Ring smart lock Debuts With a Hand Crank and New 4K Cameras

Ring just made its biggest hardware push of the year, and it is aimed squarely at anyone setting up a first apartment. On October 7, the Amazon-owned security brand announced five new cameras alongside its first-ever Ring smart lock, a keyless deadbolt with a hand-crank power dial that answers the oldest anxiety in smart locks: what happens when the battery dies. The lineup starts at under seventy dollars, and the headline indoor camera is the first 4K model Ring has built for inside the home.

Leading the lineup are four cameras built on Ring's Retinal Vision 4K imaging, which the company says delivers true-color detail in low light. The Outdoor Cam 4K Plus comes in battery, plug-in, hardwired, solar, and Power over Ethernet configurations, with the battery option a first for Ring's 4K line, according to Notebookcheck's coverage of the launch. The Spotlight Cam 4K Plus adds a built-in spotlight that runs dim on battery by default to save power and can be pushed to 550 lumens in the app, while the wired Floodlight Cam 4K Plus pairs Retinal 4K with 2,000-lumen motion-activated floodlights and round-the-clock recording. The Indoor Cam 4K, Ring's first 4K indoor camera, offers a 115-degree field of view, Wi-Fi 6, and a physical privacy shutter.

Rounding out the set is the Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam 2K, a motorized indoor camera that rotates a full 360 degrees and tilts 175 degrees to follow people and pets as they move through a room. According to Amazon's own announcement, its computer vision-based motion detection keeps subjects in frame during live view and recordings, and a sliding privacy shutter disables both the camera and the microphone. At $69.99 it undercuts the 4K models while solving the classic fixed-camera problem of missing whatever walks out of frame.

Five cameras, one price ladder

The pricing is unusually tidy for a lineup this wide. The Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam 2K starts at $69.99, aimed at pet owners and studio apartments where one moving camera replaces two fixed ones. The Indoor Cam 4K costs $99.99, which makes it the cheapest 4K indoor camera Ring has ever sold — and notably the only one with a physical shutter at that price.

The outdoor trio steps up from there. The Outdoor Cam 4K Plus starts at $149.99 for the battery version, with solar, plug-in, hardwired, and Power over Ethernet options for more permanent setups. The Spotlight Cam 4K Plus is priced at $199.99 and adds deterrence lighting to the mix. At the top sits the Floodlight Cam 4K Plus at $219.99, a wired unit built for driveways and backyards, with 2,000 lumens of motion-activated floodlighting and 24/7 recording that the battery models cannot sustain.

The Ring smart lock: a deadbolt you recharge by hand

The Ring smart lock is Ring's first smart lock, and its signature trick is a hand-operated power dial built into the lock itself. If the battery runs down, turning the dial several times generates enough power to get you back inside, removing the need for a backup key or a spare battery, according to the company's announcement. Ring founder Jamie Siminoff described the fear of being locked out as "smart lock anxiety," arguing that a lock has to work every time, as reported by CEPRO's coverage of the unveiling.

The Ring smart lock supports four ways in: a fingerprint reader, a backlit touchscreen keypad, the Ring app, and Alexa voice control. Through the app, owners can check and lock the door remotely and set scheduled or time-limited access — CEPRO's example is a dog walker allowed in every Tuesday from 2 to 3 p.m. The lock connects over Amazon Sidewalk rather than home Wi-Fi, and Ring says it fits a standard single-cylinder deadbolt with no extra wiring. It comes in black, silver, and brass finishes, costs $249, and ships in the U.S. in early 2027, as reported by 9to5Mac.

The launch follows a wave of lock reinvention across the industry — this site recently covered the ULTRALOQ Bolt Mission, billed as the first UWB smart lock — but Ring's hand-crank backup is the first fix aimed directly at dead-battery fear. For more on how this launch fits the smart-home beat, see our latest gadgets coverage.

Why renters should care — and the privacy asterisk

For Gen Z renters, the standout is not the floodlight. It is the $99.99 Indoor Cam 4K, a 4K indoor camera under one hundred dollars with a physical privacy shutter, and the $69.99 pan-tilt cam that can watch a whole studio from one corner. Battery and plug-in power options mean no landlord-unfriendly drilling or hardwiring, and a lock that never strands you outside your own door answers the exact worry that has kept keyless entry a homeowner luxury. The Ring smart lock also works with existing Ring doorbells and cameras, so a renter can build a full system piece by piece.

The catch is the company behind it. Ring has spent years fending off criticism over how its footage and face data can be used: Fast Company reported on a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing Amazon of storing strangers' faces through Ring's Familiar Faces feature without consent, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation has warned that face scans sweep in people who never agreed to them, from canvassers to delivery drivers. A camera with a physical shutter and a lock that handles unlocking on the device both help, but anyone buying into the Ring smart lock ecosystem is also buying into Amazon's data footprint. Renters should also check whether their lease even allows deadbolt swaps before ordering.

Ring smart lock and camera launch timeline

Ring announced the lineup on October 7. The Indoor Cam 4K and the Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam 2K went on sale the same day in the U.S. and ten other markets, with the pan-tilt model also reaching Australia and New Zealand. The three outdoor models — Outdoor Cam 4K Plus, Spotlight Cam 4K Plus, and Floodlight Cam 4K Plus — are on preorder now, and Amazon's U.S. listings put their release date at October 27, according to Notebookcheck. The Ring smart lock is the long wait: it arrives in the U.S. in early 2027, and Ring notes it has not yet been authorized by the FCC, so it cannot be offered for sale until that clears.

Put together, it is a rare launch where the cheapest items are the most interesting. A sub-hundred-dollar 4K indoor cam and a hand-crank deadbolt fix two real problems — blurry indoor footage and lock-out anxiety — instead of adding features nobody asked for. If the Ring smart lock ships on time in 2027, it may finally make keyless entry feel safe enough for the generation that moves apartments every year.