One of the perks of living in a smart home is that a lot of your household devices can be integrated with each other.
However, when it comes to smart home devices from different brands, it can be difficult or sometimes impossible to get them working together.
So is it possible to permanently connect your Ring Doorbell to your Roku streaming device?
Sadly, No. There is a way that you can cast your phone screen to Roku using the screen mirroring feature. However, this functionality is quite limited and very different from having these two devices integrated with each other.
In this article, I discuss some of the approaches people have taken to try and get these devices to talk to each other. I also provide some alternatives to achieving a nice picture-in-picture pop-up when your doorbell rings.
Is it Possible to View My Ring Doorbell on a Roku TV?
While there is a way to view your Ring Doorbell camera feed on your Roku TV by using the screen mirroring feature, unfortunately, there is no proper way to connect a Ring Doorbell and Roku TV.
Why Doesn’t Roku Have a Ring App?
Roku and Amazon have been fierce competitors ever since Amazon released the Fire TV Stick. Ring is owned by Amazon so they're in direct rivalry with Roku.
While there's no official statement from either company, the lack of a Ring app on Roku is likely down to this competition. Running a Ring app on Roku’s channel store is not in their best interest commercially.
The Amazon Fire TV Stick
The fact that Ring is not supported on Roku becomes more apparent when you consider the seamless integration of Ring Doorbells with Roku’s direct counterpart, the Amazon Fire TV Stick.
With an Amazon Fire TV Stick, you can easily view the live feed on your TV or get a picture-in-picture view when someone's at the door — there's no need to take out your smartphone or get Alexa to do it for you.
Roku Security Cameras and Doorbells
In reaction to this, Roku has introduced its own lineup of security cameras and video doorbells.
Made possible through its partnership with Wyze, these devices function via a dedicated “Roku Cameras” app that provides instant notifications and live footage directly through your Roku player or TV.
This move makes it very likely that Roku is keen on consolidating its technology within its ecosystem, with no possibility for a dedicated Ring app or third-party support for Ring cameras within Roku.
Can I Connect Ring with Roku via Alexa as a Bridge?
In the past, there was a workaround to connect both platforms by using the Alexa app as a go-between.
Sadly, this combination of a Ring-Roku-Alexa trinity – just doesn't work, and I know for certain because I've tried it myself.
When I asked Alexa to stream my Ring Video Doorbell, Alexa's response was …
“Sorry, Cameras don't work on this Device”
I looked around to see if there was any way around this, but I found a number of Reddit threads where users shared similar frustrations. (See links below)
Also, the lack of any credible YouTube tutorials showing this working only confirmed my suspicions: Alexa doesn't support Ring devices on Roku anymore.
With Alexa and Roku, you're only limited to basic functions such as switching the Roku device on and off, turning up and down the volume, and simply opening apps such as Hulu and Netflix.
Alternative Approach – Screen Mirroring
As I mentioned earlier, screen mirroring from your phone to Roku is an option, but it's far from perfect.
This is mostly because it requires you to actively cast the screen onto your Roku TV, every time you need to check a Ring notification or stream footage.
You must initiate the feed on your smartphone and then, cast it onto your Roku each time. Which involves opening the Ring app on your smartphone and then casting the screen on your TV.
As you can tell, this is not very practical, since you might as well check the footage from your smartphone instead of going through all this trouble.
If you'd like to try this out, check out the video below for step-by-step instructions.
Can I Use Roku’s “IP Camera View” App to Stream Ring Cameras?
Contrary to popular belief, you cannot stream your Ring cameras using the Roku “IP Camera View” app.
Why? It's clear-cut: the app only works with IP cameras that follow ONVIF profiles or support RTSP. Ring cameras, unfortunately, do not support these features.
Ring cameras are entirely proprietary and closed off to third-party software and protocols; hence, controlling and accessing their footage is exclusive to Ring devices and apps.
So What are My Options?
Currently, apart from screen mirroring, integrating Ring cameras into Roku is not possible.
So if you’re hoping to integrate either of these technologies with one another to act flawlessly, you only have a couple of options.
Option 1: Bet on Roku
Option one involves replacing your Ring doorbell with Roku’s lineup of smart doorbells and security cameras. So if you're heavily vested in the Roku environment, this switch might make sense for you.
With this arrangement, your doorbell and TV will speak the same language and communicate efficiently. However, please note that you’ll have to abandon your Ring doorbell.
Option 2: Bet on Ring
The second option keeps you with your Ring Doorbell by switching your streaming device to an Amazon Fire TV Stick.
Ring and FireStick are both Amazon products; hence, they'll work well together without any issues or inconvenience.
Option 3: Give up and Move on!
The harsh truth! It ain't working and is not likely to work in the future so if you don't want to buy more tech then it's time to give up and move on!
Wrapping Up
Currently, the only option to view Ring cameras in Roku is via screen mirroring, but it’s not very convenient and defeats the purpose of using your TV to stream video doorbell footage hands-free.
So the only option is to pick between Roku or Ring. This means you can either ditch Roku players/TVs in favor of Amazon Fire TV Stick or replace your Ring cameras with Roku’s lineup of video doorbells and security cameras.
1 Comment
Charles
I have linked both skills from roku and ring in my Alexa and can control both using Alexa . But cannot get the ring door bell to display on the roku . It will display the doorbell on echo show. And also will say ok when asked to show ring on roku but it never does it. What am I doing wrong?