Amazon’s Ring announced in August 2026 that it is adopting a new encryption standard called TAKE — Throw Away the Key Encryption — as the default setting for video encryption across its smart home cameras. The rollout to customers begins in September 2026 and will apply worldwide.
TAKE uses a rotating set of encryption keys that are temporarily stored in the cloud. Ring can access these keys to power active cloud-based features, then deletes them within 24 hours once the request is completed. The standard is built on a foundation of Messaging Layer Security (MLS), an open messaging standard developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force.
The company says TAKE allows it to temporarily decrypt and process video in order to support features such as Smart Alerts, which notify users when people, vehicles, or packages appear in a camera’s field of view, as well as video search, video description, and shared trusted user access. Ring says these features are restricted under traditional end-to-end encryption.
“With TAKE, Ring delivers the intelligent features you love and rely on, like Smart Alerts, and then throws away and deletes the encryption key. Only you retain the keys to your video,” the company said in a blog post.
Users who prefer end-to-end encryption can still manually select it instead of TAKE. Ring also outlined several account recovery options under the new standard, including standing near Ring cameras to authenticate a new device, using a passphrase, cloud-based backups, another approved device, or passkeys.
The announcement comes as Ring faces scrutiny over its “Familiar Faces” facial recognition feature. In June 2026, a class action lawsuit accused Amazon of storing images of passersby without their consent — a backdrop that may shape how users respond to the new encryption approach.
Source: TechCrunch