Ring in September added lost dog tracking features to its cameras and doorbells in September. Now it has added the ability to find lost pups to dog owners that don’t own a Ring doorbell or camera, reports PCMag.
The new feature, called “Search Party,” allows people to submit a lost dog to the Ring system. Then, your neighbors’ Ring doorbells can use AI to monitor and hopefully catch sight of the pup if it walks into view. If it does see the lost dog, the system will notify the camera’s owner, who can then share the video with the dog’s owner, hopefully allowing them to recover the dog.
Those without a Ring camera can set up their own lost pet listing in the Neighbors by Ring app (available in the App Store), and request nearby Ring owners to keep an eye out.
“Now, pet owners can mobilize the whole community—and communities are empowered to help—to find lost pets more effectively than ever before,” says Ring Founder Jamie Siminoff. “That’s why we believe it’s so important to make this feature available to anyone who shares a lost dog post in Neighbors.”
According to Amazon, the feature has helped find more than a dog a day in the US since it’s launch. The feature is on by default, so all Ring devices automatically monitor for lost dogs unless the user turns it off. As you might imagine, this has caused some security concerns.
