Review: Ring Indoor Cam Plug-In Camera

Ring has long been a brand I like. Their home security products work well, they’re affordable and they make it easy to keep tabs on things at home. Recently, however hackers have been able to infiltrate Ring’s cameras, freaking out some homeowners.

Wondering how I feel about this camera after over a year of use? Skip to the bottom for an update.

Ring Plug-In Cam review

I was a little wary about installing a new Ring camera in my home, but in the interests of journalism and reporting back to you, I forged ahead. I tested out a Ring Indoor Cam Plug-In Security Camera for a few weeks, and this is what I learned.

What is Ring Plug-In Security camera?

Ring Plug-In Security camera is an AC powered mini security camera designed to be used in your home, and constantly connected to power. Unlike some other Ring cameras, this one doesn’t have a battery pack, so it needs to live near a plug. Ring Plug-In camera connects to a companion Ring app that lets you see what’s going on day or night, from anywhere in the world. Worth noting, you can add optional cloud recording for an additional fee.

The camera is very small—smaller than a fist—and discrete. Initially I had mine set up in my home office, but after reading up on the hacking fears (and even after changing my credentials) I put the camera in the garage for surveillance out there.

Ring Camera Hacking Concerns

The camera hacking is pretty concerning. After all, if you think about it, there are some times in your home where you’re walking around naked, or vulnerable, or your kids are near the camera. Having a stranger being able to peer into your home and your life from some far off locale is frightening.

Ring has acknowledged the hacks, saying they’re due to users re-using passwords and credentials across multiple accounts. Hackers get your info and start plugging it into many online apps and websites to see what they can glean. Ring says the best way to protect yourself from this is to use two-step authentication or set a unique password for your account. Even so, some experts who’ve been looking into these hacks say Ring’s security is not as strong as it could be.

Setting up Ring Indoor Cam Plug-In Camera

I’ve long liked these cameras but this time around, I found the set up process to be a bit buggy. It took numerous attempts to get my camera connected. (Sidebar, I also installed a set of cameras recently for my in laws and the process was similarly buggy and frustrating.)

The first thing you’ll need to do is plug in the camera. The camera will power up instantly, and should go into pairing mode right away.

At this point you’ll need to go into the Ring app, and create, or log into your account. From there, the app will guide you through the set up process.

The app will search for the camera, and it found my Indoor Cam right away. From there at the app will connect to, or confirm your existing Wi-Fi network. I already have several Ring devices in my home so in the past, this step happened almost automatically. This time around, it took me a few tried to get connected. I’d get a “something went wrong, setup did not complete” message, saying there’s a problem with my internet connection (even though all my other cameras and devices are working fine). After several failed attempts, I rebooted my router. Finally! I had a connection.

Ring video recording & monitoring

If you have Ring’s add-on Protect Plan, any videos taken by Indoor Cam will be saved to your Ring account for up to 60 days, so you can watch them at any time. All Indoor and Ring Stick Up Cams come with a free 30-day trial of the Ring Protect Basic Plan. After 30 days, you can choose to purchase a Ring Protect Plan to save your videos.

If you don’t get a plan you’ll only be able to access the camera’s live feed or see motion alerts as they come to you, in the moment.

The Ring Protect Basic Plan activates video recording and sharing for individual Ring Doorbells and Cameras. It saves all your videos to your Ring account for up to 60 days, so you can review and share your videos at any time. Ring Protect Basic Plans start at only $3 a month per device.

The Ring Protect Plus Plan adds even more to your home security. It includes video recording and sharing for unlimited Ring Doorbells and Cameras at your home, and it also comes with 24/7 professional monitoring with cellular backup for Ring Alarm and more. Ring Protect Plus Plans start at only $10 a month per home.

Adjusting Ring Indoor Cam camera settings

Once you have the camera set up you can make some adjustments. You can choose different motion “zones“. These are areas across the viewing field of the camera and you can choose to turn some of them on or off.

This allows you to keep the monitoring focus, say on a door or window, but not the busy hallway, for example.

