One feature that has been long requested by Ring users, is finally starting to roll out. In a technical preview, at least. Ring is rolling out end-to-end encryption in a technical preview. Which will allow users to protect their video recordings.
Ring’s chief technical officer, Josh Roth stated that “end-to-end encryption is really about user choice, to create that advanced layer of security.”
Currently, footage that is captured on Ring cameras is only encrypted when it is being transmitted to Ring’s servers and then again when it is sitting on their servers. However, Ring can still access the footage and enable various features. However, Ring says that it does not view customer videos without permission. Of course, this comes after they were accused of doing so in 2019.
End-to-end encryption removes any visibility that Ring has with your footage. It’s encrypted as soon as your camera captures the footage. So any other privacy issues should be resolved with this feature. There are some drawbacks with this feature though. Some devices like the Echo Show won’t be able to show your video feeds, since it cannot be set up to support end-to-end encryption.
When can I get end-to-end encryption on my Ring products?
The feature is rolling out today in a technical preview. And currently is only available for cameras that are plugged into power. That is because those cameras are able to process the computer vision features. There is no subscription needed to use end-to-end encryption either.
These end-to-end encrypted videos can be streamed to recent phones and tablets, though.
Ring is planning to expand this feature to everyone over time, and also add in a few additional features. Users will eventually be able to turn end-t0-end encryption on and off on a camera by camera basis.
It’ll likely be a few months before everyone can use end-to-end encryption on their Ring cameras.