‘Mystery drones’ drive local residents to surveillance apps Ring and Citizen to discuss possible sightings
The “mystery drones” over the East Coast have sparked concern from local residents, some of whom are flocking to neighborhood surveillance apps to post about the topic.
Owners of Amazon-owned Ring video doorbells have taken to the accompanying app, which sends motion alerts, to discuss the possible drone activity in the app’s “Neighbors” section.
Typically, Ring’s forum is used to share information about lost pets, wildlife sightings, or stolen packages — activities happening on the ground. However, some are now using the forum to discuss what’s happening in the sky above their homes.
The posts have ranged from written reports of drone sightings to shared videos showing light movements in the sky and footage of plane-like objects.
“Multiple drones spotted flying over Mount Laurel in Countryside Farms just off Church road,” wrote one Ring user in New Jersey earlier this month, posting footage showing an aircraft with blinking lights.
Another Ring user in Union City, New Jersey, posted footage over the weekend of lights seeming to streak across the clouds. “Looks like the old club days when they used to put lights in the sky, but these are different,” the person wrote.
Other Ring users have also posted video footage online captured by their doorbell cameras, though it wasn’t clear if the footage showed unidentified aircraft or simply time-lapses of the moon.
“It has become something that pops up everywhere — on my Ring sightings, on the Neighbor’s function, constantly, constantly, constantly, people saying that they are seeing drones out there,” said “Squawk Box” co-anchor Becky Quick on Monday.
Ring declined to comment on the forum discussions.
People on Citizen, a neighborhood safety app, joined the conversation and posted footage of suspected drones on the platform. The company behind the app encouraged its users to livestream drone-related footage “to alert the community and protect the world.”
Not everyone is eager to join the discussions. Some have taken to Reddit to complain about the amount of drone talk taking place in Ring’s community forum.
One Reddit user questioned if the Ring App was “the new Facebook for useless posts,” and complained about the amount of drone speculation. Others echoed similar sentiments, expressing annoyance at the free-wheeling nature of the discussions and an increase in their app notifications.
“I had over 100 ring neighbor notifications last night because people thought it would be funny to troll about a (fake) helicopter flying in our area. Like over 100 troll posts… about helicopters,” one user commented on the Reddit post. “I officially turned off the notifications when I woke up.”
Many of the forum posts aren’t showing videos captured by Ring’s video doorbells but rather videos users uploaded that were captured elsewhere, such as from smartphones. And in the age of generative AI video tools and editing software, it can be difficult to tell what’s real — and what the footage is actually showing.
The White House has said many of the drone sightings are likely crewed aircraft that are operating lawfully. It has also said that it doesn’t believe the drone sightings are a public safety threat.
However, the FBI and Homeland Security have both said they want more authority to deal with drones. An FBI official said that the drone investigation is “limited in scope” and that pending counter-UAS legislation could expand their legal power in implementing counter methods.
Reports of the drone sightings have been ongoing across the East Coast since mid-November. The mystery has mostly been centered on New Jersey sightings, where drones have reportedly been seen above military facilities and critical infrastructure sites.
