Ring Video Doorbell: How to Change Owners (For All Ring Devices)

By Trae Jacobs,

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Whether you’re selling your Ring Doorbell or just bought one secondhand, you need to know how to change the owner of the device.

I contacted Ring Support directly and had them tell me everything I needed to know.

How to Change Owners for the Ring Video Doorbell

The steps to change ownership of a Ring Doorbell are pretty straightforward, and you can use the same steps for any other Ring device.

Considering upgrading your Ring Doorbell? Consider the Ring Doorbell Elite, which uses an Ethernet cable instead of Wi-Fi. If that’s too much work, the Ring Doorbell Pro is still a champ in our books.

Remove the Payment Information

If you’re the original owner and the device you’re getting rid of is the only thing connected to your Ring account, the first thing you want to do is remove your payment method.

Removing your payment method is essential to ensure you don’t get charged by Ring for a subscription plan in the future.

The steps to remove your payment information are simple, but you can only do it from the Ring desktop website.

Open the Ring website on your computer’s web browser.
Log into your Ring account.
Click on your name in the top-right corner of the screen.
Select “Account.”
Look for “Credit Card on File” and click the “X” next to your card to remove it from your account.

Here is a screenshot of what accessing your account information should look like after logging in:

Ring website menu with "Account" highlighted

The next thing you’ll need to do is contact Ring Support so you can get some money back.

Contact Ring Support to Cancel Your Plan

Ring Support is awesome — they offer a refund for the time you aren’t using your Ring Protect Plan! I actually had no idea they refunded you until I contacted Ring Support to find out more details.

Here is a screenshot of a conversation I had with Ring Support:

There are a few ways to contact Ring Support:

Call them at 1-800-656-1918 (US number)
In-Person Store (Rare; only a few locations in CA and AZ)
Contact support through the Ring App (phone and chat support)

On the Ring Support page, enter your question in the search box and hit “Support” or click on the small tab to start a Chat. I prefer Chat Support because it saves me time from dialing a number and physically talking to someone.

Remove All Users with Shared Access

If you’ve added any Shared User profiles to your Ring account and granted them access to the device you’re getting rid of, remove them as a precaution.

Removing a Shared User is pretty easy and can be done right from the app.

Open your device’s Settings (the cog icon).
Select “Shared Access.”
Select the user.
Select “Remove User” and confirm you want to remove.

Remove the Ring Doorbell from Your Account

Once everything else is taken care of, you can remove the Ring Doorbell from your Ring account.

Open the Ring app.
Select the three lines in the top-left corner.
Select “Devices.”
Tap the device you want to remove.
Select “Device Settings.”
Scroll down to “General Settings.”
Select “Remove Device.”
If you have a subscription, decide what to do with the devices’s existing events then select “Deactivate Device.”

Do I Need to Reset My Ring Doorbell for a New Owner?

Resetting your Ring device before you give it to someone else isn’t necessary, but it’s a good step to take.

Resetting your Ring device will completely wipe it of any previous settings, such as the Wi-Fi connection.

**NOTE: These steps may vary depending on the Doorbell or Camera you are trying to reset. Here’s how to factory reset a Ring Stick Up Cam, and here’s how to reset a Ring Spotlight Cam.

Remove the backplate from the device.
Hold the reset button on the back for approximately 30 seconds.

Once you see a spinning or flashing white light on the front of the device, it’s done resetting. Here is a YouTube video from Ring showing you exactly how to do it:

FAQ: Changing Owners of Ring Devices

Can You Bypass Ring Ownership?

The only way to release ownership of a Ring device is to have the previous owner remove the device from their account. Unless you’re the original owner, you cannot do this yourself.

What if the Ring Device is Still Registered to the Previous Owner?

If you buy a Ring device from someone else and find out it’s still registered to the previous owner, you won’t be able to set it up.

If you can, contact the previous owner and ask them to remove the device from their account. If you can’t contact them, try factory resetting the device.

If a factory reset does not remove the ownership, there’s unfortunately nothing else you can do. Your only choice is to purchase a new device.

Can a Ring Device Have Two Owners?

Only one person at a time can set a Ring device up on their account. However, you can give another person access to your Ring camera by adding them as a shared user.

When you add a person as a shared user, you can choose the level of access they have to your camera. Here’s how to add a shared user to your Ring account:

Open the Ring app.
Tap the three horizontal lines to open the menu.
Select “Devices.”
Choose the device you want to share.
Scroll down and select “Shared Access.”
Tap “Add User.”
Enter the email address of the person you want to add then select the devices you want grant access.
Select “Send Invite.”