7 reasons why you need a Ring app subscription

Many of us are already signed up to plenty of digital subscriptions – covering streaming, software, cloud storage, and all the rest – so it's understandable if you're wary of signing up for yet another monthly subscription to get the most out of your home security camera.

However, some subscriptions are definitely worth having because of the return you get on your investment, and as someone who's reviewed plenty of Ring cameras, I think the Ring Home plan is one of those: considering everything that's included, it's great value for money, especially with the plans that cover as many Ring cameras as you want.

There are three plans to choose from: Basic (£5/$5 a month), Standard (£8/$10 a month), and Premium (£16/$20 a month): You can read about all the differences, but I'm going to focus on the features available in the top-tier Premium plan and seven reasons why you need it.

1. 24/7 video recording

With a Ring Home Premium plan, everything your Ring cameras capture, you can review: you're not just limited to clips linked to motion detection. You can see what the pets have been up to, or what the weather was like at home yesterday, or whatever you want.

Everything is stored in the cloud and accessible at any time, and if anything should happen at home – from a burglary to a leaking pipe – you can go back and check everything that happened before and after. You might find that non-stop recording really comes in handy.

2. Multi-cam live view

Multi-cam live view is a special feature that comes with your subscription that lets you view live feeds from up to four different Ring cameras at once – rather than being limited to a single video feed. It gives you a much more comprehensive look at your property.

Imagine you're tracking a suspicious character or simply trying to figure out which room the kids are playing in: multi-cam live view lets you watch several spaces at once. If you've got more than one Ring camera, this really upgrades the possibilities of your setup.

3. Person, vehicle, and package alerts

Your basic Ring functionality gets you alerts whenever something is moving in front of a camera, but not all alerts are equal: you don't necessarily want your phone notifications pinging every time a tree bends in the wind or your cat wanders into the video frame.

The smart person, vehicle, and package alerts are the answer: with a subscription, your camera will be able to tell the difference between them, and you can set up notifications for each type of alert separately, with several levels of customisation available.

4. Video preview alerts

This is another Ring subscription feature intended to give you a better idea of what's happening at home. You get a short animated preview of the motion capture detected by a Ring camera, so you've got a better idea of whether or not it needs to be investigated.

It's a small change to your Ring notifications, but a really useful one – you won't have to dive deeper into the Ring app and open up the notification feed each and every time you get an alert, because you'll know at a glance what's triggered the motion detection.

5. Device modes

You don't necessarily want your Ring cameras operating in the same way all the time: if you're at home, for example, maybe you want to turn off alerts while the family's in the back garden. When everyone's out, you might want all of your cameras fully active.

Device modes gives you that flexibility, and there are three that you can switch between: Home, Away, and Disarmed. Each of your cameras can be configured differently for each mode, and you're able to quickly switch between them in the Ring app with a tap.

6. Snapshot capture

Snapshot capture can be used in addition to or instead of the 24/7 video recording feature we mentioned earlier: it basically snaps a picture of whatever your camera is seeing, at regular intervals during the day, so you can quickly review what's been happening.

It's up to you how regularly the snapshots are taken, and it's a handy record of everything from the day's weather to the arrival and departure of the cleaners. Of course, if anything important happens, you've got more evidence of everything that's gone on.

7. Daily event summary

Hopefully by now you can see how a Ring subscription makes your smart home setup even smarter and even more useful, and it's the same with the daily event summary too – another extra perk that's included if you get a subscription, and available through the app.

As the name suggests, it rounds up everything of note that's happened in front of a camera during the day, so that's answered calls (on doorbells), motion events, different types of detection, and so on. It means you can review each day more quickly and more easily.