Table of Contents
The app image of a Lorex doorbell on a phone.
Does it work with smart home platforms? If so, do the smart features work well together?
Nowadays, a smart home device is expected to work with at least one major smart home platform. Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant And Apple HomeKit are the most important ones you should pay attention to.
Privacy and security
Video doorbells capture many everyday moments, and many of them store that footage in the cloud. One of our priorities is to review a brand’s track record with respect to privacy practices, digital storage, and overall security.
Check out our best-of list above and you’ll see us discuss topics like how easily a doorbell maker hands over video to authorities or how they’ve responded to data vulnerabilities in the past. This is also why some doorbells didn’t make our list: Wyze, with repeated security breaches as recent as the September 2023 video caching issue that left others look through strangers’ doorbellsdidn’t make it.
Video storage and subscriptions
Video storage is integral to the video doorbell experience. With so much video being captured automatically, we’ll focus on how that video is uploaded, storage limitations, and how easily videos can be accessed or shared. Saving video footage is especially important if you want to report a porch pirate to the police or save a similar unpleasant event for later action (sometimes animals are caught being cute, too).
Video storage varies widely from doorbell to doorbell. Some offer a certain amount of online video storage for free, but many require monthly subscriptions to store videos in the cloud or significantly increase storage options with a subscription. Other doorbells have the option to use local storage with a microSD card, a cheaper option that requires significantly more manual video management. We like to see as many free and user-friendly options in video doorbells as possible, assuming you already have sufficient home tech subscriptions.
AI recognition and alerts
AI and video doorbells are a useful — and increasingly common — combination. We’re looking for AI software that can correctly identify packages, pets, or even the faces of people in your contact lists and send you more accurate notifications about what’s going on (and if a package unexpectedly goes missing). On the flip side, we’d also like to see smart motion detection that can easily ignore passing cars or falling leaves to reduce unnecessary alerts.
Wired vs. Wireless
Wired vs. wireless is largely a matter of preference, but it’s an important one. Wired doorbells have always-on power and can often be connected to an existing doorbell. Wireless models are much more flexible in terms of placement, but you’ll need to charge them every few months or so and they can’t connect to a hardware chime. One isn’t necessarily better than the other, and many doorbells offer both options, but it’s important to think about how you plan to use one.
Latency
If your smart doorbell camera takes a long time to send a push notification after someone rings the doorbell, you run the risk of missing your visitor entirely. You’ll also want to make sure you receive notifications whenever something triggers the motion detector, as you can set the motion sensor on most video doorbells to alert you to activity near your door even if no one rings the doorbell. If you’re having issues with latency, start with your Wi-Fi connection. If it’s not strong where the doorbell is installed, consider moving it (or, easier, getting a Wi-Fi extender). It could also be a matter of how the software works.
Live display quality
Doorbells are often exposed to direct sunlight, but many others are installed under porches, near shady trees, and in a variety of other environments. It’s important that the camera has night vision and can handle all of these scenarios, so you’re not stuck with a non-functioning product that can’t see faces under a porch.
Sound quality
If the doorbell microphone and speaker are not working properly, it will be difficult to communicate with whoever is there. We tested this multiple times to see how the doorbell audio sounds through my phone.
