Product Library / Cameras & Doorbells

Ring Video Doorbell (2nd gen)

Compiled by SmartHomeWorkflow Research · Ring · Cameras & Doorbells · ~$60 ($60 is the last price we recorded while Ring still sold this model, not a current price — Ring has retired it and publishes no figure for it at all. The nearest current equivalent is Ring's Battery Doorbell 2K at a $99.99 list. Never treated as a live price.)

⚠ Similar names, different products: Ring's store URL for this doorbell now sells a DIFFERENT product. ring.com/products/video-doorbell-v2 — the address this record has always cited — served the "Battery Doorbell 2K (2nd Gen) - 2026 release" at $99.99 when read on 2026-08-20, a newer battery doorbell that Ring renamed from "Battery Doorbell (2nd Gen)". This record is the Video Doorbell (2nd Gen), the 2020 second generation of Ring's original wired-or-battery video doorbell, which Ring still documents separately at ring.com/support/products/doorbells/video-doorbell-gen-2. Two different doorbells, one address: check which one a page is describing before trusting a price or a spec you find at that URL.

Compatibility

Protocols: WIFI^[9]

What it can do^[11]

Some of these may need a paid plan — see Subscription reality below.

Listed capabilities are what we could establish from vendor documentation. An ability missing here is unestablished — not necessarily absent.

Subscription reality^[2][5]

⚠ Works without a subscription: No — core features are paywalled.

• Free: Live view, Two-way talk, Motion & doorbell-press notifications
• Behind a plan: Recorded video & event history, Person alerts, Rich / snapshot notifications (from $4.99/mo)
• Estimated 5-year subscription cost: ~$299 at $4.99/mo — price verified 2026-07-19

Vendor account required: Yes — you must create a vendor account to use it.^[14]

Recordings effectively require a plan; live view, motion alerts and two-way talk are free. CURRENT TIER NAMES (Ring renamed Ring Home plans to Ring Protect plans on 2026-01-14): Ring Solo $4.99/mo or $49.99/yr covers ONE device; Ring Multi $9.99/mo or $99.99/yr covers all devices at one location; Ring Pro $19.99/mo or $199.99/yr adds 24/7 professional monitoring. The pricing field records the entry Solo tier. Note for multi-camera households: Solo is per-device, but Ring Multi is flat for a whole location, so a three-camera home is $9.99/mo rather than three times $4.99 — per-camera fee maths overstates the cost past two devices.

Maintenance reality^[9]

• Batteries: built-in rechargeable — expect roughly 3 months per set
• Works without the internet: No — the core function depends on the vendor's servers, so an outage takes it with them.^[15]
• Battery model needs recharging every 1–3 months; hardwire to avoid

Security updates^[10]

Ring declares security updates for this model until December 31, 2028 (UK-declared — the maker's legal commitment is filed for the United Kingdom). After that date the product keeps working; the manufacturer simply has no stated obligation to keep issuing security fixes.

Ring's UK PSTI Statement of Compliance v2.6 names this model in its product table — Product/Model Name "Video Doorbell (2nd Generation)", Model Number 5UM5E5, Defined Support Period "31 December 2028 or later" — and Ring's own US security-updates support page independently gives "Video Doorbell (2nd Generation) - Satin Nickel, Venetian Bronze" the same 31 December 2028. This is the ONLY record in the Ring batch where the signed regulatory declaration answers by model number, which is why declaredIn is the regulatory class here and the vendor policy page elsewhere. Ring states the table figure as a floor rather than an expiry: the column is headed "Software security updates until at least", and the page's commitment reads "We'll support your device with software security updates until at least four years from when you bought it new on amazon.com where Amazon is the seller or on ring.com (or, in each case, until the date stated below if later). If you got your device somewhere else, we'll support it with software security updates until at least the date stated below." The four-year-from-purchase half of that commitment cannot extend this model in practice: Ring no longer sells it new, so there is no purchase date after which four years could run past 2028. ⊕ REGION: UK — the declaring document is a UK PSTI Statement of Compliance, filed under the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act. The scope is the filing's own: this is a promise made for the United Kingdom, and it is printed that way so a buyer elsewhere is never told a British legal commitment covers their unit (S-1b).

Who it's for

Alexa households comfortable with a monthly fee; avoid if you're subscription-averse (see eufy/Reolink).

