How to Show Ring Doorbell Image on Echo Show Automatically

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Gained early experience with automation technology in the private and industrial sector, can turn his living room into a movie theater with one voice command and is the owner of this website. He is happy to share his accumulated experience with every new article.

Amazon Alexa and Ring

With its Alexa, Amazon has managed to bring smart home into the homes of many people who would never have thought of it.

The very easy setup, the low prices, and a dense and highly interesting infrastructure, which allows communication between many devices from other manufacturers, made the Amazon Echo* a bestseller. Now Alexa can be used to control its lights, regulate the temperature, let the mowing robot go to work or even start a electric car.

In early 2018, Amazon purchased the doorbell manufacturer “Ring” for one billion US dollars with the promise to integrate the Ring Doorbells firmly into the infrastructure of the in-house voice assistant “Alexa” so that your Echo Show displays the live image on your doorstep and you can communicate with the person standing in front of it.

Amazon has kept this promise and logically all you need is an Amazon Echo Show, a doorbell from the Ring-Doorbell series and a smartphone with the “Amazon Alexa” app installed.

Video Feed from Ring Doorbell on Echo Show

Requirements – Amazon Alexa App

Before we start, please make sure that your Ring Doorbell and Amazon Echo Show are fully set up and connected to your home wireless network.

Simply refer to the operating instructions or information page of the respective device and come back as soon as the initial setup is completed. If you haven’t already done so, please download the “Amazon Alexa” app to your smartphone.

Just visit the App Store for Apple devices or the Google Play Store for Android devices and search for “Alexa”. Install the app named “Amazon Alexa”, log in with your Amazon account and we can start our setup.

Requirements – Ring Account and Alexa Skill

At the beginning a little explanation of the technical stuff. The smooth communication between the two devices works with the help of a so-called skill, which you can activate with the Alexa app on your Amazon Echo Show.

Amazon Echo Skills are, in short, small programs or interfaces for your Amazon Echo, which act as a bridge between the devices, so to speak, to ensure that your Echo can receive the appropriate commands for the doorbell and display instructions.

So if someone presses the doorbell at your front door, you will be notified immediately on your Echo Show and can choose whether you want to talk to the person or if you are satisfied to see who is standing there and then open the door for the person.

To avoid problems or discrepancies when setting up the skill, you should also make sure that you have created a ring account. If you already have a ring account, you can skip this step.

To create an account, open your browser on any device and type the URL ring.com/users/sing_up in the address bar. Follow the steps during the account creation process and close the browser window again.

Setting up the Video Feed

So let’s get to the actual core of this guide. How can you make your Echo Show display the Ring Doorbell video feed when someone rings the doorbell?

Go to your Alexa app on your smartphone, open the menu in the upper left corner and then the menu item “Skills and Games”.

You are now in the Skill Store of your Alexa, so to speak. Here you can find all kinds of useful skills that are just waiting to be tried out by you. After the complete setup, it’s definitely worth taking a look at the store.

But for our project, you only need the already mentioned skill for your doorbell. Click on the magnifying glass in the upper right corner and type “Ring” into the field. Select the first search result and then press the button “Activate for use”.

You will automatically be directed to a page where you will be asked to enter your ring account login information. Log in with your data. Now Alexa needs your permission to access your ring account.

Authorize this, and you will see in the next window that the “Ring” skill has been successfully connected to your Echo Show. Select “Find Devices”, and your Echo Show will search for a suitable device for this skill.

This process usually takes only a few seconds. Once the search is complete, the window closes automatically and you’ll be returned to the home screen of your Alexa app.

Congratulations! Now your Echo Show can interact with your Ring Doorbell!

However, you will probably want to make some settings and personalization for the devices before you do so. For example, you can choose a ringtone for your Echo Show, or how the notification should look like.

By the way: If you have more than one Amazon Echo device, you can also connect them to your doorbell. Just click on “Devices” at the bottom right of the app and select “Cameras” at the top. Select your Ring Doorbell and under the tab “Notifications”, you can now choose on which of your Amazon Echo devices a notification should be played when someone rings the bell.

If you have selected multiple Echo Devices, they will all ring simultaneously and you can decide where or in which room you want to communicate with your Ring Doorbell, depending on your location. This is a good option if you live in a house with several rooms, for example.

Control and Setup the Ring Video Doorbell via Alexa

To adjust your Ring Doorbell settings, go back to the “Devices” menu and select your connected bell again. You will now find a whole range of options.

Since your Ring Doorbell has a built-in motion detector, you can even choose to have your echo show notify you when someone is at your door without even pressing the bell button.

This is a handy feature that gives you a kind of video surveillance in front of your house, right on your Echo Show screen. In the menu item “Ringtone” you can choose one of many notification tones that your Echo Show should play when you get a notification about your ringtone.

For the preview, your echo plays the sound directly, so you get an immediate impression of what it would sound like if someone is standing at your door and rings the bell. Choose a sound you like and go back to the menu by tapping the “Back” arrow in the top left corner. Your setup is now almost complete.

Ring Doorbell with Other Echo Devices

It is of course also possible to connect an Amazon Echo device without a screen (Echo Dot*, Echo*, etc.). Under “Devices” you can easily select which devices should play a notification.

With the Amazon Echo Dot, the whole thing actually works the same as with the Amazon Echo Show, but without the live image. You will be notified and can talk to the person in front of the door. So you have a real smart intercom system, so to speak.

Using Echo Show as an Intercom

So the first important step has been done because your Amazon Echo Show has been successfully connected to your Ring Doorbell. As soon as someone rings your doorbell, the live video of the Ring Doorbell will automatically appear on your Echo Show screen. You will hear your chosen ring tone and Alexa will notify you that someone is at your door.

To talk to the person now, you only have to click once on the screen of your Echo Show and then once on the icon with the microphone. Now the voice transmission is activated and you can talk to the person without any problems and in excellent quality.

This is made possible by the built-in speaker and microphone of both devices. The whole thing gets interesting when you don’t have a hand free and Alexa, as usual, reacts to commands from your voice to respond to the doorbell notification.

You can enable communication with direct voice commands for Alexa by saying “Alexa, answer the front door”. The microphone of your Echo Show will now be automatically unlocked without you having to click on the icon on the screen.

Live Video Display Without Triggering the Doorbell

To see the live video of your Ring Doorbell without someone ringing the bell or standing in front of your door, you can ask Alexa to access the camera of the bell.

Just say, “Alexa, show the front door.” Your Echo Show switches to live view, and you can see what’s going on outside your front door right away. To exit the live view and return to the home screen, just say “Alexa, show the front door”.

The device name “front door” is always shown here as an example of the name you have set for your doorbell. Of course, you can also call it “garden”, or “garage door” etc.

Echo Show 5* – ideal combination with the ring doorbell

AMAZON*

AMAZON*

Conclusion

This brings us to the end of this guide. As you can see, the topic “Smart Home” is no longer a book with seven seals but is designed in such a way that really everyone who is able to operate a smartphone can be part of it.

The devices are ready for use and will make your life easier in many situations. We are happy to have supported you and wish you a lot of fun with your Ring Doorbell and the Live Video Feed on your Amazon Echo Show.

Attention: When installing electronic equipment, please be sure to observe the manufacturer’s safety instructions. You have to take care of your own safety. The information on this site only helps you to learn.
Disclosure: This website is the property of Martin Lütkemeyer and is operated by Martin Lütkemeyer. Martin Lütkemeyer is a member of the Amazon Services LLC Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to enable Web sites to earn advertising revenue through advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Links marked with * are affiliate links.