Doorbell ding event intermittently blocked by 404 on app-snaps.ring.com/snapshots/next

[JasonRoss76]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Describe The Bug

Doorbell press events are detected correctly and logged immediately, but the HomeKit "ding" event never reaches the Home app / HomePod chime feature.
Logs show the plugin consistently fails to fetch a snapshot for the ding event via a 404 from app-snaps.ring.com, and per the plugin's own Snapshot Limitations wiki, the doorbell event is intentionally held until the snapshot succeeds — so the failed snapshot appears to be silently blocking event delivery to HomeKit.

To Reproduce

1. Press the physical doorbell button.
2. Plugin logs the press immediately
3. Plugin attempts to fetch a snapshot for the event, which fails with 404
4. No further log lines appear — no error, no retry, no "sent to HomeKit" confirmation
5. No HomeKit notification arrives on iPhone; no HomePod chime fires

Expected behavior

Either the snapshot fetch succeeds, or (if it can't) the doorbell ding event should still be forwarded to HomeKit — ideally with a placeholder/cached snapshot rather than blocking entirely.

Relevant log output

[7/8/2026, 9:41:23 PM] [homebridge-ring] Front Door Doorbell Pressed. Loading snapshot before sending event to HomeKit
[7/8/2026, 9:41:24 PM] [homebridge-ring] Request to https://app-snaps.ring.com/snapshots/next/183064820?uuid=v1_183064820_0_1783572085021 failed with status 404. Response body: Not Found

Screenshots

No response

Homebridge Ring Config

{
  "refreshToken": "[redacted]",
    "alarmOnEntryDelay": false,
    "hideLightGroups": false,
    "hideDoorbellSwitch": true,
    "hideCameraLight": false,
    "hideCameraMotionSensor": false,
    "hideCameraSirenSwitch": false,
    "unbridgeCameras": true,
    "hideInHomeDoorbellSwitch": false,
    "hideAlarmSirenSwitch": false,
    "showPanicButtons": false,
    "avoidSnapshotBatteryDrain": true,
    "debug": false,
    "disableLogs": false,
    "_bridge": {
        "username": [redacted],
        "port": 58988,
        "name": "Ring"
    },
    "platform": "Ring"
}

Additional context

This happens on the large majority of presses, on both plugin versions tested (see below). It is not 100% consistent, however — out of roughly a dozen presses tested over two days, exactly one press succeeded with no 404 logged and no visible error, and that press was the only one to successfully deliver a HomeKit notification. Every other press shows the 404 and no notification.

Live streaming and cached-snapshot retrieval both work fine through the standard Ring app for this same camera, which suggests the issue is specific to the app-snaps.ring.com/snapshots/next/{device_id}?uuid=... on-demand event-snapshot endpoint rather than a general camera/account/connectivity problem.

What I've already ruled out

• Camera/account/network health: Ring app shows a recent cached snapshot and live view works instantly from the same camera/account.
• HomeKit pairing/discovery: Confirmed working — motion sensor, doorbell, and stateless switch services are all correctly exposed and paired in the Home app.
• Push notifications: Confirmed working — Ignoring push notification received in first two seconds after starting up lines confirm Ring push is reaching the plugin promptly.
• Windows Firewall / router client isolation / subnet mismatch: all checked and ruled out (this is running in WSL2 with mirrored networking mode, on the same LAN as HomePods).
• avoidSnapshotBatteryDrain: true: no effect (expected, since this is a wired doorbell, not battery).
• Plugin version: identical 404 reproduced on both v14.3.0 (latest) and v13.2.1.
• unbridgeCameras: true: tried this to see if a different accessory architecture would avoid the issue. No change — same intermittent 404 pattern persisted after re-pairing the camera as an unbridged accessory.
• Live view via HomeKit: confirmed working perfectly through the Home app (WebRTC/ICE negotiation succeeds, video streams, clean teardown) — so this is specific to the on-demand event-snapshot code path, not a general camera/streaming/connectivity issue.

OS

WSL2 (Ubuntu) on Windows, mirrored networking mode

Node.js Version

v24.18.0 (note: v13.2.1 logs a warning that it expects Node ^18 || ^20 || ^22 — worth noting, though v14.3.0 shows the identical 404 without any Node version warning)

NPM Version

11.16.0

Homebridge/HOOBs Version

v2.1.0 (HAP v2.1.7)

Homebridge Ring Plugin Version

v14.3.0 (latest) and v13.2.1, same 404 on both

Operating System

WSL2 (Ubuntu) on Windows, mirrored networking mode