Ring cuts ties to company that helps police days after Super Bowl ad

Ring has ended its partnership with Flock, a tech surveillance company that works with police, days after Ring’s Super Bowl ad boasting a feature to help find missing dogs sparked controversy.

“Following a comprehensive review, we determined the planned Flock Safety integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated. As a result, we have made the joint decision to cancel the planned integration,” Ring said in a Feb. 12 statement. “The integration never launched, so no Ring customer videos were ever sent to Flock Safety.”

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In October 2025, the home security device company announced a partnership with Flock, which uses a network of surveillance technology including license plate readers and video detection to help law enforcement agencies.

“We believe this decision allows both companies to best serve their respective customers and communities,” Flock said in a statement about the end of its partnership with Ring.

The Flock partnership is separate from Ring’s “Search Party” feature, which was the focal point of the Amazon-owned company’s Super Bowl ad.

But the partnership’s end comes days after the commercial incited viral videos of people removing their Ring cameras over privacy concerns. On a larger scale, Americans are debating the value of surveillance technologies now more than ever.

Here’s what to know about Flock and the Super ad that triggered concerns.

A short-lived surveillance partnership

The partnership between Ring and Flock was aimed at expanding Ring’s “Community Requests” feature, which allows Ring users to share video footage with public safety agencies investigating crimes. Ring says its Community Requests program is completely voluntary, so law enforcement doesn’t have access to videos unless a user provides it.

According to Flock, the partnership would have enabled Ring to connect to Flock’s AI-powered platforms and allow users to privately and voluntarily share video footage with law enforcement.

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Flock’s automated license plate reader technologies have been criticized by some research and advocacy groups over allegations that the company provides data to immigration enforcement agencies.

But Flock has refuted these claims. On its website, Flock says it doesn’t work with the Department of Homeland Security or any of its agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and its customers have complete control over their data and whether law enforcement can access it.

Even though Ring ended its partnership with Flock, it is still tied to a similar police surveillance company, Axon. Ring’s partnership with Axon is also part of the “Community Requests” feature; through Axon, public safety agencies can submit requests to Ring users for access to video footage.

In addition to working with police departments, Axon has extensive contracts with federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Will Ring’s ‘Search Party’ feature for dogs still work?

Ring’s Super Bowl LX commercial highlighted its “Search Party” feature, which the company says uses technology to help find lost pets.

The “Search Party” feature is not related to Ring’s partnership with Flock, so it is unaffected by the the companies cutting ties.

Still, like “Community Requests,” the “Search Party” feature is part of Ring’s push to use AI for its surveillance services.

According to Ring, users can use “Search Party” to alert participating outdoor Ring cameras in their area to look for a lost pet. If a neighbor’s camera detects a possible match, they can choose to share that information with the pet owner.

Ring says the “Search Party” feature does not use AI to identify pet owners or people, and users have complete control over what they choose to share.

The company also says since the feature launched, it has helped bring home more than one dog a day. One such pet, Lainey, a husky shepherd, was found after going missing in Arizona with the help of a neighbor’s Ring camera.

“I thought Ring could only be used for security. It has changed now in its purpose for me,” Lainey’s owner, Kurt, said in a blog post on Ring’s website.

But some people online aren’t convinced.

“That Ring commercial really used dogs as a Trojan horse for an expanded police and surveillance state. Even worse is that many will fall for it. Many more already have,” X user @SoulRevision wrote in a post that has 23,000 likes.

Contributing: Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at melina.khan@usatoday.com. 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ring ends partnership with Flock, company that gives info to police