Ring to Launch Neighbours Community App in UK as Privacy Debate Intensifies in the US

Amazon’s doorbell camera subsidiary Ring is set to introduce its Neighbours community app in the UK, positioning it as a modern alternative to local WhatsApp and Facebook groups.

The service is designed to function as a digital community noticeboard, enabling residents to share information on safety, local matters, and lost pets.

UK users will be able to access the app at no cost through the existing Ring platform from 21 October. Participation is open to all, irrespective of whether they own any Ring products.

“We used to have the village noticeboard, but as things have changed we no longer have that local connection,” said Dave Ward, managing director of international at Ring. “What you see on WhatsApp or other services is quite a broad flood of information — the bins being left out, that sort of thing. It’s a big group that ends up getting muted.”

“We’re trying to tailor this down to just the things that really matter to your immediate community, and then it becomes super useful,” he added.

Users who join the service set their address and choose a radius of between 0.1 and five miles to connect with their local community.

Some of the more controversial features of the US version of Neighbours will not be available in the UK immediately. These include the Neighbours Verified service, which allows organisations such as the local fire brigade to post advisory messages to communities.

The Community Requests feature, which enables police to issue appeals for footage from Ring cameras in a local area following incidents, has drawn the most criticism from privacy advocates. The feature allows individuals with relevant footage to share it with law enforcement on an opt-in, per-event basis. Police are not informed of those who choose not to share.

Both features are being developed for UK release but are unlikely to arrive until later this year at the earliest.

At launch, Neighbours will offer basic anonymised postings organised into categories, subject to strict guidelines that bar illegal content, discrimination, speculation, and other prohibited material.

Posts are moderated by both AI and human reviewers before and after publication. Content can also be shared from Ring doorbells and other cameras.

“We are going to coach people to make sure they’re creating the right sort of post, asking them if that’s really something they want to write or whether it really needs that descriptive term, to help stop the type of content no one wants to see and make it more community focused. That’s very different to other places [such as WhatsApp groups],” Ward said.

Amazon acquired the video doorbell and home security camera maker in 2018 in a deal reportedly valued at more than $1bn.

The new service will also include a feature called “Search Party for Dogs”, which allows users to post an image and report of a missing dog. Neighbours who own Ring cameras with an appropriate cloud subscription can opt in to the search and will be notified if their cameras spot a dog matching the report. They can then verify whether it is the correct animal and, if so, optionally notify and share the video with the pet owner.

In a move to address some privacy concerns, Ring recently announced a new default encryption mechanism for camera footage called TAKE (throw away the key encryption). This feature provides Ring’s systems with time-limited keys to recordings, blocking the company and others from accessing the videos after 24 hours. Any further processing or access, including by law enforcement, requires explicit user consent to issue replacement 24-hour keys via the user’s Ring app.

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