Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus review: packing some serious upgrades

One-minute review

Breaking with the line’s numerical naming convention, the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus is the newest addition to Ring’s range of video doorbells since the Ring Video Doorbell 4 was released in 2021.

The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus easily earns its spot among our picks of the best video doorbells. It’s only the second Ring device to introduce head-to-toe visibility (the other being the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2), and the first wireless Ring device to do so.

On the outside, the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus looks much the same as the Ring Doorbell (2nd gen), as well as the Ring Doorbells 3 and 4, but inside is where the magic happens.

The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus drops a few features in favor of improved quality and intelligence. It’s packing a new camera with 1536p resolution, night vision with color, and a snazzy new head-to-toe view thanks to the increased vertical field of view (150 degrees by 150 degrees), and is a noticeable iterative improvement on the Ring Video Doorbell 4 for an ever-so-slightly higher price.

Ring also says the Battery Video Doorbell Plus offers up to three times the battery life of previous models. It’s worth noting that it’s quite hard to test this, as it’s dependent on how much motion occurs outside your home, but I found that it drained very slowly over the weeks I used it, and hasn’t yet dropped below 50%.

While these upgrades do see the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus lose out on some features, like pre-roll (which captures motion four seconds before a motion event is triggered), 5GHz connectivity, and motion alerts on compatible Amazon Echo devices, some of these are value-adds rather than a necessity. It’s a bit of a shame, certainly on behalf of pre-roll and the Amazon Echo compatibility, but ultimately the head-to-toe view, improved overall motion detection and battery life go a long way to making the extra expense worth it.

Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus review: price and availability

• List price: $179.99 / £159.99 / AU$289

• Available from Ring and Amazon

The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus is available from Ring and Amazon directly, as well as some third-party sellers, and costs $179.99 / £159.99 / AU$289.

While it’s certainly not cheap, it’s not outlandish compared to other video doorbells; the Ring Video Doorbell 4 is just $20 / £20 / AU$30 cheaper, having had its price cut fairly recently.

However, as with all Ring Video Doorbells, it’s worth noting that the ongoing costs can get pretty high if you take out a Ring Protect subscription that enables you to keep your recordings and access some of the more premium features. Plans start at $4 / £3.49 / AU$4.95 monthly or $40 / £34.99 / AU$49.95 per year for the Basic plan, which covers one device. There are more expensive options, depending on your setup and location; the Plus membership is about double the price but covers multiple devices, while the Pro plan (which is only available in the US) starts at $20/month or $200/year.

Price and availability: 3.5/5

Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus review: specifications

Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus review: design

• Simple design

• Rechargeable and removable batteries

• Easy installation

If you’ve read TechRadar’s previous reviews of Ring video doorbells like the Ring Video Doorbell 4, you’ll likely be surprised to hear that the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus looks the same as previous devices, with a black top third that houses its 1536p camera, and a matt silver lower section with the doorbell button in the middle.

Ring isn’t reinventing the wheel here, and while that’s hard to do even with conventional doorbells, the design is perhaps getting a little tired. However, it comes with perks; it’s incredibly easy to install, and if you’ve previously used Ring Doorbells it’s likely you won’t need to replace the base plate.

The battery is removable, meaning you don’t have to uninstall the entire device every time it runs out of juice, as is the case with some video doorbells. Alternatively, if you’d rather not worry about having to recharge it, you can also hardwire the doorbell into your home's electrical system.

I installed mine with the tilted base plate, which is a wedge that can be purchased separately to improve the viewing angle; on my door, there wasn’t a suitable spot for it that was facing straight onto my walkway. It’s worth noting most users wouldn’t need one thanks to the new, taller video feed aspect ratio.

Design: 4/5

Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus review: performance

• Simple and well-designed app

• Automatic lock mostly works well

• Lock feels very secure and robust

The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus works brilliantly both as a security camera device and a functional way to remotely interact with anyone – or thing – that finds itself passing by your door. However, there are some pretty huge differences between the features that are available with and without the Ring Protect subscription.

