How to Change the Wi-Fi Network on Your Ring Camera or Video Doorbell

Have you recently moved or installed a new wireless router and need to update the Wi-Fi settings on your Ring device? Whatever the reason may be, you are in the right place. This article will guide you through changing the Wi-Fi network on your Ring device, whether it is a Ring Video Doorbell or and type of Ring Camera. We’ve got you covered.

Ninja Tip: If you bought a new router and need to connect your Ring devices, you can avoid any reconfiguration by setting your router to have the same SSID and password. Check out the section titled “How to Avoid having to Change the Wi-Fi Network on your Ring device” for more information.

Steps to Change the Wi-Fi Network on your Ring device (Camera, Doorbell, or other)

From the Ring app, open the Main Menu
The Main Menu can be opened by selecting the three bats in the top left corner of the app.

Select “Devices”
Select the device whose Wi-Fi needs changed
Select “Device Health”

Select “Change Wifi Network”
If required, press the setup button on your device
If you have a Ring Video Doorbell, this means you will have to remove the doorbell from the wall.
Select the new Wi-Fi network

Enter the Wi-Fi password

Here’s an example using a Ring Doorbell Pro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyPS8JKC_ZU

These steps assume your device is already connected to Wi-Fi. If your device has dropped Wi-Fi, but you don’t need to change the actual Wi-Fi network, the steps are slightly different. Follow these steps if your Ring device hasn’t connected to Wi-Fi in a while, but you don’t need to update the Wi-Fi network

Steps to Reconnect the Wi-Fi Network on your Ring device (Camera, Doorbell, or other)

From the Ring app, open the Main Menu
The Main Menu can be opened by selecting the three bars in the top left corner of the app.
Select “Devices”
Select the device whose Wi-Fi needs changed

Select “Device Health”
Select “Reconnect Wifi Network”

The Ring app will tell your Ring device to try and connect to the same network that it was previously connected to. Your Ring Doorbell or Camera should automatically connect if the network is available. If not, it will guide you through the same steps as connecting to a new network. You will have to select a new Wi-Fi network and enter the password.

What if Change Wifi Network or Reconnect Wifi Network isn’t an option in the Ring App?

You wouldn’t be along if you had this problem. Just like many others who do not have the option of “Change Wifi Network” or “Reconnect Wifi Network”. There is a solution for those of you who don’t have the “Reconnect Wifi Network” listed in your Ring app!

If you do not see the option in the Ring app to reconnect or change your Wi-Fi connection, then make sure of the following:

You are using the device(phone) used to setup the Ring device originally

You are logged-in as the person who set it up

It’s not uncommon for someone to log into their spouses account and forget, but they set it up under their account. This would cause you not to see these options!

Also, make sure your app is up-to-date. This isn’t directly related to this problem, but having outdated software can be buggy if it’s not in sync with your Ring device.

How to Avoid having to Change the Wi-Fi Network on your Ring device

I know it is not very convenient to have to hunt around for the right screwdriver to remove the screw on the bottom of your Ring Doorbell to get to the “orange button” on the back. For some people, there is no way that can go up a ladder with 4 inches of snow outside to hit the setup button on their Ring Floodlight Cam.

I didn’t design the product or make the rules, but here is a possible workaround.

If you’re using the same SSID (which is case sensitive!) and password, your Ring Camera, Doorbell and other devices should automatically connect. You won’t even have to reset them. The SSID is the name of the network you see when you are choosing a network to connect to.

A lot of routers broadcast a 2.4 GHz network as well as a 5 GHz network. Ring devices will only connect to the 2.4 GHz network, so make sure this is the one you are setting up correctly.

Make sure your security type is the same as before (Most likely WPA2, but could be WEP or WPA) and that it’s using the same cipher type (Most likely AES).

If you are thinking, “Hey, why don’t I just have two routers with the same SSID and password?” The answer is that this will not work. Your Ring devices will only connect to one node (technical term for router) as a time. This is a security measure so someone can’t walk by and pretend to be your network to gain access to devices on your network.

If you find that you need to extend your network, consider one of these two options: Getting a Mesh Network router, or get a Ring Chime Pro. The Ring Chime Pro also acts a Wi-Fi extender to help you get coverage to all your Ring devices.

