I would like to buy this doorbell. Its a doorbell and a security video camera. It records and saves in a cloud. Is there anything I need to know for Shabbos?
The Ring doorbell unit is activated in three ways:
- By a visitor ringing the bell.
- By the owner accessing live view.
- By enabling the motion detector feature.
1 and 2 are not a worry on Shabbos, as no Jew will be ringing the bell, and similarly, you will not be accessing live view.
The third issue, motion detection, is an automatic feature that will pose Shabbos concerns.
At the same time, motion detection is an optional feature which can be disabled, and many users prefer that because it drains the battery much more quickly. [For that reason, I believe the default setting is off.]
If you choose to enable this feature during the week, you should disable it before Shabbos.
If you have any unique security considerations which make it safer to leave the motion detector active for Shabbos, please reply with more details.
Even when disabling the motion sensor so that it doesn’t ring when you come close to it, you must ensure that the light does not go on when you come close to it even if it’s disabled.
#4146
There is another issue, this is (at least in the pro one) there are 3 red infared sensors that activate the IR night vision, and when you block them they turn off for a second or two, (if you would shine a light at it they would also turn off as there would be enough light without it), in most models there is no way (as of yet) to turn it off entirely, so only option is to cover the sensors with a few layers of electrical tape which will keep the night vision off, (there is an option in the pro to turn off night color mode, but it doesn’t help much), usually it can still record fine (especially if there is other light there), and some prefer it like that in general.
An alternative for wired devices (not on batteries) is to plug the bell transformer into a Wi-Fi enabled plug that can be turned off automatically for Shabbos. Once power is restored, the device will power back up automatically after Shabbos. This is my route.