An Amazon Echo Show 8 displaying a family at a homeowner's front door.

Setting Up Alexa Person and Package Announcements

Echo Show 10 with Stick Up Cam. The screen shows a person approaching the front door.

Select Ring video doorbells and security cameras have Person and Package Detection Announcements which can be activated with a Ring subscription plan.

When your Ring device detects a person or package, you'll get a Live View of your Ring camera feed on your Echo Show, Fire TV, or Fire Tablet, along with a voice announcement, and a mobile push notification.

You can also opt in to Person and Package Detection Announcements on your Echo Smart Speaker and Alexa can announce when a person or package arrives.

Learn how to connect your Ring device to your Alexa-enabled device.

Package Detection is available to Ring customers with select video doorbell models (e.g. Ring Video Doorbell (2nd Generation), Ring Wired Video Doorbell Pro (formerly Video Doorbell Pro 2), Ring Battery Doorbell Plus) and a Ring subscription plan.

Find out what doorbell or security camera you have in the Ring app.

Echo Show 10 with Video Doorbell. The screen shows two packages at the front door.

Turning on Person and Package Detection Announcements for Ring and Alexa devices

To turn on Alexa Person and Package Detection Announcements, you need to enable Smart Alerts in the Ring app. Then, opt in to Camera Events in the Alexa app.

To enable Smart Alerts in the Ring app:

  1. Tap the
    menu (≡)
    at the top left of your
    Dashboard.
  2. Tap
    Devices.
    • Tap the device you'd like to enable.
    • If you have multiple devices, you can enable and customize the settings for each device.
  3. Tap
    Motion Settings.
  4. Tap
    Smart Alerts.
  5. Tap
    Enable Feature.
  6. Tap
    Continue.
  7. Under
    Motion Zones,
    adjust Person settings.
    • Tap the camera icon to enable video recording when a person is detected.
    • Tap the bell icon to enable mobile notification when a person is detected.

Next, enable Package detection and customize your package delivery zone.

To set up your Package Zone:

  1. Under
    Package Zone
    , tap the camera icon. 
  2. Tap
    Turn On Feature
    .
  3. Read the information on the next four screens and tap
    Continue
    .
  4. On the next screen, read the instructions in the white box and tap
    Got It
    .
  5. To adjust your Package Zone, tap the orange area.
  • Drag the circles to where you’d like to adjust the zone.
  • Tap
    Continue.
  • Tap
    Save Zone.

6. Tap Got It.

You can go into Motion Settings at any time to adjust your Package Zone or change the detection sensitivity for motion and packages.

To opt in to Camera Events in the Alexa app:

  1. Tap
    Devices
    at the bottom right corner of the Alexa app home screen.
  2. Tap
    Cameras
    .
    • Tap the Ring security camera or video doorbell you'd like to enable.
    • If you have multiple devices, you can enable and customize the settings for each device.
  3. Toggle the button to
    On mode
    for Person Detection Announcements and Package Detection Announcements to enable the feature.
An Alexa device settings screen on iOS. Person Detection Announcements is toggled on.

4. Tap Camera Events settings to customize Person and Package Detection settings.

An Alexa device settings screen on iOS showing the Camera Events settings.

5. Tap Person Detection to update the settings.

  • Toggle the button to
    On mode
    to enable
    Mobile Notifications
    and
    Announcements.

6. Tap the arrow in the top left corner to go back to the previous screen.

7. Tap Package Detection to update the settings.

  • Toggle the button to
    On mode
    to enable
    Mobile Notifications
    and
    Announcements.
Person Detection settings screen in the Alexa app.

Customizing features and Person and Package Announcements

In the Alexa app, you can:

  • Select which devices can make Person and Package Announcements if you have more than one Alexa-enabled device.
  • View the
    Camera Events
    dashboard to review footage of Person or Package events.
  • Create
    Custom Voice Announcements
    when a person or package arrives.
  • Set up
    Routines
    to have Alexa perform an action based on a rule that you can create.

If you have other smart home devices connected to the Alexa app, such as Ring Smart Lighting, you can have Alexa turn on the lights when your Ring camera detects a person while you’re away.

Last updated 2 months ago