Setting Up Alexa Person and Package Announcements

With a Ring Protect subscription, you can opt in to get Alexa Person and Package Detection Announcements. 

When your Ring device detects a person or package, you'll get an automatic Live View of your Ring camera feed on your Echo Show, Fire TV, or Fire Tablet, along with a voice announcement, and a mobile push notification.

Learn how to connect your Ring device to your Alexa-enabled device.

What Ring devices have Person and Package Detection?

Note: All Ring security cameras and video doorbells have Person Detection, which can be enabled with a Ring Protect plan.

You can turn on Person and Package Detection settings within the Smart Alerts feature in the Ring app. A Ring Protect subscription is required to enable Smart Alerts.

Package Detection is available to Neighbors with select video doorbell models (e.g. Ring Video Doorbell (2nd Generation), Ring Wired Video Doorbell Pro (formerly Video Doorbell Pro 2), Ring Battery Doorbell Plus) and a Ring Protect plan.

Find out what doorbell or security camera you have in the Ring app.

How do Alexa Person and Package Detection announcements work?

If you have a Ring device, a Ring Protect subscription, an Echo Show, Fire Tablet, or Fire TV, you can enable Person and Package Detection in the Ring app and opt in to Camera Events in the Alexa app.

When your Ring camera detects a person or package, Alexa will let you know with a voice announcement. It will display a Live View of your Ring camera feed on your Echo Show, Fire TV, or Fire Tablet.

You can also opt in to Person and Package Detection Announcements on your Echo Smart Speaker. Alexa announces when a person or package arrives.

Turning on Person and Package Detection Announcements for Ring and Alexa devices

To turn on Alexa Person and Package Detection Announcements, you need to enable Smart Alerts in the Ring app. Then, opt in to Camera Events in the Alexa app.

To enable Smart Alerts in the Ring app:

1. Tap the

   menu (≡)

   at the top left of your

   Dashboard.
2. Tap

   Devices.
   • Tap the device you'd like to enable.
   • If you have multiple devices, you can enable and customize the settings for each device.
3. Tap

   Motion Settings.
4. Tap

   Smart Alerts.
5. Tap

   Enable Feature.
6. Tap

   Continue.
7. Under

   Motion Zones,

   adjust Person settings.
   • Tap the camera icon to enable video recording when a person is detected.
   • Tap the bell icon to enable mobile notification when a person is detected.

Next, enable Package detection and customize your package delivery zone.

To set up your Package Zone:

1. Under

   Package Zone

   , tap the camera icon. 
2. Tap

   Turn On Feature

   .
3. Read the information on the next four screens and tap

   Continue

   .
4. On the next screen, read the instructions in the white box and tap

   Got It

   .
5. To adjust your Package Zone, tap the orange area.

• Drag the circles to where you’d like to adjust the zone.
• Tap

  Continue.
• Tap

  Save Zone.

6. Tap Got It.

You can go into Motion Settings at any time to adjust your Package Zone or change the detection sensitivity for motion and packages.

To opt in to Camera Events in the Alexa app:

1. Tap

   Devices

   at the bottom right corner of the Alexa app home screen.
2. Tap

   Cameras

   .
   • Tap the Ring security camera or video doorbell you'd like to enable.
   • If you have multiple devices, you can enable and customize the settings for each device.
3. Toggle the button to

   On mode

   for Person Detection Announcements and Package Detection Announcements to enable the feature.

4. Tap Camera Events settings to customize Person and Package Detection settings.

5. Tap Person Detection to update the settings.

• Toggle the button to

  On mode

  to enable

  Mobile Notifications

  and

  Announcements.

6. Tap the arrow in the top left corner to go back to the previous screen.

7. Tap Package Detection to update the settings.

• Toggle the button to

  On mode

  to enable

  Mobile Notifications

  and

  Announcements.

Customizing features and Person and Package Announcements

In the Alexa app, you can:

• Select which devices can make Person and Package Announcements if you have more than one Alexa-enabled device.
• View the

  Camera Events

  dashboard to review footage of Person or Package events.
• Create

  Custom Voice Announcements

  when a person or package arrives.
• Set up

  Routines

  to have Alexa perform an action based on a rule that you can create.

If you have other smart home devices connected to the Alexa app, such as Ring Smart Lighting, you can have Alexa turn on the lights when your Ring camera detects a person while you’re away.