Ring is famous for its top-notch security gadgets but doesn’t make smart thermostats. No worries, though! Thermostats from brands like ecobee, Nest, and Honeywell fit snugly into your Ring setup.
Is there a Ring Thermostat?
No, Ring has not yet branched out into producing smart thermostats.
However, if you are considering Ring security products and wondering if you could integrate them into other smart home products then read on! We provide 5 ways to integrate Ring with a smart thermostat.
Can I add a smart thermostat to the Ring App?
Unfortunately not. If you want to use a single smartphone app to control both your Ring security cameras and smart thermostat then there are a couple of third party options to check out.
Is Ring compatible with the major smart thermostats in the market – Nest, ecobee, Honeywell?
While not directly compatible, you can use Google Home or Alexa, to act as a bridge between a smart thermostat and your Ring products (Details below). You can also use a smart home integration platform which we will discuss below.
Option 1: Use Alexa & Echo Show, Fire TV, or Fire tablet Devices (BEST OPTION)
This is our recommended option for the simple fact that, as these products are Amazon-branded, they’re designed to work best together.
Using Alexa on your Echo Show smart display, or Fire tablet gives you access to the most features for your Ring device, especially looking through the cameras in real-time.
How to Connect Ring to Alexa and watch security feeds
It’s easy! Follow these simple steps:
- Open the Alexa app.
- Tap the menu icon on the upper left (3 bars).
- Press Skills & Games.
- Search for Ring.
- Tap the enable button when you’ve found Ring.
- Log into your Ring account to link it to Alexa.
- Tapping Discover Devices will let you check and select the Ring device to connect to Alexa. Now try saying, “Alexa, show [your device name]” to see how it works.
Alexa Commands to control your Ring devices
To control your Ring doorbell or security camera:
- Alexa, show/hide [your device name] (e.g. the back patio, back door).
- Alexa, go home.
- Alexa, stop.
To manage your video clips, say something like:
- Alexa, show me the last activity/most recent event from the back door.
- Alexa, rewind.
- Alexa, rewind 1 minute.
- Alexa, fast-forward 10 seconds.
For your Ring smart lights, you have a large list of commands for them. Some of the most useful ones are:
- Alexa, turn on/off my garage lights.
- Alexa, set the backyard light to 50%.
- Alexa, turn on motion sensing on the front door.
For your Ring Alarm, say something like:
- Alexa, arm Ring.
- Alexa, disarm ring.
- Alexa, is Ring armed?
How to connect a smart thermostat to Alexa?
It's easy! Smart thermostats like Nest, Ecobee, Honeywell, Lux, and Sensi are supported by Alexa. Follow these simple steps:
- Open the Alexa app.
- Tap the menu icon (3 bars) on the upper left corner.
- Press Skill & Games.
- Search for your device and tap on it.
- Enable the skill. You might have to allow/deny some permissions.
- Choose and add your devices through the Discover button, or say “Alexa, discover my devices.”
- Finish your setup by following the rest of the on-screen steps.
The Echo Show 8 gets way easier to recommend with its great sound, video, and camera when you find it at its discounted prices
Superb multimedia experience with an 8” HD display, camera, and improved double speakers
Great voice pickup with 8 microphones installed
One of the best smart home systems backed by Alexa, has excellent compatibility with an extensive (and still growing) host of smart devices.
The Echo Show 8 helps make Alexa friendlier and more capable. The display is great, with crisp images, adapting brightness, and nice viewing angles. You can’t complain about the sound either, and the voice recognition is more than enough with multiple receivers.
And if you haven’t heard, the range of smart home devices compatible with Alexa keeps on growing. You get more out of your money over time as new skills get added.
Tech Specs
| Display | 8.0”, 1280 x 800 |
| Speakers | 2×2.0” (52 mm) neodymium speakers with passive bass radiator |
| Camera | 1MP, with shutter switch |
| Dimensions | 7.9”x 5.4”x 3.9” (200mm x 135mm x 99mm) |
| Weight | 36.6 oz (1037 g) |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 5, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
| Processor | MediaTek MT 8163 |
- The screen size feels like the sweet spot between its siblings, Echo Show 5 and 10.
- The camera on the Echo Show is an advantage compared to the Google Nest Hub, which is a close rival. The ability to video chat with friends is more than worth it. The 1 MP feels like a downgrade, but seeing the actual improvement on-screen makes you forget.
- Great speaker performance.
- Competitively priced.
- Echo Show 8 now includes a shutter switch to cover the camera, improving privacy.
- It has a bulky profile and the design feels a little outdated, but there’s a good possibility we’re nitpicking. If you place it beside its rivals, though, it likely won’t stand out.
- Not Youtube friendly.
- No Zigbee support.
Option 2: Use Google Assistant
Heads up! The features you get are massively limited to only a handful of voice commands. And unfortunately, real-time streaming through your cameras is not available. Not on your smart display, not on your Android TV, not on your Chromecast.
How to Connect Ring to Google Assistant
- From your computer or phone, access the link to Ring action for Google Assistant. If you used your phone, the Google Assistant app might open right away. If so press Link, then skip to Step 4.
- Tap on Send to Device, then select your Google Home device.
- You’ll receive a Ring notification on your phone. Open it.
- Log in using your Ring account on the next page.
- Authorize Google Home to complete the process.
Google Assistant Commands to control your Ring devices
You initiate commands by saying,
- “Hey Google, talk to ring”
Once connected, the following commands are available:
- “Talk to Ring about starting a new recording”
- “Talk to Ring about the last time my Doorbell rang”
- “Talk to Ring about the health of my devices”
- “Talk to Ring to turn motion/Ring alerts on/off”
Option 3: Use a Smart Home Hub like Home Assistant or Samsung SmartThings
This option requires a decent amount of technical savvy to pull off. This is especially true with Home Assistant, which is a free open-source home automation solution that gives a lot of control and options.
