The Enshittification of Ring

Ring, acquired by Amazon in 2018, sells video doorbells and security cameras tied to the cloud-based Ring Protect subscription. The company built extensive video-sharing partnerships with police, settled FTC charges that employees and contractors had unfettered access to customer videos, and has moved previously free device features behind its subscription while raising its price. After scaling back police access in 2024, Ring reversed course in 2025 with new law-enforcement integrations and a cloud-based facial recognition feature that drew a class-action lawsuit.

First symptom

Aug 2019

Symptoms on file

Alternatives

listed, not endorsed · full directory →

Reolinkhardware

Cameras and doorbells that record to local microSD or an on-premise NVR, so core features work without a monthly cloud subscription.

reolink.com ↗

Frigatefree

Open-source network video recorder with local AI object detection, keeping all footage and processing on hardware you control.

frigate.video ↗

The Paper Trail

6 stains on the record · every one dated & sourced · 2019 → 2026

Date	Category	Symptom · rating · source
2019-08	privacy	Video-sharing partnerships with 400 police forces revealedThe Washington Post reported that Ring had partnered with more than 400 US police forces, letting officers request doorbell-camera footage from homeowners within a specified time and area. Civil liberties advocates said the program's scale, which had been larger than publicly known, extended police surveillance reach into residential neighborhoods.↳ The Washington Post
2023-03	pricing	Previously free Home and Away Modes moved behind subscriptionRing began requiring a paid Ring Protect plan to use Home and Away Modes on doorbells and cameras, features that had previously been free to all device owners. Users who declined to subscribe lost the ability to control those modes from the Ring app or Alexa.↳ Digital Trends
2023-05	privacy	FTC settlement over employee and hacker access to customer videosThe FTC charged that Ring allowed any employee or contractor to access customers' private videos, used customer videos to train algorithms without consent, and failed to deploy safeguards that left accounts open to credential-stuffing takeovers. Ring agreed to pay $5.8 million for consumer refunds and to maintain a monitored data security program.↳ Federal Trade Commission
2024-03	pricing	Ring Protect Basic price raised 25 percentRing increased the price of its cheapest subscription, Protect Basic, from $3.99 to $4.99 per month and from $39.99 to $49.99 per year. Unlike a 2022 increase, the higher price came with no new features.↳ Digital Trends
2025-10	privacy	Police footage requests return via Axon and Flock partnershipsAfter ending its police Request for Assistance tool in 2024, Ring under returning founder Jamie Siminoff launched Community Requests, routing law-enforcement footage requests through Axon's evidence platform, and announced a deal with surveillance firm Flock Safety. Privacy advocates criticized the renewed and deepened law-enforcement integration.↳ CNBC
2026-06	privacy	Class action filed over Familiar Faces facial recognitionAmazon and Ring faced a proposed class action alleging the Familiar Faces feature, which generates faceprints in Amazon's cloud to identify visitors, collects biometric data from delivery workers, neighbors, and passersby without their consent. The feature is unavailable in jurisdictions with strict biometric privacy laws, including Illinois and Texas.↳ The Register

The Wall

unverified testimony · 0 complaints · not part of the record

No complaints on file yet. Be the first to vent.

← a live badge for your blog or README. It always shows Ring’s current score and links back to this case file. Copy:

<a href="https://enshittification.xyz/ring"><img src="https://enshittification.xyz/badge/ring.svg" alt="Ring on the Enshittification Index"></a>

The Enshittification Index · 42 case files · no source, no entry · updated Jun 2026

↑ Return toThe Shit List