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A New Kind of Video Doorbell From SwitchBot Solves a Long-Term Problem

SwitchBot showed up at CES 2025 with a doorbell kit that includes it's own smart portable display: It could be just what video doorbells were missing.

Headshot of Tyler Lacoma
Headshot of Tyler Lacoma
Tyler Lacoma Editor / Home Security and Smart Home
Tyler has worked on, lived with and tested all types of smart home and security technology for over a dozen years, explaining the latest features, privacy tricks, and top recommendations. With degrees in Business Management, Literature and Technical Writing, Tyler takes every opportunity to play with the latest AI technology, push smart devices to their limits and occasionally throw cameras off his roof, all to find the best devices to trust in your life. He always checks with the renters (and pets) in his life to see what smart products can work for everyone, in every living situation. Living in beautiful Bend, Oregon gives Tyler plenty of opportunities to test the latest tech in every kind of weather and temperature. But when not at work, he can be found hiking the trails, trying out a new food recipe for his loved ones, keeping up on his favorite reading, or gaming with good friends.
Expertise Smart home | Smart security | Home tech | Energy savings | A/V
Tyler Lacoma
2 min read
SwitchBot's video doorbell and monitor shown attached to separate walls.

SwitchBot includes a display with its video doorbell, an innovative approach that could solve several problems.

 SwitchBot

I'm a fan of SwitchBot's no-nonsense, responsive home tech design, so I was interested to see what they brought to CES. Among their numerous devices was a video doorbell unlike any other I had seen before, and it could be a path forward for user-friendly front door security. 

Let me explain: Video doorbells already pair well with smart displays, which allow you to look through the doorbell, get ring notifications and talk from the speaker to visitors. But that can be complicated and expensive to set up (plus a poor fit if you don't like voice assistants). SwitchBot's Video Doorbell comes with its own 4.3-inch touchscreen display that can sit on any nearby surface or be mounted to a convenient wall for an instant, informative connection.

Read more: The Official 2025 Best of CES Awards, Presented by CNET

A finger reaches out to the SwitchBot video doorbell portable display on a table.

SwitchBot's separate display for seeing and talking out of the doorbell can go with you and is ideal for aging-in-place setups.

 SwitchBot

The display lets you listen for chimes, peer out of your doorbell whenever you want and activate an audio mode to talk to a person, all with large buttons that make it friendly for those aging in place. Users can also expand the monitor with up to 512GB of onboard storage to solve their video storage concerns without a subscription.

The innovative display aside, SwitchBot's video doorbell also impressed me. It combines 2K resolution with a broad 165-degree viewing angle, color night vision and AI motion detection to specify if a human is approaching and other details. It's also compatible with Alexa, if you'd rather go the Echo route.

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The doorbell can be screwed into place, but it also has an adhesive mounting option, something I don't think I've ever seen in a video doorbell before but that has the potential to make setup extremely easy. For people looking for an all-in-one video doorbell that's easy to use, this looks like a competitive option. I'm looking forward to testing it out to see how it functions, how well the simple design could work for seniors aging in place, and how accurate the doorbell AI is.

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Take a look at our other discoveries and top picks from CES 2025 here.