First, let’s discuss how the Battery Video Doorbell Plus performs sans-subs. Once you’ve installed the doorbell, you’ll need to download the app, create an account and follow the pairing instructions – this is pretty easy.

As with most video doorbells, once you’re set up you’ll be able to tap into your doorbell from your phone and watch a live feed of your front door, using two-way audio to communicate with anyone waiting outside, whether you’re at home or out and about. You can adjust the motion zones on your camera to stop your doorbell from sending erroneous motion alerts, and also set up privacy zones if you don’t want to see into a neighboring property.

The doorbell will also notify you when it detects movement outside of your home on your mobile device or, of course, when someone rings your doorbell. You can also check out your device’s battery status and adjust various settings in the app.

The newly upgraded HD+ 1536p camera has HDR and night vision with color, meaning you can get much clearer footage from your Ring doorbell around the clock compared to previous models. Its head-to-toe view means you can check out all of your entryway’s surroundings – including any packages that might have been left for you – but the odd fisheye lens effect needed to facilitate the expanded field of view is a little off-putting. The audio is pretty clear, as long as whoever’s at the door is facing the bell; otherwise, it can be a little muffled, especially if you live on a busy road.

All of the above is great, but on its own doesn’t quite justify a pricey video doorbell such as this – but that’s par for the course with Ring at this point. A Ring Protect subscription unlocks a whole host of additional features, and some pretty useful ones at that, although while the basic membership tier isn’t too expensive, it’s always a little frustrating to see so many useful tricks locked behind a paywall.

You get one free month of Ring Protect with your new Ring device, during which time you can try out some of its exclusive features, including:

• Connect devices: Set up trigger responses on other Ring devices, as well as Amazon Echo smart speakers and selected third-party devices.

• Advanced motion detection features: With Ring Protect, you can customize motion detection even further, including how frequently the doorbell checks for motion, schedules, sensitivity, and snooze alerts.

• Package detection: Easily the most exciting addition to the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus is package detection, which I found worked pretty well for larger packages. Amazon says 10 x 10-inch packages and larger are most likely to be identified, with anything smaller being hit-or-miss, and my results were consistent with this.

• Alerts: Change your alert sounds for doorbell rings and motion detection, and also set up person alerts, which will mean your mobile device only notifies you when a person has been detected. With Ring Protect, the doorbell will also send you a snapshot of whatever triggered the alert.

• Photos and video: Your doorbell will record video events in the cloud for 180 days, which can be saved or shared, and you can also set it to capture a snapshot once every hour or 14 minutes, creating a timelapse of the day in front of your doorbell.

• Home or Away modes: Set up pre-recorded quick replies to respond to a doorbell press, and allow visitors to leave a voicemail if you can’t answer the door. You’ll also be able to customize how your doorbell behaves when you’re home or away.

Some of these features are a huge boon day-to-day. Home and Away modes, in particular, are really useful, as are object-specific notifications and connected devices.

Due to operational costs, I can understand why any features involving data storage justify a greater fee; but overall it just feels like ringfencing these features detracts from how great the product is by itself.

Still, both with and without a subscription, the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus can most definitely perform well; I’d just say you’re better off with a lower-spec video doorbell if you’re not willing to pay out for the Ring Protect subscription.

Performance: 4.5/5

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How I tested the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus smart lock

• I tested the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus for two weeks

• I used it every day with the free Ring Protect subscription trial

• I tested its motion detection, package detection, and sound quality. 

I installed the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus on my front door, using it to track movements outdoors, accept deliveries and communicate with callers when I wasn’t home.

I used both its standard features and advanced, Ring Protect-enabled features, and tested how well they work. I used parcels at three different sizes to test parcel identification, set up motion zones and privacy zones to test the responsiveness, and recorded motion triggers to see how accurate and timely filming was. I also tinkered with its customization settings, adjusting the motion detection zone on the doorbell’s field of view and seeing how well it could detect parcels and people.

I test smart home devices regularly, and have a good sense of how easy the user interface should be and how well devices should interact with one another. I’ve also used various smart home security devices, developing testing metrics for motion detection and object identification.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed June 2023