Just days after getting a new CEO, Ring is angering customers by locking core features behind a subscription service.
Ring is one of the most popular home camera systems and is owned by Amazon. The company’s founder stepped aside as CEO last week, paving the way for former Microsoft and Meta exec Elizabeth (Liz) Hamren to take over.
Less than a week later, Ring has made one of its more controversial decisions, according to Android Central:
Starting March 29, 2023, all Ring customers will have to have a subscription in order to use the Home and Away modes in the Ring app. Additionally, new Ring Alarm customers will have to have a subscription in order to set or disable the alarm remotely, see more than 24 hours of event history, or even receive notifications from their Ring Alarm base station.
As Android Central points out, these types of changes paint a dim picture of the future of the smart home. Rather than consumers being able to purchase, own, and truly use their smart home devices, it seems companies are hell-bent on locking them into a quagmire of perpetual subscriptions for even the most basic features.