Amazon is announcing that it is adding Alexa to its Ring Video Doorbell Pro, giving it the ability to speak to people when they come to your home. The feature is called Alexa Greetings and requires that you have a Ring Protect subscription, which starts at $ 3 a month. If you do, Alexa can ask your visitors what they want, and they can choose to leave a video recording as a message. If you are a courier, Alexa will be able to tell you where to drop the packages – assuming the courier is willing to speak to the robotic doorbell at your door.
In addition to automating the process of receiving video messages and directing deliveries, it is not clear whether Alexa will bring any additional functionality.
The company is also announcing a Quick Replies feature, which should work on most of its bells without the need for that subscription (although the company’s cheapest bell, the $ 60 Ring Video Doorbell Wired, does not receive this feature either). The feature allows you to choose a ready-made answer, such as “we can’t answer the door right now, but if you want to leave a message, you can do it now” or “leave the package outside. If you would like to leave a message, you can do so now. “Of course, there are also answers that let the person at your door know that you will be there in just a minute.
Finally, Amazon is also bringing a motion warning to some of its bells and cameras, which will warn anyone around them that Ring is recording if it detects movement.
All new features can be enabled or disabled in the Ring app, so if you don’t want Alexa to answer the door for you, you can just not activate the feature. In addition, if we are adding new features to the Ring bells, it would be great to see a non-ringing bell function added (especially since most of these new features actually require pressing the button).
The ads come at a time when the company is receiving criticism for working with the police to provide images captured by ring cameras and for trying to increase the cameras’ appeal to privacy-centric users by testing end-to-end encryption support.