Ring Indoor Cam

Editors' Note: There is a new version of the Ring Indoor Cam available. See our review of the Ring Indoor Cam (2nd Gen).

Best known for its video doorbells and outdoor security cameras, Ring's new Indoor Cam ($59.99) is the company's first indoor-only camera, as well as its most affordable model to date. It captures sharp 1080p video, supports Amazon Alexa voice commands, and works with other smart devices via IFTTT applets. The camera also offers motion detection, but you have to pay a monthly fee to activate and view motion-triggered recordings. If you would rather store your recorded video locally and save money on subscription fees, consider our Editors' Choice for affordable home security cameras, the $90 D-Link Full HD Wi-Fi Camera DCS-8300LH.

Design and Features

The white Indoor Cam has the same cylindrical shape as Ring's Stick Up Cam Battery, but at 2.9 by 1.8 inches (HW), it's almost half the size. It sits atop a round desktop base that can be removed and reattached to the back of the camera if you want to mount it on a wall.

The front of the camera has a black face, a status LED, and a speaker and microphone array for two-way audio. Around back is a mini USB power port. The camera comes with a 6.5-foot power cable and plug-in adapter, mounting screws, a user guide, and a security sticker.

The Indoor Cam captures video at 1080p and has a 140-degree field of view. It uses a series of tiny infrared LEDs for night vision and is equipped with a 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi radio for connecting to your home network. It offers motion detection with a People-Only setting that will ignore everything but human motion, but if you want to view and share motion-triggered video, you have to subscribe to a Ring Protect plan. The Basic Protect plan goes for a reasonable $3 per month/$30 per year and gets you 60 days of video history for one camera. The Plus plan costs $10 per month/$100 per year and offers 60 days of video history for all of your Ring cameras. If you have a Ring Alarm system, the Plus plan also provides 24/7 professional monitoring.

(Credit: Ring)

As with other Ring cameras, the Indoor Cam uses IFTTT applets to work with smart devices such as lighting, thermostats, and garage door openers, and it supports the Works With Ring program that allows you to control certified third-party devices from within the Ring app.

The Indoor Cam uses the same mobile app as every other Ring device. When you install the camera, it gets its own tab on the Cameras screen along with a still image of the last captured activity. At the top of the screen are buttons for Nearby Incidents, History, and Lights (you'll only see the Lights button if you have a Ring lighting device installed). To view recent events reported by your neighbors using the Ring Neighbors app, tap the Nearby Incidents button. The History button lets you view all activities from your installed Ring devices. Tap any activity entry to view, download, or delete video of the event.

Tap the Indoor Cam tab to view a timeline of recorded video with time stamps. Here you'll find a Go Live button that opens a live feed which you can view in full-screen mode when you turn your phone sideways or tap the square icon in the bottom right corner of the panel. You can tap the microphone button to initiate two-way audio so you can speak to whomever is at your door, and tap the speaker button to mute the sound.

Camera settings are available by tapping the gear button in the top right corner. Here you can enable/disable motion recording and motion alerts, configure motion and video settings, enable push alerts, and link the Indoor Cam to other Ring devices, which allows it to trigger recording in other Ring cameras and turn on Ring lights if installed. Device Health settings let you check wireless signal strength, test Wi-Fi, and update firmware, and Shared User settings allow you to add users to your Ring account.

Installation and Performance

As with every other Ring camera we've reviewed, the Indoor Cam is easy to install. I already had a Ring account, but if this is your first Ring product you'll have to download the app and create an account.

I opened the app, tapped Set Up a Device, and selected Security Cams from the list. There's a QR code on the back of the Indoor Cam that I scanned with my phone, and named the current location for installation. I followed the video instructions to plug in the camera and waited a few seconds for it to power up, at which point the camera's voice guidance welcomed me to Ring. I tapped Continue and confirmed that the LED was blinking and selected Yes to join the network. Within 10 seconds, the voice informed me that the camera was connected to the Ring network. I selected my Wi-Fi SSID, entered my password, and the camera was immediately connected to my network. At this point you can view physical installation instructions or skip them, enable or disable audio, share the camera with other users, and link the camera to other Ring devices. I tapped Finished and the installation was complete.

The Ring Indoor Cam delivered sharp 1080p video in testing. Daytime video provided strong colors and very good image detail, while black-and-white night video was well lit and showed good contrast. There was no evidence of barrel or pincushion distortion. The Indoor Cam's motion detection worked as advertised, and push alerts arrived instantly when the camera detected motion. Motion-triggered video recordings were just as sharp and colorful as the live feed, and two-way audio was clean and adequately loud.

I created an IFTTT applet to turn on a Philips Hue light when the Indoor Cam detected motion, and it worked every time. Testing Alexa voice performance was tricky at first: I was unable to view video from the camera on my TV, but after some extensive troubleshooting with a very helpful Ring technician, it was determined that my (older) Fire TV Stick was the culprit. I installed an Echo Show device and had no trouble viewing video from the Indoor Cam.

Conclusions

The Ring Indoor Cam is not only a smart choice for anyone who has already invested in a Ring ecosystem, it also provides an affordable starting point for users looking to test the smart home security waters. It installed in minutes and responded quickly to Alexa voice commands and IFTTT applets in our tests, and it delivered sharp daytime and nighttime 1080p video and clean two-way audio. Our biggest gripe with the camera is that you have to pay to view recorded video. For a few dollars more, the D-Link Full HD Wi-Fi Camera DCS-8300LH offers local and cloud storage options and supports Alexa voice and IFTTT applets, and it has sound detection. As such, it remains our Editors' Choice for affordable indoor security cameras.