Quick Answer: A quick restart (power cycle) — pull the battery or unplug for 10 seconds — fixes most Ring glitches without touching a single setting, while a full factory reset requires holding the setup button for 20 seconds, per Ring’s own support documentation, and wipes Wi-Fi credentials plus local settings so the device has to be set up again from scratch. The setup button’s location depends on the device type — top of the unit on most cameras, inside the battery compartment on Outdoor Cams, under the faceplate on wired and removable-battery doorbells. Cloud recordings tied to an active Ring Protect plan are never touched by a device-level reset; only footage stored locally (which most Ring devices don’t even have) gets erased.
Most Ring problems don’t actually need a factory reset — a 10-second power cycle clears the majority of glitches and leaves every setting untouched. Reach for the full reset only when the camera won’t reconnect after a router change, refuses to leave the app’s setup screen, or you’re prepping it to sell or hand off to someone else.
Restart vs factory reset — what each one actually does
| Restart (power cycle) | Factory reset | |
|---|---|---|
| How | Remove battery / unplug for 10 seconds, then reconnect | Hold the setup button for 20 seconds until the light spins |
| Settings | Kept | Erased |
| Wi-Fi credentials | Kept | Erased — device drops off your network |
| Cloud video history | Untouched | Untouched (tied to your account, not the device) |
| Locally stored footage | Untouched | Erased |
| Re-setup required in app | No | Yes, from scratch |
| Best for | Frozen live view, one-off glitches, unresponsive app connection | Won't reconnect after a router swap, selling the device, stuck setup screens |
Try the restart first, every time. It costs nothing, fixes most of what actually goes wrong day to day, and — unlike a factory reset — never forces you to redo motion zones, notification settings, or smart-home integrations.
Find your setup button by device type
| Device | Button location |
|---|---|
| Doorbell — internal (non-removable) battery | Back of the unit |
| Doorbell — removable battery pack | Under the faceplate, front side |
| Doorbell — wired | Under the faceplate, right side |
| Camera — Outdoor Cam models | Inside the battery compartment |
| Camera — Stick Up Cam, Spotlight Cam, Indoor Cam, Floodlight Cam | Top of the device |
| Chime | Right side (small pinhole on some older models) |
Doorbells with a faceplate need a small flathead or the included Ring key to pop it off before the button is reachable — don’t force it with a knife or screwdriver not meant for the job, since the faceplate clips are plastic and crack easily under the wrong tool.
Ring Quick Release Battery Pack
- If a camera won't power on or hold a charge even after a full factory reset, a dying battery — not a software glitch — is often the real cause.
- Swaps in seconds without tools on any Ring device that uses the Quick Release pack design.
- Keeping a second charged pack on hand means you never lose coverage while the drained one recharges.
Restocking a spare charged battery before you start troubleshooting saves a return trip mid-project — a free 30-day Prime trial gets it to your door by tomorrow instead of stalling the fix for a week.
How to factory reset a Ring camera, step by step
- Find the setup button for your device using the table above.
- Press and hold it for a full 20 seconds. The front light will start spinning or flashing — that’s your confirmation the reset is running, not a signal to let go early.
- Release the button and wait. The device reboots to factory-default settings; this typically takes a few minutes, and the light pattern changes again once it’s done.
- Open the Ring app and add the device as new. It won’t appear as an existing device anymore — go through Set Up a Device the same way you did the first time, including rejoining Wi-Fi (2.4GHz for most models).
- Rebuild your configuration. Motion zones, notification schedules, and any Alexa or smart-home links have to be reconfigured; none of that carries over through a factory reset.
If the light never changes pattern after 20 seconds, the button likely wasn’t held firmly enough or long enough — try again with steady, direct pressure rather than tapping it repeatedly.
Ring Stick Up Cam Pro
- Worth considering if a factory reset genuinely doesn't fix an unresponsive device — that usually points to hardware failure, not a settings problem a reset can solve.
- 3D Motion Detection and Bird's Eye View path-mapping outclass most older Ring generations still in circulation.
- Same setup flow as the device you're replacing, so there's no new app or account to learn.
It’s not just Ring
Nest, Arlo, Blink, and Wyze cameras all draw the same line between a quick power-cycle restart and a full factory reset, though the exact button location and hold time vary by brand. If a reset doesn’t solve what’s actually wrong, our Ring camera offline guide covers the Wi-Fi signal issues that cause most “won’t connect” problems a reset alone can’t fix, and our how to cancel your Ring Protect subscription guide covers what happens to your plan and footage if you’re troubleshooting your way toward giving up on the device entirely instead.
The bottom line
Start with a 10-second restart every time — it fixes most Ring glitches and never touches a setting. Reach for the full 20-second factory reset only when the camera won’t reconnect after a network change, refuses to leave setup mode, or you’re handing the device off to someone else, since it wipes Wi-Fi credentials and local configuration and forces a from-scratch setup in the Ring app. Cloud recordings tied to your Ring Protect plan are never at risk from either option. Still offline after a proper reset? Our Ring camera offline guide covers the Wi-Fi signal-strength fixes that solve what a reset alone can’t, and our best Ring camera guide is the next stop if the hardware itself turns out to be the actual problem.