What Is Search Party?

Ring introduced Search Party as a new capability aimed at helping owners find lost dogs. When a user posts a picture of a missing pet on Ring’s Neighbors app, the system can initiate a Search Party. The feature uses artificial intelligence to examine video streams from nearby outdoor Ring cameras and doorbells for visual matches to the lost dog.

How the Feature Operates

If the AI detects a dog that resembles the missing pet, the owner of the camera where the match was found receives a notification. That owner can then decide whether to share the relevant video clip with the pet’s owner through the Neighbors app. Ring states that no video is shared without the camera owner’s explicit consent.

Default Activation and User Choice

Ring has enabled Search Party by default on eligible outdoor cameras, with the option for users to turn the feature off in the app settings. The company communicated this rollout in an email to customers, noting that the feature would begin appearing on devices in November and that users “can always turn off Search Party.”

Privacy Considerations

The default opt‑in approach has sparked concerns among users who recall Ring’s past controversies over sharing footage with police. Critics argue that automatically scanning private video feeds, even for a benevolent purpose, may feel intrusive. Ring emphasizes that the feature operates similarly to its existing AI‑powered alerts for people, vehicles, and packages, which also analyze footage in the cloud but always require user approval before any data is shared externally.

Related Features and Future Outlook

At the same time as announcing Search Party, Ring also unveiled “Familiar Faces,” a facial‑recognition tool that lets users register images of known individuals to receive specific alerts. Ring clarified that Search Party is not intended to process human biometrics and that the feature’s footage is excluded from the Community Requests service, which allows public‑safety agencies to request assistance from the public.

Overall, Ring positions Search Party as a valuable community‑driven tool for locating lost pets while maintaining user control over privacy. The company’s approach balances the potential public‑good of rapid pet recovery with ongoing concerns about data usage and consent.

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