Ring is a security and doorbell company that puts millions of homeowners at ease with a camera feed that records directly to their phones and saves videos to a cloud. Users with a Ring doorbell can look at all of the recorded activity directly on an app or through their web browser account.
However, there’s been some question about whether or not an accidentally deleted video can be recovered afterward. This article aims to answer all of the popular questions among Ring users about video deletion and how it works. So let’s take a look at the process of deleting and if you can recover your footage.
Can You Recover a Deleted Video?
Unfortunately, no. All deleted activities, either through the app or the web interface, are permanent. While it may take up to 72 hours for all deleted activity to be removed, this does not allow for a cancellation period for deleted videos.
This is why it’s very important to pay attention to what videos you’re looking at and which videos you chose for deletion from your app.
However, all Ring Doorbell videos can be downloaded from the Ring app. It’s good practice to download your videos before you delete them, just in case you may need to view that activity again at a later date.
As well, if you spring for a Ring subscription service called the Ring Protect Plan, all videos are uploaded into the cloud storage for up to 60 days. This is the only way to “recover” deleted videos, but you won’t be able to restore them to your Ring app. You can only view them or download them from the Cloud.
Who Can Delete Ring Doorbell Videos?
As many Ring users know, you can set up “shared users” in your app settings. This allows multiple people to access the app, the web interface, and any activity on the Ring Doorbell, which is a helpful feature if you have multiple people living in your home.
This begs the question: who actually has control of deleting videos? After all, you may not want a shared user to be able to delete an activity. Thankfully, shared users can only view and download activity and videos on the Ring app or web interface. They cannot actually delete any activity.
The only person who has control to delete videos from the ring app is the account owner who initially set up the Ring account and device.
Does the Ring Company Keep Deleted Videos?
No. Neither the Ring company nor the device itself stores deleted videos. Once a video is deleted, there’s no way to bring it back. Ring makes sure to put this information on their ‘How to Use’ section of their website, wherein they show you how to delete your videos.
If you’re not sure whether or not you want to keep a video, make sure to download it to your device before you hit delete. You can always delete it again later off your device, but you cannot recover it if you want to view it again later.
How To Delete A Ring Video
Deleting a Ring video from your app is actually an effortless task. In fact, it’s so easy that many users have found themselves frustrated that the app does not ask for confirmation before deleting an activity. If you’re sure you have some videos to delete, here’s a quick deletion guide.
- Use your finger to swipe right in your app to see the recent events all the way to the right. Here you can review all of the recent videos that your Ring Doorbell device has taken.
- Tap the circle to the right of the event in order to select the videos you wish to delete.
- At the bottom of the screen, locate the trash can button. This will bring up a pop-up that will say: “This will delete (x) events.” You can either click “cancel” or “delete”.
- If you’re sure you want to delete these videos, click the red Delete button to delete these videos from your Ring app permanently.
As previously stated, while it can take up to 72 hours for your videos to be deleted out of your app or web interface, there is no recovery period. These videos will be deleted and cannot be recovered.
Conclusion
Now you should have a little more information on the Ring video service and how its deletion process works. Only the account holder will be able to delete videos and shared users are only able to view and download videos, not delete them.
It is important to note that deletion is a permanent process and accidentally deleted videos cannot be recovered. If you’re unsure about a video, make sure to download it onto your phone or laptop before you go through with the deletion process.