Adjust camera sensitivity

You can also adjust the motion alert sensitivity from low to high, so that if the cat walks by you won’t get notified, but if the front door opens or someone walks up to the camera, you will.

You can also add other shared family member users at this stage.

You can also easily adjust the settings later inside the ring app.

Ring Indoor Cam Camera resolution and quality

The Ring Stick Up Cam camera is an HD video camera, with 1080P video. The field of view is quite wide, so you’re getting a full side to side, wide angle view. I’d say the viewing angle is outstanding, and let me see absolutely everything in my garage during my initial tests.

Ring Indoor Cam also has a two-way talk function, similar to the Ring Video Doorbells which I have reviewed before.

This allows you to both listen and talk to anyone that might be in the room or in your space. I’d say the camera’s overall video quality is quite good. It’s very easy to see details and to get a quick video picture of what’s going on.

Nighttime viewing: Ring Indoor Cam

This camera has great quality video day or night. The camera doesn’t say it has night vision but the nigh time video is really good. It’s bright, very visible and easy to see details, or anything that might be going on.

Send audible sirens!

One neat feature of this camera is that you can send a siren alert to the camera, helping to potentially scare off prowlers. (If you want better security, consider the Ring Alarm, reviewed here.)

When you call up the camera feed, there’s a small button on the screen that can let you listen and talk, or sound the alarm… The siren button is an exclamation mark with double brackets. It’s handy if you do ever need it. And sounds far more menacing than you asking, “Ummm, what are you doing in my garage?”

Live Feed or video library

The Ring Indoor Cam allows you to look at your camera feed live, or to access recorded videos inside the app (with monthly monitoring).

What can I do with the Videso?

If you’ve got Cloud recording on your account, as I do, you have access to any videos generated by motion alerts, or that you’ve taken for yourself. They’re stored for 60 days, and at any time in that 2 month window, you can download the videos and save them on your phone. This allows you to share them with anyone; Facebook, the police or the neighbours.

Ring Integration with Google & Alexa

You can add smart digital assistant integration with Ring. Doing this will let you view your Ring camera feed on your Amazon Echo Show for example, just by asking.

Ring app user interface

I really like the layout, features and functionality of the Ring app. It’s simple to understand and to use, and everything is laid out clearly and smartly. You can see your cameras at a glance in a main grid, or tap on each one and see their feeds close up. The camera’s live view feature lets you peek in on any camera in real time. Making changes or adjustments to any of the camera settings is also easy and everything is clearly labeled.

Overall review of Ring Indoor Cam Plug-In Camera

Ring has another great camera here, that serves yet another in-home need; you never need to charge it and it’s always running. The camera gives you a clear, detailed video picture, day or night. Cloud recording, though it is extra, is worth it.

I wasn’t crazy about the set up process this time around, though there is a possibility it was due to my home’s Wi-Fi, so I’m not going to make that a big strike against Ring here. I do think it would be nice to have a battery backup in this camera, so that in the event the power goes out (or someone cuts it) you’d still have monitoring.

Other downsides? That monthly cloud recording fee might be an annoying extra cost for some.
And the hacking is concerning. While Ring has been placing blame for that with users, some security experts feel the company could be doing more to protect customers too. I’m still on the fence, so the Indoor camera monitors the garage currently.

So if you’re not worried about hackers, this camera will be a good fit for your home. Overall I can definitely recommend Ring Indoor Cam as part of your home security system. This camera sells for about $90 CAD from places like Best Buy and Amazon.

UPDATE: after 1 year of using Ring Indoor Camera

I’ve now had this camera in place for over a year and I can say it’s come in very handy. We’ve done a major renovation of our home, and I left the camera in place so we could periodically check in. I have been able to keep tabs on the work while we stay elsewhere. The video picture is good and clear and the audio feed lets me listen in if I need to. Ring has also taken steps to prevent hacking, so I’m feeling a lot more comfortable and I continue to recommend Ring Indoor Cam Plug-In.