How long does Ring keep your videos?

How long Ring keeps video

While a Ring Protect plan is active, Ring keeps event video for that window (180 days is the most it allows; see Ring’s plans page (opens in a new tab)). During Ring’s free 30-day trial, Ring deletes the videos as soon as the trial ends, so download anything you want to keep before then (see Ring’s trial page (opens in a new tab)). If a paid plan lapses, the videos are lost too.

Without an active plan or trial there is no recording at all, so there is nothing to keep (Ring’s privacy FAQ (opens in a new tab)). A Ring plan is also required for VideoArchiver itself (Ring’s help page for Appstore apps (opens in a new tab)): without one there are no recordings to copy.

Check your setting

You can change the storage time to anywhere from 1 to 180 days in the Ring app or on ring.com. Ring says each device’s storage time is set individually, so check every camera, and that a device that is reset or replaced goes back to the default. A change applies only to videos recorded afterwards, so it is worth checking now. Ring describes the setting in understanding and adjusting your video storage time (opens in a new tab).

When the window ends

Clips older than the window are deleted. An event may still be listed while its video is gone, and once Ring deletes a recording, it cannot be recovered through Ring (see Ring’s guide to managing your videos (opens in a new tab)). If you only discover you needed a clip when an insurer, a landlord, or a dispute asks for it months later, the copy that saves you is the one you made before the window closed.

Saving clips by hand

Ring’s own help pages describe downloading: one clip at a time in the Ring app, or several at once on ring.com, which arrives as a zip file. See Ring’s guide to managing your videos (opens in a new tab). That works for the clip you already know you need. It does not protect the clip you will need in six months and have not thought about yet.

Keeping copies automatically

The alternative is a copy made at the time, in storage you own. VideoArchiver copies your motion events and doorbell presses to your own Google Drive, Dropbox, or S3-compatible storage, so the copies outlast Ring’s window. Clips stream straight through and are never stored on our servers.

VideoArchiver’s Free plan covers 50 events per device each calendar month (UTC), no credit card. VideoArchiver Pro is $2.99 per device per month with no event limit, bought through the Ring Appstore and billed by Ring, separate from your Ring plan. Your storage costs are between you and your cloud provider. If Ring has no recording for an event, there is nothing to save.