It's safe to say Ring's Video Doorbells kickstarted a whole new smart home trend, allowing you to see and speak to who is at your door if you are away at work or on your travels.

Plus, as we've found out ourselves at Pocket-lint - thanks to one helping identify and catch a burglar - a Ring Video Doorbell also makes a very useful security camera. Since it can be set to trigger recordings whenever it detects motion, you can see whenever anyone comes close to your front door - day or night.

If you subscribe to a Ring Protect Plan, that video is stored in the cloud. But, did you know you can download it for offline use too - such as giving it to the police if needed?

We explain how.

How to download Ring footage on your phone

As mentioned, your Ring Video Doorbell records 20-30 second clips whenever it detects motion, a person or if someone presses the doorbell button. That footage is then saved to the cloud in your Ring account. You can access it to download via the app.

  • Open your Ring app
  • Tap on the burger (three horizontal bars) icon in the top left-hand corner
  • Tap on 'History' - this shows you all events recorded
  • Open the desired clip or event
  • On the video playback screen tap the three dots (in the bottom right-hand corner)
  • Select 'Download' on the pop-up menu
  • It may ask for access to your Photos on iPhone or Files on Android - tap 'OK' or 'allow'.

Once you've gone through this process, the video file will be saved to your phone's gallery. You can share it then via any means you need to, whether it be as an email attachment or on social media.

How to download Ring doorbell footage on your Mac/PC

If you don't have access to your phone or personal mobile device, you can also download your footage directly from your Ring account by logging in through a web browser on any PC or Mac.

  • Open your web browser and go to 'account.ring.com'.
  • Log in using your account details
  • Tap 'History' to show all recorded clips
  • Choose the clip you want and select the download icon underneath the video box (looks like an arrow pointing down)
  • If you get a pop-up asking permission to allow downloads, choose 'allow'

Follow this process, and you'll have an MP4 video file in your downloads folder. Share it via any means that you need to.

That's pretty much it, it's a very easy process once you know where to find the video files. For other tips and tricks for your Ring Video Doorbell, check out our extensive guide.