Ring View: the new card for Home Assistant that unifies recordings and live streaming

Ring View Home Assistant is at the center of the news: In the world of home automation, integrated device management is essential to create a truly smart home environment. For Home Assistant users using Ring cameras, viewing recordings and live streaming could be fragmented, requiring the use of separate entities. It comes to respond to this needRingView, onecardcustom developed for Home Assistant which promises to unify the user experience, combining the latest recordings and real-time viewing of Ring cameras in a single clean and responsive interface. This solution aims to simplify access to video content, improving the usability and effectiveness of the home surveillance system.

What is Ring View and how it works

Ring View is a custom Home Assistant card created to aggregate the separate “last recording” and “live view” entities of Ring cameras into a single viewer. This innovative approach allows users to switch between watching the most recently recorded event and live streaming with a simple tap, eliminating the need to navigate between different screens or tabs. The card is designed to be lightweight and responsive, adapting to different display formats, from smartphones to tablets and desktops, ensuring a smooth experience on every device.

Key features of Ring View

Ring View Home Assistant - Ring View features are designed to maximize usefulness and ease of use:

Interaction with recordings and live streaming

The main feature allows you to instantly switch between viewing the latest recording and live streaming. Recordings offer native controls for playback, searching within the video, adjusting volume, and muting. Additionally, there is a lightweight dashboard preview that doesn't launch a full live session, allowing you to get a quick feel without consuming unnecessary resources. Optional snapshot support from Ring-MQTT ensures an always-up-to-date dashboard image.

Two-way audio and notifications

Ring View supports real-time audio for both listening and two-way communication (Hold to talk), a feature that also works with compatible Ring cameras, not limited to just doorbells. The card also integrates with a doorbell notification blueprint: when someone rings, the Companion app receives an immediate notification which is then updated with a camera preview once Ring has finished processing the recording, without starting a new live session.

Installation and requirements

Installation of Ring View takes place via HACS (Home Assistant Community Store), making it accessible to the large community of Home Assistant users. After installation, simply update Home Assistant, edit a dashboard and add the "Ring View" card by selecting the appropriate entities for recording and live streaming of the desired camera. Requirements include a Home Assistant version 2026.7 or higher, official Ring integration, camera video entities, and, for access to recordings, an eligible Ring subscription. Two-way audio requires HTTPS and microphone permissions.

Minimal configuration and advanced options

Minimal card configuration only requires specifying entities for recording and live streaming. For example:

type: custom:ring-view
recording_entity: camera.front_door_last_recording
live_entity: camera.front_door_live_view

These demo values ​​will need to be replaced with the actual entity names in your Home Assistant installation. The card also supports Home Assistant themes, keyboard navigation, and screen-reader support, as well as English and German translations, without telemetry or data analysis.

Integration with the Home Assistant ecosystem

Ring View integrates seamlessly with the Home Assistant ecosystem, offering an improved user experience for those who use Ring cameras. Its ability to unify multiple video sources into a single interface, combined with support for advanced features like two-way audio and an intelligent notification system, makes it an invaluable tool for managing home security. The card is designed to be compatible with standard Ring integration and also includes a temporary backend patch to address a known Ring session cleanup issue.