Amazon is set to launch a Ring “neighbourhood watch” app in the UK, aiming to replace WhatsApp or Facebook groups with a platform where people can post about safety or lost pets. The service will be made available free of charge inside the existing Ring app for UK users from 21 October, and can be used by anyone, regardless of whether they own one of the brand’s products.
UK first outside the US for Neighbours feature
The UK will be the first country outside the US to get the feature, which allows users to create their own neighbourhood by setting a radius around their home, with the option to go up to five miles. Users can also customise notifications to avoid being bombarded with updates that aren’t relevant to them.
If you’re already a Ring customer, Neighbours will appear directly in the Ring app. If you’re new to Ring, you can simply download the app and enter your address to set up your neighbourhood.
Tailored community updates vs broad WhatsApp floods
Dave Ward, the managing director of international for Ring, said the service aims to restore local connections that have been lost. “We used to have the village noticeboard, but as things have changed we no longer have that local connection,” he said.
Ward contrasted the new platform with existing services: “Instead what you see in WhatsApp or other services is quite a broad-stroked flood of information, the bins being left out, that sort of thing. It’s a big group that ends up getting muted. We’re trying to tailor this down to just the things that really matter to your immediate community and then it becomes super useful.”
Coaching users to keep posts community-focused
Ward also outlined plans to moderate content. “We are going to coach people to make sure they’re creating the right sort of post, asking them if that’s really something they want to write or whether it really need that descriptive term, to help stop the type of content no one wants to see and make it more community focused. That’s very different to other places [such as WhatsApp groups],” he said.
The move comes amid US privacy fears over the Ring app, which has faced scrutiny over how user data is handled. The UK launch is scheduled for October, with the feature appearing in the existing Ring app for current customers and via a new download for others.
