or window glare, that could be partially blocking the view of your motion zones.
By carefully configuring your Motion Zones, adjusting sensitivity, enabling Smart Alerts, and ensuring optimal camera placement, you can dramatically improve the accuracy of your Ring's person detection and regain confidence in your home security notifications.