Ring camera AI features: what's built in, what costs extra, and the Appstore AI apps

Ring features and prices checked against ring.com/plans and Ring's help pages on Oct 26, 2026 (US prices, before tax). Ring Appstore figures are from Ring's public Appstore data, 30-day window ending Oct 23, 2026, read by Pubstoop on Oct 26, 2026.

Every paid Ring plan, from Ring Solo at $4.99 a month, includes Smart Alerts for people, vehicles and packages. Ring's newer AI features need more: Video Descriptions, Familiar Faces, Active Warnings, Single Event Alert, Unusual Event Alert and Video Search. They come with Ring Pro ($19.99 a month) or Virtual Security Guard ($99 a month). On Ring Solo or Ring Multi you can add many of them to one camera with Pro Intelligence for $5 a month per camera. None of these newer features are available in Illinois. Separately, 47 third-party apps in the Ring Appstore carry Ring's "AI analytics" tag. Most cost between $1.99 and $10 a month per device, on top of your Ring plan.

Ring's plans and what each includes

From Ring's plans page, read Oct 26, 2026:

Ring's compare table also lists the Ring Appstore in all four plans. Ring renamed its Ring Home plans to Ring Protect plans in 2026, so older names like AI Pro and AI Solo still show up in Ring's plan changes article and may show up in your account.

Pro Intelligence covers one doorbell or camera and requires Ring Solo or Ring Multi. Ring says it adds "Video Descriptions, Familiar Faces, Single Event Alert, Active Warnings, and more." It doesn't name Video Search or Unusual Event Alert, so check the add-on screen in the app if you want those.

New devices start a free 30-day Ring Protect trial at setup, and Ring says the trial includes "intelligent features like Video Descriptions and Familiar Faces" (Understanding Ring Protect subscriptions).

What each feature does

Descriptions are Ring's, from its intelligent features article and plans page:

The limits Ring lists:

• Illinois. None of these intelligent features are available in Illinois. Familiar Faces is also unavailable in Texas and Portland, Oregon.
• Phone language. Video Descriptions, Single Event Alert and Unusual Event Alert need your phone's primary language set to English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch or Japanese. Single Event Alert and Unusual Event Alert also need Video Descriptions on (Ring).
• Accuracy. Ring says Video Descriptions "might occasionally be inaccurate," for example in poor lighting, with fast movement, in bad weather or when things are far from the camera. Single Event Alert and Unusual Event Alert add a brief delay to notifications.
• Sharing. When you share a video, its Video Description is shared with it.
• Video Search. Ring says it's available "in select regions," needs End-to-End Encryption turned off, and doesn't work with Ring Edge, Ring Alarm Pro or Ring Car Cam. On 24/7 recording cameras it searches motion events only (Video Search).
• Devices. Video Descriptions and the two alert filters don't work with Ring Edge, Ring Alarm, Ring Alarm Pro (non-motion footage) or Ring Car Cam.

To turn them on, Ring says to open the Ring app, tap the menu (☰), then Pro Features, consent if asked, and toggle each feature. Manage Devices sets them per device (Ring).

One AI feature that's free to start

Ring's Search Party uses AI on participating outdoor cameras to look for a dog that a neighbor has reported lost. If a camera spots a possible match, its owner chooses whether to share. Ring says anyone can start a Search Party for a lost dog in the Ring app, "no subscription required." The same article covers Fire Watch, where AI watches for flames and smoke during nearby wildfires. That part requires a Ring Protect subscription, and Ring says Fire Watch "is not a substitute for smoke detectors, fire alarms, or official emergency alerts" (Search Party). Ring lists Search Party for the US and UK.

The Ring Appstore apps tagged "AI analytics"

"AI analytics" is Ring's tag, not Pubstoop's. It comes from Ring's own listing data, and Ring's store uses those tags for its categories and search. Of the 77 apps in Ring's Appstore data on Oct 26, 2026, 47 carry it. An app can have several tags, so some of these also appear under workflow, security or business tags. The tag covers a wide range: pet trackers, wildlife and bird spotters, drive-thru timers, timelapse makers, rental-host tools and care monitoring.

Every one of the 47 is a paid app, and Ring's data marks each as requiring a Ring subscription, so these costs come on top of your Ring plan. Prices run from $1.99 to $99 a month per device. 37 of the 46 with a published price cost $10 or less. reefmind.ai is paid but publishes no price.

The privacy columns use the answers each developer gives in the "App privacy" section of Ring's listing. Ring says developers must disclose what data they collect, how they use it and how long they keep it. Once data is shared, "the developer (not Ring) is responsible for its security and use" (Ring).

Clicks and accounts linked are Ring's figures for the 30-day window ending Oct 23, 2026. A dash in those columns means Ring hasn't published figures yet. Drive Watch, Garbage Day and Wild Watch were first published on Oct 22. A dash in the trial column means the listing shows no free trial. "Your settings" and "Until you delete" are shortened from the listing's retention sentences.

What the privacy answers add up to, across the 47 listings:

• AI training. 7 say customer data is used for AI model training, and all 7 say it's anonymized. Five of them (PackageProtect, Store Traffic, LawnWatch, PoolAgent and Business Protect) come from the same developer account. The other two are Mercury Alert AI and Visionify. The other 40 say data isn't used for training.
• People reviewing video. 20 say their staff may review Ring videos manually. 27 say no one does.
• Third parties. 12 say no third parties will have access to Ring data. 34 say data may be shared with the developer's service providers or as required by law. Routines uses its own wording: only service providers processing data on its behalf, or as required by law.
• Other uses. None say they use Ring data for anything beyond the core service.
• Sensitive data. 4 say they may collect or generate it: StrangerAlert and Routines (biometric data), Remy (biometric data and health-related insights) and MySentry (precise geolocation).

A note on the care apps. Beside Care, Remy, Mercury Alert AI, MySentry, VitalWatch, FallGuard and Routines describe themselves with phrases like "caregiver-ready updates," "senior fall detection" and, for MySentry, "24/7 emergency response." Those are the listings' claims. Pubstoop hasn't tested any of these apps. A camera app depends on your Wi-Fi, your camera being online and Ring's motion events, so it isn't an emergency service and shouldn't replace one.

What the numbers are. Clicks · 30 days is Ring's published count of clicks on each app's store listing in the 30-day window ending Oct 23, 2026. It isn't installs. Accounts linked · 30 days is Ring's published count of accounts linked to the app in the same window, and a linked account isn't necessarily a paying subscriber. Current figures for every app are in the catalog, and what each app can access is on the access page.

Sources

• Ring plans page, read Oct 26, 2026: ring.com/plans (prices, compare table, add-ons, footnotes 2, 4 and 5).
• Ring Help, read Oct 26, 2026: Intelligent features; Video Descriptions, Single Event Alert and Unusual Event Alert; Video Search; Understanding Ring Protect subscriptions; Ring subscription plan changes in 2026; Setting up Smart Alerts; Search Party. Read Oct 23, 2026: Understanding how third-party developer apps use your data.
• Ring Appstore public catalog data, https://ring.com/appstore/api/apps, read Oct 26, 2026. Fields used: name, partnerTags, short description, billing.plans, billing.requiresRingBasePlan, trial.duration_days, firstPublishedAt, the listing's privacy fields, and biMetrics (clickUsers30d, accountLinkingUsers30d, windowEndDate). Ring's 30-day window ends Oct 23, 2026.

Pubstoop is a personal, unofficial site that tracks the public Ring Appstore. It is not affiliated with Ring or Amazon and has nothing to sell.