Sources & method

Numbered sources below back the facts marked with the matching number above. This is a research profile: compiled from manufacturer documentation, certification registries, and published testing — we state facts, not verdicts, and we have not physically tested this unit. How we work →

1. [1] Ring's own store, read 2026-08-08: ring.com/products/video-doorbell-v2 redirects (2 hops) to ring.com/products/battery-doorbell-2nd-gen ('Battery Doorbell 2K'); ring.com/products/video-doorbell-v2-certified-refurbished redirects to ring.com/collections/certified-refurbished, whose doorbell list names Battery Doorbell $89.99, Battery Doorbell Plus (Video Doorbell) $127.99, Wired Doorbell Plus (Video Doorbell Pro) $129.99, Wired Doorbell Pro (Video Doorbell Pro 2) $116.99 and Battery Doorbell Pro $206.99 — and does not name the Video Doorbell (2nd Generation) — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-08
   Backs: Price, Market availability, Research status
2. [2] Ring's own plans page (read 2026-08-08): 'Ring Solo $4.99/mo or $49.99/yr + applicable tax — Video recording, smart alerts, and more, for one device'; 'Ring Multi $9.99/mo or $99.99/yr'; 'Ring Pro $19.99/mo or $199.99/yr'; '24/7 Continuous Recording +$3/mo per camera'; Smoke & CO Pro Monitoring '+$5/month' — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-08
   Backs: Subscription
3. [3] Home Assistant official documentation for the Ring integration (read 2026-08-08): IoT class 'Cloud Polling'; 'used by 6.3% of active installations'; supported doorbells include Doorbell 2, 3, Pro variants, Elite, Wired and Peephole Cam; 'Bronze quality' tier — vendor-and-ecosystem-page research, verified 2026-08-08
   Backs: Service status, Home Assistant compatibility
4. [4] ring.com/support/products/doorbells/video-doorbell-gen-2 — recording gated behind Ring Protect; no-sub = live view + basic notifications only; Alexa yes, no Google Home; no Matter — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-15
   Backs: Product identity, Amazon Alexa compatibility, Google Home compatibility, Research status
5. [5] https://ring.com/plans — Ring Solo $4.99/mo or $49.99/yr (one device); Ring Multi $9.99/mo or $99.99/yr (all devices, one location); Ring Pro $19.99/mo or $199.99/yr. Rename date from ring.com/support/plans/standard: 'Ring Home plans were renamed Ring Protect plans on January 14, 2026'. Corroborated independently by https://ring.com/explore-ring-home, which maps Home Basic to Ring Solo, Home Standard to Ring Multi, Standard-plus-monitoring to Ring Pro, and Home Premium to Premium Legacy. — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-19
   Backs: Subscription, Price
6. [6] Negative-space verification, stated explicitly: no ring.com support or product page names Apple Home/HomeKit/Matter anywhere; Ring's 'Works With Ring — Basic Information' article (ring.com/support/articles/xow3y) names Alexa as the only tested/certified ecosystem; as of 2026-07-21 Ring has certified no Matter camera despite Matter 1.5 shipping — vendor-and-ecosystem-page research, verified 2026-08-17
   Backs: Apple Home compatibility
7. [7] Home Assistant official docs (home-assistant.io/integrations/ring — supported devices include 'Doorbell (2nd Gen)'; 'Two-way audio in camera live view is not currently supported… To view the last recording entity you will need a Ring subscription') — vendor-and-ecosystem-page research, verified 2026-07-21
   Backs: Home Assistant compatibility
8. [8] samsung.com/us/smartthings/doorbell/ring-battery-video-doorbell-plus (a different model's page, quoted as the shape of what Samsung DOES document) + retired Samsung Ring-on-TV article ANS00087644; checked 2026-07-21 — verification attempt — negative result recorded, verified 2026-07-21
9. [9] 2026-07 web research sweep (docs/02 catalog; primary sources cited there) — registry-and-press research, verified 2026-07-12
   Backs: SmartThings compatibility, Maintenance, Protocols
10. [10] Ring LLC, UK PSTI Statement of Compliance v2.6 (Ring_v2.6_UK_PSTI), read 2026-08-19 as page images after text extraction failed. Product table row: "Video Doorbell (2nd Generation) | 5UM5E5 | 31 December 2028 or later*". Declared by Amazon.com Services LLC under the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022; original date of issue 29 April 2024; signed Jason Mitura, VP, April 16, 2026. Corroborated by Ring's own US support page "Information on Ring Devices Software Security Updates" (https://ring.com/support/articles/ri2p1/Information-on-Ring-Devices-Software-Security-Updates), whose Doorbells table gives the same model the same date. — first-party read (BQ-192 security-support sweep, method note 69 source precedence), verified 2026-08-19
