I remember the first time I encountered a Ring doorbell. I went to visit my brother in Palolo but no one was home after I went to their front door. Then I had to jump back because my brother’s voice came out of the woodwork and said “Hi! We’re at Costco right now.” and I could hear my sister-in-law laughing in the background because she could see my shocked reaction via the Ring camera.

A few years after that, I decided to buy one for my front door and it has been one of the best techie gadgets ever. It is super easy to install – especially if it is the battery model. My grandson loves to ring it and hear the chimes and I can see whoever is there whether they press the door bell or just pass by. $39 per year will save videos so I can scroll backwards and see who came by (as well as seeing myself going in and out). There are several different models that can be found on the Ring.com website and once you sign up and buy one, you get special deals and discounts (so now I have a second ring for my back door). At first I balked at paying $39/year but it comes out to a bit more than $3/month and being able to scroll back is a wonderful feature vs. only getting live views that are not recorded.

The Neighborhood app

Just the doorbell and video features are great, but what is even niftier is the sister app to Ring called Neighbors. I signed up for notifications about crime, lost animals, community events all within a certain range from where I live. I get notifications about break ins, weird people walking into yards – captured and shared videos posted by other Ring users in my vicinity. There are some unlawful incidents and the perpetrators are caught on camera to alert us and help the police catch them.

Tonight, the Ring Neighborhood app brought home my daughter’s doggie.

Toshi wandered out of the yard around noon because the side gate was left open. Usually he hangs around since he is 14 years old, slow, and deaf but this time I didn’t notice that he was missing until a couple of hours had passed. I drove around and around and then put on my walking shoes after killing my feet with rubber slippers and walked for blocks in the hot sun asking people if they saw a loose dog. I gave up in the evening, called the Humane Society to report a lost dog, posted on Facebook’s Paw Posse Ohana (which takes a few hours to be moderated and approved), and then decided to try the Ring Neighborhood app.

I described the situation and posted pictures of Toshi. The app shows the general vicinity of where I live and immediately I started getting feedback and support from others in my neighborhood, asking what cross streets I lived on, kind sympathetic messages of hope, people saying that they would go driving around, etc. Within 10 minutes, a message showed up with a phone number and that they found Toshi! He was on a leash at a man’s house and when they saw him and asked the man about it, he said he found a dog roaming around on the street, fed him, and was taking him out to poop, hoping someone would show up looking for their dog.

I called the number and was given an address. I zoomed over and found a nice young couple (Tessa and James) in front of their house holding Toshi in their arms. The kindness of strangers. A community of caring individuals. How wonderful is that.

It makes me want to cheer: “I’m from Kaimuki and no one could be prouder. And if you cannot hear me, I’ll yell a little louder! …..”

I love this neighborhood and Ring helps us to be better neighbors. A big mahalo to Ring and its Neighborhood app. It makes me want to cheer for Ring but it’s hard to figure one out for a name that is just one syllable. “Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!”