How Long Does Ring Doorbell Footage Last

Ring doorbells are among the most widely used smart security devices in the UK, giving homeowners, landlords, and tenants the ability to monitor their front door and surrounding area with ease. A key question many people ask before buying or during setup is how long Ring doorbell footage actually lasts. The answer depends on whether you subscribe to Ring’s cloud service, what settings you use, and how often your doorbell records. Understanding storage limits is important to make sure you are not caught out if you need to review past events.

How Ring Doorbell Footage is Stored

Ring devices do not store video files locally on the doorbell itself. Instead, footage is sent to the Ring cloud servers via your WiFi connection. This allows you to view live video, watch back recordings, and share clips with others through the Ring app. However, this storage is not unlimited. Without a subscription plan, you will only be able to see live video as events happen and receive motion alerts. Recordings will not be saved for future viewing, which means that if you miss a notification, the footage is gone.

How Long Footage Lasts With a Subscription

If you subscribe to Ring Protect, the cloud storage plan, your doorbell footage is stored for a set period. In the UK, this is typically 30 days for most plans. This means you can go back through the app and review anything recorded during that period. If you want to keep an important clip, you must download and save it before the 30 days expire, as the system automatically deletes older recordings to make space for new ones. Some advanced subscription tiers extend this storage up to 60 days, but 30 is the standard.

What Happens Without a Subscription

Without Ring Protect, you do not get access to saved recordings. The device will still alert you in real time when someone presses the bell or when motion is detected, but if you do not answer the notification immediately, you will not be able to play the video back later. Many users find this limitation frustrating, as the whole point of a video doorbell is often to see what happened when you were not available to answer.

Can You Store Footage Elsewhere?

Ring is a closed system, which means footage is not automatically saved to external devices such as a hard drive or network storage. The only way to keep clips permanently is to manually download them from the app before they expire. Once downloaded, you can save them on your computer or another storage system. For households that want longer-term security footage, a dedicated CCTV system with local recording may be more suitable than a video doorbell alone.

Factors That Affect How Much is Recorded

How quickly your storage fills up depends on how active your front door area is. A door facing a busy street with constant foot traffic will generate many motion alerts and therefore more recordings. A door in a quiet cul-de-sac may record far less. Each recording is typically a short clip of around 30 to 60 seconds, although settings can be adjusted to some extent. The more clips generated, the more quickly your available storage cycle will rotate, meaning older recordings are deleted sooner.

Legal Considerations for Ring Footage

In the UK, if your Ring doorbell captures video of public areas or neighbouring properties, you must comply with data protection requirements under UK law. This means you should only retain recordings for as long as necessary and make people aware that CCTV is in use. The standard 30-day retention period offered by Ring aligns with best practice for domestic video surveillance. Storing footage beyond this period should be carefully considered to ensure compliance with privacy obligations.

Protecting Important Recordings

If you capture an important event such as suspicious activity, a delivery dispute, or an incident involving a visitor, it is essential to download the clip before it expires. Once saved locally, you can provide it to neighbours, insurers, or even law enforcement if required. Relying on cloud storage alone may result in losing critical evidence once the 30-day period lapses.

Final Thoughts

Ring doorbell footage typically lasts 30 days in the cloud if you have a subscription. Without one, no recordings are stored at all and you can only view live events. For most households, the subscription ensures peace of mind, but it is important to download and save clips you may need in the future before they disappear. For long-term storage or higher levels of security, you may wish to consider pairing your Ring doorbell with a more comprehensive CCTV system that records continuously.