{
  "slug": "ring",
  "name": "Ring",
  "maker": "Amazon",
  "category": "home",
  "verdict": "o",
  "answer": "Only if you turn on video end-to-end encryption. By default, Ring can unlock your videos to run its features. Its new TAKE mode, rolling out since September 2026, limits that to the first 24 hours and to times your app hands Ring a key, such as when you play a clip.",
  "title": "Is Ring encrypted? Videos, live view and TAKE",
  "description": "Ring can unlock your videos unless you turn on video end-to-end encryption. Its new TAKE mode, rolling out since September 2026, narrows when it can.",
  "parts": [
    {
      "key": "cam",
      "status": "o",
      "words": "Only you, once you turn it on",
      "note": "By default, Ring can unlock your videos at any time; under TAKE, rolling out since September 2026, it can for 24 hours and after that only with a key your app hands it.",
      "sources": [
        1,
        2,
        4
      ],
      "label": "Recordings"
    },
    {
      "key": "live",
      "status": "o",
      "words": "Only you, once you turn it on",
      "note": "Ring says Live View keeps working with end-to-end encryption, and that only your enrolled phones and tablets hold the keys.",
      "sources": [
        1,
        3
      ],
      "label": "Live view"
    },
    {
      "key": "mic",
      "status": "na",
      "words": "Not offered",
      "note": "Ring has no voice assistant of its own; Alexa, which works with Ring cameras, has its own page.",
      "sources": [
        3
      ],
      "label": "Voice commands"
    }
  ],
  "extra_parts": [],
  "keys": "With end-to-end encryption, only your enrolled phones and tablets; otherwise Ring holds the keys too, and on TAKE it deletes its copy after 24 hours.",
  "can_see": "Without end-to-end encryption, your videos; with it, Ring still stores the encrypted videos with details such as timestamps, and keeps account information it can hand over with a valid search warrant.",
  "business": null,
  "fix": {
    "title": "Turn on video end-to-end encryption, once",
    "steps": [
      "Open the Ring app and tap the menu.",
      "Tap Control Center, then Video Encryption.",
      "Tap Let's turn on End-to-End Encryption, then Continue.",
      "Set up your recovery options and keep your 12-word passphrase safe."
    ],
    "after": "Shared Users, Smart Alerts, Video Search, Video Descriptions, Familiar Faces, Alexa viewing and ring.com viewing stop working, and some older cameras can't use it. If you lose every recovery method, nobody can open your videos, including Ring."
  },
  "fix_line": "Turn on end-to-end encryption: Ring app › Control Center › Video Encryption.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "id": "is-ring-end-to-end-encrypted",
      "q": "Is Ring end-to-end encrypted?",
      "a": "Only if you turn it on. Ring's video end-to-end encryption keeps the keys on your enrolled phones and tablets, and Ring says no one else, including Ring, can access the videos [3]. Live View, playback and 24/7 recording keep working [1].\n\nIt turns off features that need Ring to look at your video, including Shared Users, Smart Alerts, Video Search, Familiar Faces and viewing on Alexa or ring.com [3]. Some older models, such as the first two Video Doorbells and Peephole Cam, don't support it [3]. Ring has switched off its older version of end-to-end encryption and points people to this one [8]."
    },
    {
      "id": "what-is-ring-take",
      "q": "What is Ring's TAKE encryption?",
      "a": "TAKE, short for Throw Away the Key Encryption, has been rolling out in phases since September 2026, and Ring says it will become the default for everyone once fully rolled out [2]. When your account is eligible, the Ring app tells you, and you turn it on in Control Center › Video Encryption [4].\n\nWith TAKE, your video is encrypted, and Ring's cloud gets a copy of the keys inside a locked-down system so it can run features such as Smart Alerts. Ring deletes its copy after 24 hours. After that, Ring can only unlock a video if your app hands over the key, for example to prepare it when you play it back [1]. For now, some features, such as Video Search and Familiar Faces, need you to pause TAKE, and videos recorded while it's paused get Ring's standard encryption [4].\n\nSo TAKE limits when Ring can see your videos, but it doesn't keep Ring out the way end-to-end encryption does [1]."
    },
    {
      "id": "can-police-get-ring-videos",
      "q": "Can police get my Ring videos?",
      "a": "With a valid search warrant, Ring may hand over videos, and it may respond right away to emergency requests [5]. Ring says it can only access videos for this when they aren't protected by TAKE or end-to-end encryption [5].\n\nIn the US, Ring's Community Requests, launched in September 2025, let local police ask nearby users to share footage [7]. Sharing is voluntary, but if you share, your home address and email go to the investigator with the video [6]."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Throw Away the Key Encryption | End-to-End Encryption (white paper, 26 August 2026)",
      "publisher": "Ring",
      "url": "https://assets.aboutamazon.com/e8/64/d5c572c74f11b5e55bcb93b63bd8/ring-ae-e2ee-whitepaper-august-26-2026.pdf",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Ring TAKE: How Throw Away the Key Encryption protects your videos",
      "publisher": "Amazon",
      "url": "https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/ring-take-encryption",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Using video end-to-end encryption",
      "publisher": "Ring",
      "url": "https://ring.com/support/articles/myr75/using-video-end-to-end-encryption",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Using TAKE (Throw Away the Key Encryption)",
      "publisher": "Ring",
      "url": "https://ring.com/support/articles/m508l/Using-TAKE-Throw-Away-the-Key-Encryption",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Learn About Ring Law Enforcement Guidelines",
      "publisher": "Ring",
      "url": "https://ring.com/support/articles/oi8t6/Learn-About-Ring-Law-Enforcement-Guidelines",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Community requests",
      "publisher": "Ring",
      "url": "https://ring.com/support/articles/uds27/Community-requests",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Ring Launches Community Requests: A New Way to Help Your Community",
      "publisher": "Ring",
      "url": "https://blog.ring.com/about-ring/ring-launches-community-requests-a-new-way-to-help-your-community/",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Using legacy video end-to-end encryption (E2EE)",
      "publisher": "Ring",
      "url": "https://ring.com/support/articles/7e3lk/using-video-end-to-end-encryption-e2ee",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    }
  ],
  "changes": [
    {
      "date": "2026-10-25",
      "text": "First published."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "apple-home",
    "google-nest",
    "alexa"
  ],
  "url": "https://isitencrypted.com/ring/",
  "checked": "2026-10-25"
}