How Long are Ring Videos Saved Without a Subscription? [UK Guide]

Video doorbells seem to have exploded in popularity over recent years. Ring, who pioneered the devices back in 2013, are still the go-to brand and thanks to consistent software and hardware updates and the backing of Amazon.

The devices have been designed to rely on cloud storage which means Ring can collect a monthly subscription to allow users to save their videos and view them anywhere in the world.

For those who don’t want an ongoing cost, how long can you save Ring videos without a subscription? If you don’t have a subscription, Ring will not save videos from your doorbell because it doesn’t have local storage. The only way to save and review footage is with a Ring Protect subscription which saves videos in the cloud for 30 days in the UK.

In the rest of this guide, we’ll explain how you can get access to cloud storage and how you’ll be able to save and share your Ring video doorbell footage.

Can You Save Ring Videos Without a Subscription?

Unfortunately, Ring video doorbells do not have local storage so you cannot save videos without committing to their cloud subscription plan.

There used to be a work around for anyone with basic coding skills that allowed you to save footage using a piece of script, however users who have tried this have reported that other features stopped working a few weeks after implementing this, so it seems that Ring are aware of this and will punish you, we wouldn’t recommend it.

Without cloud storage, you are limited to only live interactions with your video doorbell. We put together an entire guide to the things you can and can’t do to help you decide if a Ring doorbell is for you.

How Long is Ring Footage Saved in the Cloud?

If you have a Ring subscription, you’ll have access to cloud storage which will allow you to review footage and download videos to your own devices using smartphones or a PC.

If you only have one Ring device, their Ring Protect Basic Plan will be suitable and will allow you to review footage from wherever you are and share it with anyone you like. If you have an entire Ring ecosystem, the Protect Plus Plan will cover every device at a single location.

The length of time that your footage is saved in the cloud is the same for both the Basic and Plus plans but will depend upon where you live:

How Do I Download Videos from Ring?

If you wish to store your footage for longer than the standard period mentioned above, you can download your videos to a phone or PC and store them infinitely.

To save videos from the mobile app, hit the share button and then save:

To save videos on a desktop, head to the event history tab and you can press download on the video you want:

Find out more about how to save and share videos over on Ring.com.

Can I bulk download videos?

There isn’t currently a native way to bulk download videos from Ring, so you’ll have to visit every video and hit the download button separately.

That being said, some users have reported that a browser extension for Firefox and Chrome called ‘Bulk Media Downloader’ can make the task much quicker. This thread on Reddit explains the process in detail but we haven’t tried it ourselves.

Best Alternatives Without a Subscription

Whilst Ring video doorbells continue to be one of the best available right now, if you don’t want a cloud subscription, then perhaps a Ring device isn’t for you.

In that case, we’d recommend Eufy video doorbells. They have both a wired and battery powered version that offer 2k resolution. We wrote a full guide to the best video doorbells without a subscription and this proved to be far ahead of the pack and at a reasonable price.