    Backs: Security-update support period
11. [11] Ring, Video Doorbell (2nd gen) product page (ring.com/products/video-doorbell-v2), read 2026-08-19. Feature copy: "Live View and Two-Way Talk — Stay connected to everything that happens at the door with Live View and Two-Way Talk. Greet visitors, catch deliveries, and shoo off intruders — right from your phone." and "Motion Detection — Receive real-time motion alerts sent straight to your phone and know exactly when someone stopped by your door." Doorbell press is enumerated in the storage copy: "videos of every doorbell ring, motion event, and Live View event". — vendor-page research (BQ-187 capabilities population, batch 4 — cameras-doorbells), verified 2026-08-19
    Backs: Capabilities
12. [12] The URL this record cites for its product facts, ring.com/products/video-doorbell-v2, served content for a product titled **"Ring Battery Doorbell 2K"** on 2026-08-20 — a lithium-ion battery doorbell on "Wi-Fi 4, 2.4GHz Single Band Wi-Fi", with an in-box list of "Battery Doorbell 2K", "Universal Mounting Plate", "Installation Tools and Hardware", "Setup Guide" and "Security Sticker". This record is the Ring Video Doorbell (2nd gen). — vendor-page research (BQ-191 provider backfill, population (b): the `hubs` axis), verified 2026-08-20
    Backs: Required hub or bridge
13. [13] Ring's own two surfaces, read 2026-08-20. ring.com/products/video-doorbell-v2 — this record's long-standing citation — now serves a product titled "Battery Doorbell 2K" at $99.99, described as "Battery Doorbell 2K (2nd Gen) - 2026 release", whose own FAQ explains the naming: asked the difference between the Battery Doorbell (2nd Gen) and the Battery Doorbell 2K, Ring answers "Nothing. We changed the name, but the features remain the same." Separately, ring.com/support/products/doorbells/video-doorbell-gen-2 remains live and covers "Video Doorbell (2nd Gen)", identifying it as "the 2nd generation of our original video doorbell (released 2020)" — and carries Ring's own advisory that "Some Ring product names have changed." — Ring URL-identity sweep (BQ-219 step ①, the identity fork), verified 2026-08-20
    Backs: Product identity
14. [14] Ring support, 'Setting up and installing your Ring Alarm Base Station', read 2026-08-21 — 'If this is your first Ring product, you will be asked to set up an account.' The same article adds 'you can have multiple locations (up to 10) on one Ring account', so the account is the container the products live in. — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21
    Backs: Vendor account required
15. [15] Ring support, 'Fixing offline devices', read 2026-08-21 — 'If your Ring device falls offline, you will not be able to view live video, get alerts, or record events around your home.' Live view, alerts and recording ARE the core function of a camera or video doorbell, so the core function does not survive the outage. — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21
    Backs: Works without the internet
16. [16] SmartHomeWorkflow record maintenance (BQ-250 securitySupport.region backfill) — internal-review of the document this record already cites, verified 2026-08-27
17. [17] Ring's own support page for this model, re-read 2026-08-30 for this claim specifically. The page still describes 'Video Doorbell (2nd Gen)' under that name, and the only third-party platform it names anywhere is Alexa — 'Works with Alexa'. The words 'Google', 'Google Home', 'Google Assistant', 'Nest', 'Apple', 'HomeKit', 'Siri' and 'Matter' appear nowhere on it. Corroborated the same day on ring.com/support/articles/xow3y/Works-with-Ring, Ring's own 'Works With Ring' program article, which describes what the program certifies — 'Products go through enhanced integration and testing to be sure they work seamlessly with Ring, and they can sometimes have extra functionality' — names Alexa as the only ecosystem in it ('If Alexa control is available, it is included as part of the device's testing and certification'), and names Google, Google Home, Google Assistant, Nest, Apple, HomeKit and Matter nowhere. — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-30
    Backs: Google Home compatibility

Compatibility and lifecycle information reflects the last-verified date above and can change without notice (firmware updates, cloud-service changes, discontinuations). It is provided as-is, for information — verify with the manufacturer before purchasing. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it. Full terms: Terms of Service.

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