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Can Police Recover Deleted Ring Videos?

Ring cameras and doorbells have helped many people catch thieves and solve unpleasant occurrences. Even though losing videos is not common among Ring users, one question that often pops up is, can police recover deleted ring videos?

Unfortunately, if a video has been deleted from the Ring server, it cannot be recovered, even by the police. Unless you’ve downloaded the video on local storage, that video is gone for good.

Let’s shed some light on this matter.

Can Police Recover Deleted Ring Videos?

Ring devices keep the recorded videos on the cloud for a certain period. It depends on your preferred settings. The videos can stay on the cloud from one day up to sixty days. However, they get deleted after sixty days for security reasons.

You can also delete videos from the cloud or the app if you don’t need them. However, once the videos are deleted from the cloud, there is no way to recover them.

As for the police to recover these videos, it’s not possible either. Ring authority can share certain videos from their cloud with any governing authority, like the police, if they’re asked to under legal circumstances. In dangerous situations, Ring authority is bound to share the videos if the governing body requests to comply with the law.

Nonetheless, Ring does not violate the privacy of its users. You can read their Law Enforcement Guidelines to see what to expect from the brand. Make sure to go through the privacy policy before getting any device from them.

Even so, there is no way to recover deleted videos. The best thing to do to avoid such unfortunate events is to download the videos and keep them stored in local storage.

How Do Users Lose Their Ring Videos?

There are two ways in which Ring videos can get deleted. The first one is accidental deletion. If you’re operating your account from Ring’s login website, deleting a video accidentally is very easy.

When you delete a video, it does not ask for confirmation before deleting the file. So, it only requires one tap to remove the video forever. On the contrary, if you’re using the Ring app and accidentally delete a video, a confirmation window will pop up.

This allows the user to change their minds in case the tap was accidental. Still, both of the situations only require a few taps to remove a video from the cloud.

Another way people lose their Ring videos is by automatic deletion. The Ring will store the videos for a certain amount of time. It’s not more than 60 days. Once a video has been on the cloud for sixty days, Ring automatically deletes the video.

The ring can also delete videos if the subscription fee wasn’t paid in time. And free users can’t enjoy the benefit of recorded videos. So, this is out of the equation.

To sum up, it doesn’t matter how the videos got deleted. Once they’re removed from the cloud, there’s no way to recover them. Even if the police want to access deleted videos, they can’t because the files don’t exist.  

How To Protect Ring Videos?

The only way you can keep your Ring videos indefinitely is if you back them up in local storage. You need to download the videos on your device. This way, you can also access them offline and use them as needed.

To download Ring videos, go to the login website and use your credentials to log into your account. Go to the History page and then click on Manage.

Downloading the videos works as a safety net in case something goes wrong. It will require extra storage to keep all videos. You can store the ones you think are important and keep them in external storage for safekeeping.

Besides, if you’ve accidentally deleted downloaded videos, there are ways to recover them. For instance, using third-party software will allow you to recover the data you’ve deleted from your local storage. One example of such software is the Disk Drill.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Does deleting Ring videos remove them from all devices?

Ring videos are kept in the cloud. So, deleting those means that you can’t access them from any device. Whether you’re logging in from the website using one device or using the Ring app, you won’t find the videos you’ve deleted.

So, yes. Deleting Ring videos remove them from all devices unless you’ve downloaded them.

Q. Who can delete Ring videos?

Only the owner of a Ring device can delete videos from their account. However, the system is designed to automatically delete any videos that have been on the cloud for sixty days. This duration is not fixed, so make sure to check your account to see for how long the videos will be stored in the cloud before automatic deletion.

Q. Does Ring keep deleted videos?

No, it doesn’t. Ring videos are entirely cloud-based. So, once a video is deleted from the database, even the brand doesn’t keep it. That’s why it’s not possible to recover deleted Ring videos.

Q. Can police access Ring videos?

If certain Ring videos contain evidence of a crime, the police can subpoena Ring videos. When the police show a court order, a warrant, or subpoena Ring videos, the Ring authority must provide them to comply with the law.

However, the police cannot access the videos without any basis to protect the privacy of the customer. If you have any queries about it, you can read the privacy policy of Ring devices.

Final Words

If you’ve lost a few important videos and are wondering if can police recover deleted Ring videos or not, they can’t. So, if you want to protect your Ring videos and avoid further unpleasant experiences, it’s recommended that you download the videos and keep them on local storage.

This way, you can recover the videos even if they are deleted from the cloud storage. In addition, files from local storage are recoverable compared to the files stored in the cloud.