The Contact Me feature on the Neighbors App gives you the option to allow other users to contact you about a post without you providing any personal information like your name or phone number.
How does the Contact Me feature work?
When posting to Neighbors, there may be instances where you’d like to receive updates from other users, such as when you’re looking for a lost pet or a missing person.
The Contact Me feature gives others the ability to contact you in real-time to provide information that is relevant to your post. You can opt to receive communication by text message (SMS) or by phone.
For your safety and privacy, the Contact Me feature uses proxy phone numbers during a communication exchange so that your personal information remains completely anonymous.
How to create a post with the Contact Me feature
To allow other Neighbors App users to contact you, follow these steps when creating a new post:
- Tap New Post (+) in the bottom right-hand corner of your feed
- Select a Category that best describes your incident
- Read and agree to our Community Guidelines
- Add details to your post, including a Photo or Video, Title, and Description
- If posting from the Ring App, you can upload videos from your Ring devices
- Under Post Options, tap Contact Me
- Toggle the button to On. The Contact Me setting is automatically defaulted to Off and must be enabled to activate the feature.
- Confirm your Phone Number
- If you have 2-Step Verification turned on, you can use the phone number that is saved to your account to activate the feature
- If you’d like to use a phone number that is different from your 2-Step Verification number, you can enter it manually
Important: After entering your phone number, you’ll receive a text message confirming you’d like to enable the Contact Me feature. Once you confirm, an anonymous proxy number will be assigned to you. Your real phone number will never be used or displayed to other Neighbors users. Message and data rates may apply.
You can reply CANCEL at any time to opt out of using the feature.
Once you’ve enabled the feature, follow these steps to finish setting up your post:
- From the setup screen, tap Preview Post to review the post information
- If everything looks good, tap Share Post
- Read and confirm that your post satisfies the listed requirements
- Tap ‘I Agree, Share My Post’
How to contact someone that has enabled the Contact Me feature on their post
To contact another Neighbors App user, follow these steps:
- Tap on the post that you’d like to respond to and view the Post Details
- If the Contact Me feature is enabled, you’ll see a blue Contact Author button in the description section
- Tap Contact Author
- Select Send SMS (text message) or Call as your method of contact
After choosing SMS or a phone call as your method of contact, a proxy phone number will be created for you that will serve as your temporary number to either text or call the post author.
When using a proxy phone number, your real phone number is hidden to the person that you are contacting. The post author also has a proxy number to keep both parties’ personal information protected.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will Contact Me be available for all posts?
Yes, you can choose to turn on the Contact Me feature on any individual post you create.
Is Contact Me enabled by default for all posts that I create?
Contact Me is disabled by default for all new posts. You will need to enable it for each post that you create if you wish to be contacted.
What happens if I delete my post?
If you delete your post, the Contact Me feature will be disabled and all existing SMS and phone sessions will be cancelled.
What happens if I resolve my post?
If you resolve your post, the Contact Author button will be removed from your post description and all existing SMS and phone sessions will be cancelled.
How does the Neighbors App ensure that communication via Contact Me remains anonymous?
The Contact Me feature uses proxy phone numbers to allow for communication between users to remain anonymous. Personal phone numbers are never shared by Ring.
Do I have the option to turn off Contact Me on my posts?
You can turn Contact Me off at any time by going into the More Options section of the individual post. This will prevent future communication via Contact Me, but will not interrupt or delete ongoing conversations. Contact Me communication sessions remain active for 7 days. During this timeframe, both parties can communicate using their assigned proxy numbers. After 30 days, the Contact Me feature will automatically be turned off on a post.
Can I prevent an individual person from contacting me using Contact Me?
To block specific users, you can use your SMS (text message) or phone tools located within your phone settings. This will prevent any further communications from that user.
What to do if you receive unwanted or inappropriate communication.
Neighbors aims to create and maintain a safe environment for all users. Harassment of any form goes against our Community Guidelines.
Keep in mind that any previous or current communication exchanges with other users is always done through a proxy number, and never through your real phone number. If you disable the Contact Me feature or block an individual user using your phone’s settings, the other user can no longer contact you through the proxy number that was assigned to you.
If you’d like to stop communication with another user, there are different actions you can take to resolve the situation.
Opt out of Contact Me
At any time, you can text CANCEL to opt out of the Contact Me feature. Taking this action will disable the Contact Me feature on any posts that currently have the feature enabled.
Disable Contact Me from your post
You can remove the feature from a single post.
- Go to the post and tap the three dots in the top right-hand corner
- Tap Remove Contact Me
- Your post remains active until you’ve resolve it, but the Contact Me feature will be disabled
Hide Contact Me from your post
You can hide the Contact Me feature from a single post. This is useful if someone is helping you resolve your post, but you’d like to prevent anyone else from contacting you. Your contact line remains open with anyone you’ve corresponded with prior to hiding the feature.
- Go to the post and tap the three dots in the top right-hand corner
- Tap Hide Contact Me
- Your post remains active until you’ve resolve it, but the Contact Me feature will be hidden
Resolve or delete your post
You can resolve or delete your post to disable the Contact Me feature.
- Go to the post and tap the three dots in the top right-hand corner
- To resolve a post, tap Resolve
- Resolving a post keeps it in your feed, but lets your neighbors know your issue was resolved
- To delete a post, tap Delete
- Deleting a post removes it from your feed
Block contacts on your phone
You can block an individual user through your cell phone’s SMS or call settings, the same way you would block an unwanted caller. The steps for blocking a caller varies from phone to phone, but you can usually find this information online by searching “How to block a caller from [phone model]” or a similar phrase.
Additional Resources
If you feel that you’ve experienced harassment, please call our Customer Support Team at 1-800-656-1918 or file a report with your local law enforcement agency. Please read the Ring Law Enforcement Guidelines for more details.
