5 Common Issues With Smart Home Doorbells

Smart home doorbells like Ring, Arlo, and Google Nest are popular home security devices that are meant to provide peace of mind. They allow users to remotely view what’s going on outside their home and notify them when they detect activity, providing a safe way to see and communicate with whoever is at the door. Most connect to Wi-Fi and can be integrated into a smart home setup. However, along with all that convenience come a variety of disadvantages to using smart home doorbells, including common technical issues and, ironically, safety concerns.

As with other tech, video doorbell brands and individual models vary greatly, and cheap ones in particular are more prone to technical hiccups. Extreme problems could be signs of a defective product, but most of the time, there are things you can do to troubleshoot the device yourself — which is good as customer support can be a mixed bag for most brands, according to users on sites like Reddit. For other users, though, issues like security and reliability are big enough concerns to warrant avoiding smart doorbells altogether.

Before getting into specific technical issues that often crop up with video doorbells, it’s worth discussing the biggest problems associated with them and why many are getting rid of video doorbell cameras. First, as smart devices, they are vulnerable to hackers. Since they’re capturing video and audio around your home, bad actors could use the data to learn a lot about you, your home, your routine, your friends and neighbors, and so much more. Things like encryption and two-factor authentication can help, as can getting a video doorbell with local storage.

Even if we set security concerns aside, video doorbells are a privacy issue. There’s no way to allow everyone who comes to your door to consent to or opt-out of being recorded, which is an even bigger problem when you factor in models with AI features like facial recognition that capture and store biometric data. All of that data could potentially be shared with law enforcement, either by the user or through a warrant, which endangers those from marginalized groups in particular. Though video doorbells are presented as tools for keeping your home and community safe, in practice, they can actually pose a security threat.

Moving on to the technical issues with the devices themselves, Wi-Fi-enabled smart doorbells may have trouble establishing or maintaining a connection. Lots of things can interfere with your Wi-Fi, including your house itself. Unless you have an outdoor router, the doorbell is going to be separated from it by, at the very least, a wall. Depending on where your router is located, there could be lots of solid objects in the way that make it harder for the signal to reach the device.

If moving your router closer doesn’t help or you have devices at multiple doors, consider adding a Wi-Fi extender and placing it as close to your doorbell as possible. It’s also important to remember that everything connected to a wireless network eats into its bandwidth, so if you have a lot of smart devices and/or slower Wi-Fi to begin with, that could be why your doorbell is struggling. Of course, it’s also possible that the solution to your problem is as simple as turning it off and on again, so definitely do that before trying to speed up your router or buying a new one.

Unfortunately, it’s possible that none of these methods will work. One Reddit user claims their Ring doorbell wouldn’t connect when placed just 20 feet from the router and using an extender, calling their $300 system “just an additional stress.” Wi-Fi strength contributes (or can contribute) to every other issue on this list, so if your connection is weak, expect more headaches.

A key feature of smart doorbells is that they send a notification to your phone whenever they detect activity near your home, whether or not the button gets pressed. However, issues with the app or motion detector it’s connected to could cause your doorbell to waste your time alerting you to trees blowing in the wind and traffic. Alternatively, it could fail to notice activity or not send you notifications altogether.

First, make sure your phone and app are updated to the latest version and have the right permissions to send you alerts. If your phone is in a battery-optimization mode, that may be suppressing notifications, as can weak Wi-Fi. If that doesn’t work, it’s likely a motion detector issue. There are several things you can try, starting with clearing anything blocking the camera, cleaning the lens, and (as always) restarting the device. You can also use the app to recalibrate the motion detector with sensitivity and zone adjustments.

If the doorbell itself isn’t ringing, it could be as simple as checking your settings; since you can customize how the chime sounds, it’s possible you muted it by mistake. Otherwise, it might be an issue with the chime adapter.

While Ring says its devices’ batteries are meant to last months between charges, there are a lot of things that could cause the battery to die much faster, including poor Wi-Fi, extreme weather, and frequent use. That’s true of other brands like Blink, Wyze, and Eufy, which have all received complaints on social media, including one Reddit user who said theirs consistently needed to be recharged after just a week or two.

Just as they can prevent extraneous notifications, adjusting your smart doorbell’s motion sensitivity, range, and (if necessary) location can keep it from activating too frequently, preserving battery life. As for extreme temperatures, there are some measures you can take to mitigate their impact, such as keeping your device out of direct sunlight or charging it indoors. Still, those who live in places that experience extended heatwaves and cold waves are going to have to get used to frequent charging.

If you have a wired device that’s not working, make sure the cables are properly connected and in good condition, and check the circuit breaker. Video doorbells typically require around 8-24 V of power to work, so if it isn’t working, it may not be getting enough power.

A smart doorbell isn’t much help if you can’t see or hear what’s going on at your door. Even those with expensive video doorbell systems may encounter video and audio issues including poor quality, the inability to access live feeds, missing recordings, and not being able to use two-way audio features. Lower quality video may not be a huge concern if you can still generally tell who or what is at your door, but not being able to make out a face or voice should something go wrong defeats the purpose of a video doorbell as a security system.

As with everything else on this list, Wi-Fi is the usual culprit when things go wrong. Simply checking the device you’re trying to view the feed on to make sure the volume is up and the doorbell isn’t muted in the app could also help. You’ll also want to check the device itself. Make sure it has adequate lighting, particularly at night, and is positioned in a way where it won’t catch a glare. The problem could also be something blocking the lens, like a tree branch, smudges, or condensation, or physical damage to the device.