So, you got a Ring door lock? Cool. Or… maybe frustrating? Mine sits there. Looks okay. Supposedly ‘smart’. And Alexa? Routines? “Alexa, good morning!” and lights come on, coffee starts… cool dream. But the real question burning a hole in my brain (besides where I left my keys again): Can I actually tie the ring door lock into this? Like, make it unlock automatically when I say “Alexa, I’m home!” or something? Sounds convenient. Does it work? Let me tell you… it’s complicated. Maybe. I need coffee for this.
First hurdle: Setup. Setting up the Ring lock itself was… an adventure. App instructions? Looked clear until step 3. Then it got weird. My wifi password had a ! in it. Mistake? Maybe. Took forever to connect. Screamed at my phone. Standard stuff. THEN linking it to the Alexa app? You’d think owning both would make it easy. Amazon owns Ring! Should be plug-and-play, right? HAHAHA nope. Found the Ring ‘skill’. Installed it. Took a few tries. “Device not discovered”. Whyyyyyyy? Had to disable 5Ghz wifi or something absurd? Maybe my router hates me. Eventually it showed up in Alexa. Small victory. Had another coffee.
So, it sees the lock. Cool. Now… routines? Can I add a lock action to my “Good Morning” routine? Went digging in the Alexa app. Routines > Add action > Smart Home. Scroll… scroll… THERES THE LOCK! Options? LOCK and UNLOCK. Okay, UNLOCK! That sounds dangerous! Did it? Set up a test routine: “Alexa, unlock” (terrifying concept, honestly). Said the words. Alexa said… “Okay”. Click. It unlocked! Holy cow. Worked. Once.
But here’s the BUTS. Big ones.
- Safety First (For Good Reason): Alexa routines WILL NOT let you unlock the door with a simple voice command like “Alexa, open sesame.” Too risky. Someone could yell it through your window! (Or so Amazon thinks). So your routine unlock action requires you to set up a PIN within the routine setup. So yeah, “Alexa, I’m home” triggers the routine… then Alexa asks for your PIN. Defeats the whole hands-free thing! Standing at the door in rain, bags falling, shouting a PIN… feels dumb. So auto-unlock on arrival is a bust via routine. Major bummer. Locking remotely though? Via routine? Easy. “Alexa, lock up” works fine. Add that to a “Goodnight” routine? Yes, works well.
- Announcements! This is probably the most useful integration, honestly. If someone uses the physical keypad to unlock the ring door lock, you can set an Alexa routine to announce “Front Door Unlocked!” on your Echo devices. THAT works great. Super handy knowing when the kids got home or the dog walker arrived. Can trigger lights turning on too. Winner.
- Limited Triggers: What can trigger your lock in a routine? Not motion detection from your Ring cam (different skill, different headache). Usually just voice, schedule, or other device (like an Echo button). Want it to auto-lock when your Ring cam detects motion leaving? Doesn’t work that way directly. Frustrating. Maybe with IFTTT? That’s another app and another level of headache I’m not ready for. Keep it simple? Usually best.
- Battery Life Paranoia: Any smart lock integration drains battery. Constantly talking to Alexa? Probably worse. Makes you watch that battery meter like a hawk. Is that flicker because battery is dying or just wifi? Stress!
So, Final Verdict?
Yeah, the ring door lock technically works with Alexa routines. But… with caveats bigger than my laundry pile.
- What works well:
- Voice/Lock actions: Telling Alexa to lock the door? Adding a lock action to “Goodnight”? Works fine. Reliable? So far for me.
- Announcements: Knowing when it unlocks via Alexa saying so? Super useful.
- What DOESN’T work well / is risky/pointless:
- Voice/Unlock via routine without PIN. Blocked. Thank goodness? Mostly. Super annoying? Totally. Forget the “magic hands-free entry” dream via routine.
- Complex triggers. Motion triggering an unlock? Forget it. Setting up reliable “I just got home” auto-lock/unlock flows is messy or impossible.
- Thinking it’ll be perfect. Battery drain, occasional “device unresponsive” messages… yeah, get used to it.
It’s… okay? If you want easy locking confirmation via voice or announcements, it works! If you wanted a truly seamless unlock flow as part of a routine… prepare for disappointment (and PIN shouting). It does the basics. Sometimes. Mostly. Like most tech in my house after Tuesday. Ugh. Plug in that external power supply if you try heavy automation… just in case.