I have had this system for quite a while. At least a year, probably more.

From the beginning, a ring "event" -- either somebody ringing the doorbell, or motion detected -- would launch the Ring desktop app on my Mac.

Recently (a few weeks?) this stopped working. I do still see an event notification on the iPhone or iPad app, and an alert on the Apple watch, but the Mac OS X desktop app is no longer launched when a Ring event occurs.

Of course, I checked all settings before starting a chat session with Ring "support" (do these guys actually read what the customer writes?). They kept telling me about the phone app, I had to keep reminding them that I was talking about the desktop app.

They told me to remove, then download and re-install the desktop so that I would have the current (latest) version. There is a "Check For Updates" selection in the drop-down menu of the app, and it stated that I do have the current version, but OK, I'll play your silly game.

Downloaded and installed the current version, which is identical to what I already had, Version 0.82 (350), and no change in the situation.

One thing that I noticed: All other OS X apps are installed in the /applications directory. The Ring app wanted to install in my ~home/Applications directory. I have no idea why. The re-installation did not correct the situation. I moved the app from ~home/Applications to the system's /Applications directory, where all other executables are, but no change. It still does not launch when there is an event detected.

If there is another Mac user with Ring, I would appreciate if you would try something and report back to me: close the Ring app if it is open. Then, create an event either by ringing your doorbell, or causing a motion alert, and tell me if your Ring app launches automatically. Remember, I am talking about the Mac OS X desktop app, not an iPhone or iPad iOS app.

Thanks for your help.

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UPDATE: I spent the better part of an hour in a chat session with Ring "support" (RS) yesterday. RS first told me how to select proper settings on the iPhone app, I finally got them to understand that I was not talking about the phone, I was talking about the Mac OS X desktop app. They insisted that I was mistaken, the desktop app does not launch automatically when a motion or ring event is detected. They told me to expect an email from a Manager (yeah, they used a capital 'M' for Manager).

I gave up, can't win every battle, thinking I might send a letter to the CEO, but I moved on to other things. Well, this morning, my wife left for her office. When she enters or exits the front door, a motion event is triggered. Lo and behold, the desktop app launched and showed her walking from the front door to the driveway.

This is not the first time that this sequence has occurred:

• The Mac OS desktop app malfunctions
  
  
• I have a long and frustrating chat session with Ring "support," during which they insist that there is nothing wrong and imply that I do not know what I am talking about
  
  
• Some time within the next twelve hours, the problem disappears and everything functions the way it used to, before the malfunction. No changes, repeat NO CHANGES made by me, whatever was done to un-fuck it, was done on their end, even though they insisted that there was nothing wrong.
  
  
• Total radio silence from them, no email message or other form of communication stating "we found the problem and fixed it."

Bottom line: a very strange company, not at all customer oriented.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: V-Tail,

Neither motion nor actually ringing the bell cause the desktop app to open for me.

quote:

Originally posted by SigM4:
Neither motion nor actually ringing the bell cause the desktop app to open for me.

Has this always been the case for you? How long have you had the Ring stuff?

From the very beginning for us, maybe a year or more ago, a motion alert (we don't get very many people walking up and ringing the bell) would activate the desktop app. I could be working in my office at the back of the house and be alerted when my wife walked up to the door, coming home from work. The desktop app would also pop up when she left in the morning -- this would happen on my desktop on the Mac in the hangar.

Then, a few weeks ago, this stopped. I am not aware of any changes on my end. I double-checked all settings and everything seems to be the same.

Mystery!

Look at the Notifications tab in System Preferences. This controls what the Mac does when it receives a notification. There should be in item in the left pane associated with Ring devices, and there will be a list of options shown when this is selected.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Look at the Notifications tab in System Preferences. This controls what the Mac does when it receives a notification. There should be in item in the left pane associated with Ring devices, and there will be a list of options shown when this is selected.

Got it, thank you. I had not been aware of this.

I did set it to Alert, which is described as being persistent. It had been set to Banner.

But that's not what I was referring to. What had been happening for a long time, up until a few weeks ago, was that an "event" -- somebody ringing the doorbell, or motion detected -- would launch the Ring app. This action, which is what I want, stopped working a few weeks ago.

It works just fine on the iOS (and watch) apps, but it just does not work any more on the OS X app.

Ring NO-support has been totally useless for this probem.

Update in original post.