What is Samsung SmartThings?
SmartThings is another proprietary smart home ecosystem like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Samsung also uses the same name for the app and hub, while the voice assistant is named Bixby.
Like with Google and Amazon’s systems, SmartThings is compatible with thousands of devices. Aside from devices, SmartThings supports ZigBee, Z-Wave, and Wi-Fi/Internet communication protocols, as well as IFTTT. SmartThings works well with Alexa and Google Assistant platforms too, with respective entries in Google Home, Google Assistant, and Alexa apps.
As of December 2020, SmartThings has even reinforced Google Assistant support with new compatibility and integration.
What is Home Assistant?
As mentioned above, Home Assistant is an “open-source home automation” system that puts local control and privacy first.
The getting started page of Home Assistant suggests starting with Raspberry Pi to be used as the smart hub. That aside from other gadgetry required. If you’re still here, maybe you’ll be pleased to know there are alternative installation steps.
Some of the best integrations require software developer-level skills, like the ecobee integration. It’s good to know that Home Assistant is backed by a passionate community that loves smart home automation. And the goal is true and honest automation not limited by corporate interests.
How to control both your Ring Cameras and a Smart Thermostat from the Samsung SmartThings app?
A smart thermostat supported by Samsung SmartThings would probably be easy to set up and control. But Ring cameras are not quite that convenient to connect.
Some newer models are already integrated, and others are slowly being supported. Navigate to Devices > Add Device > Add Device manually on the SmartThings app. Just follow on-screen instructions, you’ll find it straightforward.
But if you have a Ring device that’s not yet supported, you have limited options.
If you have Homebridge, some users have tried linking Ring to Homebridge, then Homebridge to SmartThings.
Try your luck with the SmartThings Classic app (phasing out). You can also try reaching out to SmartThings support.
How to control both your Ring Cameras and a Smart Thermostat from the Home Assistant app?
Home Assistant has a lot of information in their support knowledge base. There’s a lot of technicalities involved with setting up your device. Check the site for support on your thermostat.
There is a section for setting up Nest integration with Home Assistant. The section outlines support for all Nest Thermostats as well as Nest smart cameras, displays, and doorbells.
For ecobee thermostats, the steps require that you’re a registered ecobee developer. For Ring cameras and other devices, you have to enable integration with Ring first. You can also configure Home Assistant to save videos captured by your Ring doorbell locally.
Option 4: Use HomeBridge to control both your Ring devices and Smart Thermostat from your iPhone
As there is no Ring Thermostat, Apple users could utilize HomeBridge. This method employs Homebridge to provide compatibility with your Ring devices and smart thermostats. Installation and implementation of HomeBridge is a complex process, requiring technical skills.
HomeBridge isn’t developed by one company, but by an open-source community of developers with a common purpose. You will have to understand the risks involved with choosing this option, since open-source software can be hard to configure.
What is HomeBridge?
Apple Homekit compatibility is not yet as wide-ranging as Google Home or Alexa. HomeBridge addresses this issue by bridging Homekit with unsupported devices. That means you can use your iPhone and Siri to control their functions.
HomeBridge is an open-source platform that provides integration for products unsupported by Apple HomeKit. It’s aptly named given its convenience, but you can also further expand its capability thanks to community contributions.
You can use the official Homekit app, Apple Home, to control your devices through HomeBridge. You can also use 3rd party HomeKit apps if preferred.
How to control both your Ring Cameras and a Smart Thermostat using your iPhone?
You must first install HomeBridge on a computer, which will serve as your automation hub. You can do that on computer systems such as Windows, macOS, Linux, even on a tiny Raspberry Pi. Note that each of the systems has different requirements themselves to install HomeBridge. Check for these instructions on the HomeBridge GitHub page.
Once HomeBridge is installed, you need to add Ring to it. You’ll find the documentation needed in this link, including the functionality you can use and the voice commands for Siri. If you have a Nest smart thermostat, check out this link for installation instructions as well as features you can try with your configuration.
Option 5: Use IFTTT to get Ring to communicate with your Smart Thermostat
Just as with HomeBridge and Home Assistant, this method requires a level of technical know-how to implement. To clarify, the term “If This, Then That” (IFTTT) refers to logical components derived from computer science conditional statements. In layman's terms, conditional statements are a set of rules that you set for automating tasks.
The IFTTT service will allow you to expand possibilities for automation with your Ring device and smart thermostat.
What is IFTTT and how does it work?
The IFTTT service revolves around the use of conditions, as simplified by the phrase “If This, Then That”. IFTTT can trigger actions from an app or device when specific conditions or events are met.
The actions may be features or functionalities by the app, import of data, or a notification. The possibilities are endless and are programmed into applets. There are already millions of applets activated through the IFTTT web platform.
Check out these resources for your smart thermostat and Ring devices:
Common Questions about Ring devices
Can I connect my Ring devices to HomeKit to view camera feeds on my iPhone?
No, Ring is not included in the products officially recognized by Apple to work with HomeKit. HomeKit is Apple's smart home framework.
However, with HomeBridge, you can actually connect Ring to HomeKit. According to HomeBridge, the Ring plugin is one of the most popular ones in their collection.
With the Ring plugin, you can view camera feeds on your iPhone, use the two-way audio, even disable the doorbell. The link has a long list of features of many Ring devices you can take advantage of. Check the link above to see if you can handle the installation process.
The Ring Thermostat Verdict
To sum up, unfortunately there is no such thing as a Ring Thermostat. We recommend choosing a smart thermostat which integrates with Alexa. The reason for this is, Ring works best within its own Amazon smart home ecosystem.