Tech News · OffgridCam
Ring Just Turned On Default Encryption. Here's What It Still Doesn't Cover.
September 2026
Ring spent years fielding the same complaint: a company with cameras pointed at millions of front doors and living rooms was also a company whose employees, in theory, could watch that footage. On August 26, Ring announced it's rolling out new encryption technology meant to put that concern to rest — expanding on the end-to-end encryption option it first introduced back in 2021.
It's a genuinely useful change, and part of a broader pattern this year of camera companies responding to surveillance fatigue — Flock introduced its own police auditing and accountability controls earlier the same month. But "encrypted" and "the company can't see it" aren't automatically the same thing as "nothing leaves your home." Here's what Ring's update actually changes, and what it doesn't.
What Ring announced
Ring's new encryption locks footage to the account holder, addressing a specific fear: that footage sitting on Ring's servers could be viewed by someone other than the customer without their knowledge. Ring founder Jamie Siminoff described the goal directly — customers seeing a Ring camera and "knowing that there's a default encryption on it, that it's locked to the specific person."
That's a real improvement over Ring's 2021 version of end-to-end encryption, which required opting in and disabled several features when turned on. This rollout is designed to be broader and less of a trade-off.
What it doesn't change
You can still hand footage to police yourself
Ring users can still voluntarily share footage with law enforcement through the company's Neighbors app. Encryption protects footage from being pulled off Ring's servers without your say-so — it says nothing about whether you choose to share a clip yourself, which has been the more contentious part of Ring's privacy history.
The account and the cloud are still required
An Amazon account is still required to use Ring at all, and a paid subscription is still required to keep video history. Encryption changes how that footage is protected once it reaches Ring's servers — it doesn't remove the server, the account, or the subscription from the picture.
Live viewing still depends on Ring's infrastructure
Watching a live feed from your phone, wherever you are, still means Ring's cloud sits between the camera and your phone to make that connection possible. Encrypting what's stored doesn't change whose infrastructure your video passes through to get to you.
Where OffgridCam starts from a different place
OffgridCam connects two iPhones you already own directly over your home WiFi — no relay server, no company account, no subscription. Live video and audio don't pass through a company's cloud to reach your Viewer device, so there's no server-side footage for us to protect, and nothing for us to hand over even if someone asked.
The one feature that does touch the internet — away-from-home alerts — is opt-in and off by default. Turn it on, and a short, capped clip uploads when something's detected, tied to a regenerable home code with no separate access path for us to view it.
Ring's update is a real step in the right direction for a cloud-based camera. OffgridCam just starts from a different question: instead of asking how to protect footage once it reaches a server, it asks whether a server needs to be involved at all.
Try it yourself
OffgridCam turns two iPhones into a private home camera — no account, no cloud, no subscription.
Download OffgridCam on the App StoreFrequently asked questions
What did Ring actually announce?
Ring is rolling out new encryption technology, expanding on the end-to-end encryption option it introduced in 2021, so that footage is locked to the account holder by default.
Does this stop police from getting my Ring footage?
No. You can still voluntarily share footage with law enforcement through the Neighbors app — the encryption governs unauthorized access, not your own choice to share a clip.
Do I still need a Ring subscription?
Yes — saved cloud video history still requires a paid plan, and an Amazon account is still required to use the camera at all.
How is OffgridCam different?
OffgridCam connects two of your own iPhones directly over home WiFi, with no account, no relay server, and no subscription — there's no company server in the loop by design. See our Privacy Policy for details.
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