Why Is Alexa Not Announcing Ring Doorbell? Cool Tips

If you’re like me, you were psyched when you got your Amazon Echo and discovered that it could announce your Ring doorbell.

It’s exciting to be able to keep an eye on your front porch from inside the house without constantly checking the video feed on the phone.

Unfortunately, Alexa may sometimes misbehave and fail to announce your ring doorbell.

When Alexa doesn’t announce the Ring doorbell, it may be due to announcements and communication settings being disabled, an enabled “Do Not Disturb” feature, or an outdated Alexa app. Solutions include enabling notifications and announcements and updating your Alexa app.

In the rest of this article, I’ll answer the question, “Why is Alexa not announcing Ring doorbell?” I’ll give the possible causes of this issue and how to fix it. Let’s get started!

1. Announcements and Communication Settings Are Disabled

Amazon’s Echo devices are designed to be helpful around the house.

One of the ways they do this is by announcing things like timers, alarms, and notifications when connected to Ring devices.

These announcements are turned on by default, but it’s possible that you or someone else in your household accidentally disabled them.

The announcement feature on your Alexa won’t work when the announcements and communication settings are disabled.

In this case, you’ll be forced to check the video feed on the phone at all times to know when someone’s at the door.

How To Fix

The solution to this is enabling the announcement and communications settings. Here’s how:

1. Open the Alexa app on your phone.
2. Scroll to the lower right-hand section of the screen and select “Devices.”
3. Click “All Devices.”
4. Select the doorbell camera you want to get announcements from on the displayed list of devices.
5. Enable the doorbell press or motion toggle. The latter works for security cameras and doorbells.
6. Navigate to “Communication” and ensure it’s enabled.
7. Scroll to “Announcements” and ensure it’s also enabled.
8. Save your changes and test Alexa by having someone press your Ring doorbell.

2. An Enabled “Do Not Disturb” Feature

The “Do Not Disturb” feature is designed to stop all notifications from coming through.

When this feature is enabled, you won’t get doorbell announcements.

The “Do Not Disturb” feature can be turned on manually or set to run on a schedule. 

If you set the “Do Not Disturb” feature to run on a schedule, you give it a specific time when it should be active.

In this case, the feature will automatically activate itself at the set time. Thus, Alexa won’t announce Ring doorbell notifications until the feature becomes inactive.

How To Fix

The solution here is to check if the “Do Not Disturb” feature is enabled and disable it. Here’s the procedure: 

1. Launch the Alexa app on your phone.
2. Navigate to “Devices” in the screen’s bottom right corner.
3. Choose “Echo & Alexa.”
4. Select your Ring doorbell.
5. Click “Do Not Disturb.”
6. Check if it’s on and toggle it off. 

Check if Alexa can now announce your Ring doorbell.

3. Connectivity Issues Between Ring Skill and Alexa

Ring devices are incorporated into Alexa through the Ring skill feature.

The Ring skill feature is a set of voice commands that enable an Echo device to control a Ring device.

he feature also allows the doorbell camera’s motion and sound detection capabilities to be used with Amazon’s smart home security system, which sends notifications to your Echo device. 

The Ring skill feature may sometimes experience connectivity issues, which can cause Alexa not to announce your Ring doorbell.

How To Fix

There are two solutions to this:

• Check your internet connection.
• Disable and enable the Ring Alexa skill.

Check Your Internet Connection

The first thing you should do when you have connectivity issues is to check your internet connection.

A bad or unstable internet connection can cause many problems, including with the Ring skill feature.

To check your network’s status:

1. Open the Alexa app on your mobile device.
2. Click on the three lines in the upper left corner of the main screen.
3. Click “Settings.”
4. Click “Device Settings.”
5. Select your Echo device.
6. Click “Network.”
7. Check the “Internet” section to see if your network is connected.
8. If it’s not, click and select “Connect.”
9. If the internet is connected, try disconnecting and reconnecting.

Disable and Re-Enable the Ring Skill Feature

Disabling and enabling the Ring Alexa skill features fixes any bugs within its operation.

How to disable the Ring skill feature:

1. Launch the Alexa app on your smartphone.
2. Scroll to the bottom right corner and select “More.”
3. Choose “Skills & Games” from the new menu.
4. Select “My Skills” and navigate to “Ring Skill.“
5. Remove the Ring skill by tapping “Disable Skill.”
6. Confirm your decision by selecting “Disable” to remove the skill from the Alexa app.
7. Select “Devices” at the bottom.
8. Scroll to the “Trash can” icon to forget all your Ring devices on the app.

It’s worth noting that disabling the Ring Skill feature doesn’t change your Ring devices’ settings on the Alexa app.

Moreover, this process does not uninstall any of your Ring devices from the app.

How to re-enable the Ring Skill Feature:

1. Select and open the Alexa app.
2. Scroll down to the “More” button.
3. Choose “Skills & Games” on the resulting menu.
4. Go to the search box and search for Ring.
5. Select the “Ring Skill” from the results.
6. Tap the “Enable” button.
7. You’ll be prompted to sign in to your Ring account.
8. Input your Ring account details to complete the enabling process.
9. Select “Discover Devices.“
10. You should see all your Ring devices, including the doorbell.

Run a test to see whether Alexa will announce your Ring doorbell notification.

4. Outdated Alexa App

Your Alexa app may become outdated, causing various problems, including the announcement of your Ring doorbell.

Amazon keeps updating the Alexa app to improve its performance and fix bugs.

Therefore, you should update the app when prompted to do so by your phone.

How To Fix

The solution is to update your Alexa app:

1. Open the Google Play Store or App Store on your mobile device.
2. Search for “Alexa app.”
3. If there is a pending update, click “Update” next to the listing.
4. Restart your phone after the update. 

It’s also worth ensuring that your mobile device runs the latest operating system version.

Why Is Alexa Not Announcing Ring Doorbell? Summary

The main reason Alexa may fail to announce Ring doorbell is disabled announcements and communication.

Therefore, the first solution is to check and enable these functionalities.

You should only try the other fixes if your Alexa communication and announcements are enabled.