Linksys and Netgear have some great options for setting up a mesh network. A mesh Wi-Fi network consists of a main router connected directly to your modem, with usually two separate modules to extend the Wi-Fi range. Here is a link to Amazon (affiliate) so you can see what’s available.

Troubleshooting the Wi-Fi connection on your Ring Camera or Doorbell

There is some critical information we can get by using the Ring app that will help diagnose Wi-Fi problems.

How to get to the Device Health Menu in the Ring app

From the Ring app, open the Main Menu
The Main Menu can be opened by selecting the three bats in the top left corner of the app.
Select “Devices”
Select the device whose Wi-Fi needs changed

Select “Device Health”

There are two things we want to take a look at here under the Device Health screen that can help clue you in on what may be causing your Wi-Fi troubles.

Signal Strength

While your device is connected to a network, there will be a section titled “Network”. Within that section you will be able to see the Signal Strength. Ring will display the measurement in what is called RSSI, or Received Signal Strength Indicator. It’s measured in dBs, or decibels.

Without getting into the technical details, just know that a number closer to 0 is better. The larger the number, the weaker the wireless signal.

Make sure you are checking the signal strength from where the device is actually installed, and that you didn’t bring it inside or closer to the router while you are in the process of troubleshooting.

Power

This only applies if you are troubleshooting a battery powered device. The second piece of information we can get under the Device Health screen is the power level of each battery. If the battery level is low, Ring won’t have enough power to stay connected to Wi-Fi. Batteries do go bad after time, so if you find this is problem is happening frequently, go buy new batteries.

If your tired of dealing with batteries on the Ring Video Doorbell, consider the Ring Video Elite (Amazon Affiliate link). It’s expensive, but it’s the best Ring has to offer and it’s hard-wired, so it doesn’t run off batteries. Here is a look at what the current price may look like.

Wi-Fi has recently started having trouble on your Ring Device

If your Ring Camera or Video Doorbell worked fine in the past, but recently started having issues, consider these possible causes:

Your Wi-Fi network SSID and/or password recently changed.
You upgraded to a router the is set to broadcast only 5 GHz. Ring can only connect to 2.4 GHz. Most routers are dual-band, meaning they can broadcast at both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz. Check your router’s settings to enable the 2.4 GHz network.
IF your Ring device is wired, wires might have come loose. This isn’t very common, but does come up every now and then. Disconnect the power, check all of the wires leading into the device to make sure they are securely attached.

The Wi-Fi router was moved. This could make it so your Ring device no longer has a solid connection if you happened to move the router further away or if it has more obstacles to get through.
Power is Disconnected

There are situations where a Ring device may be connected to power through a power switch. This is extremely common for people who replace their porch light with a Ring Floodlight Cam, and have a switch by the door the controls the power. Make sure the power switch is on

Secondly, check the circuit breaker to make sure a breaker doesn’t need reset.

Wi-Fi has never reliably worked on your Ring Device

If your Ring Camera or Video Doorbell has always had issues connecting to Wi-Fi, such as it drops connection frequently and you have to go and select reconnect Wi-Fi.

Special Characters

If your Wi-Fi password has special characters or symbols in it, Ring will not be able to connect. Create a new password and remove the special characters (These are symbols like “!”, “$”, “#”, “@”) These characters make a password more secure, so I expect Ring will update their software at some point.

Bad Device

It’s not too common, but it does happen. If your Ring Camera or Doorbell simply won’t connect to the Wi-Fi network, you could have a bad device. This comes up every so often, and Ring support will send you a new device, if yours is under warranty, after you’ve worked through all the troubleshooting steps with them.

Working with support can be cumbersome and time consuming, so I would recommend going to the store and getting a new device if you are within the return period.

You can call Ring support at 1-800-656-1918. They are available 24/7 for your convenience.

Conclusion

If you need to Reconnect your Ring Camera or Doorbell or change the Wi-Fi network, it can easily be done through the Ring app. The process can take less than a minute once you become familiar with the process (not that anyone has to do this that often), but even if this is your first and only time, the process should only take a few minutes.

In general, Ring products work reliably and are great to have around the house if you don’t mind paying a small subscription fee for storing recordings.

For the latest information, make sure you check out the Ring support page related to this topic by clicking here.