How To Turn Off Night Vision on a Ring Doorbell

Aaron Donald July 11, 2022

Night vision is an invaluable smart doorbell feature, but its black-and-white footage undoubtedly remains inferior to the high-definition of daytime recordings. If your Ring doorbell continues recording in night vision mode even during the day, you probably want to turn this feature off as soon as possible.

How To Turn Off Night Vision on a Ring Doorbell

Is it possible to disable night vision on a Ring doorbell, or will you have to resort to other measures? Read on to find out how to remedy the issue and get the most out of your security device.

Can You Turn Off Night Vision on a Ring Doorbell?

All Ring doorbells feature night vision mode, and newer models do a great job optimizing the footage for the best possible quality. However, the black-and-white recordings of older models undeniably leave much to be desired.

Nighttime footage is often too dark, blurry, or washed-out to make out anything meaningful on it. In addition, various environmental factors can interfere with the camera’s infrared light. For instance, outdoor lighting and nearby surfaces can easily overexpose the footage. Similar factors can even cause the camera to get stuck in night vision mode during the day, limiting the functionality of your Ring doorbell.

You can adjust many Ring doorbell features in the proprietary app you use to control your device. However, you won’t find a toggle to simply disable night vision. This can be a problem if this feature doesn’t function properly. Here are some troubleshooting tips in case your device is stuck in black-and-white mode.

Ring Doorbell Stuck in Night Vision Fixes

Are you receiving black-and-white footage from your Ring doorbell camera even after the sun has long risen? Your device is most likely still in night mode. Check your doorbell to see if this is the case. A glowing, red dot on your device will signal that night vision is on. Temporary bugs or inadequate outdoor light conditions can both cause the doorbell to get stuck in night mode. Try the fixes below to solve the issue.

Reboot the Device

A simple reboot may be enough to give your Ring doorbell a fresh start. The process may differ slightly depending on your model.

Unscrew your Ring doorbell’s bottom screw. You might need to remove the faceplate or the entire device from your wall to access the reset button.
Find the orange reset button. It’s either on the side or the back of the device.
Press and hold the button for at least 15 seconds. You’ll see your doorbell’s light flash a few times.
Wait until the device resets. This may take a few minutes.
Check whether your doorbell now registers daytime.

Adjust Your Doorbell’s Settings

Some Ring doorbell models have more advanced settings than others. Use the Ring app to see if you can adjust your doorbell’s infrared light settings.

Open your doorbell’s Ring app for iOS or Android.
Tap the hamburger menu in the top left corner.
Find “Devices.”
Select your device from the list.
Choose the “Device settings” in the device option.
Look for a “Video Settings” button.

If there’s no option to adjust video settings, your last resort is to change the environment of your Ring doorbell.

Consider the Environment

Night vision should only activate when the light conditions are especially low. Your camera may not be receiving enough light to register that it no longer should use its infrared setting. Is an outdoor structure, such as a porch overhang, creating perpetual shade over your device? Is your doorbell in a recessed spot sunlight cannot hit? If yes, you might need to move your doorbell to a better location or change the light conditions in another way. Once you’ve done so, test whether this resolved your night vision issue.

How to Turn Off Color Night Vision on Ring Doorbell

Color night vision is a feature available on several Ring devices, including premium doorbell models like Video Doorbell Pro and Video Doorbell Elite. This smart mode uses infrared light combined with any available ambient light to colorize nighttime footage, making it more easily discernable. Since this isn’t true color footage, the result may not reflect reality at all times. If you’d rather turn this feature off, follow the instructions below.

Launch your iOS or Android Ring app.
Tap the three horizontal lines in the corner and select “Devices.”
Select your doorbell from the list and press “Device Settings.”
Find the “Video Settings” option.
Tap “Color Night Vision” to toggle this feature on or off.

If you turn off color night vision, your doorbell will only rely on its infrared lights for low-light footage. Since outdoor conditions can vary, test which option suits you better.

Let There Be Light

A doorbell with night vision is essential for keeping your home safe after the sun sets. However, you don’t want this mode to extend to the daytime. Although there’s no way to turn off night vision on your Ring doorbell, the above tweaks can help your device register daytime conditions. Depending on your Ring doorbell model, you might also be able to adjust your video settings to improve the low-light video quality.

Have you experienced issues with your Ring doorbell’s night vision mode? Do you have any troubleshooting tips not covered above? Let us know in the comments section below.