Also - the regular Wi-Fi connection (aside from HomeKit) is rock solid and never gets dropped…and I’m guessing they aren’t using a completely separate Wi-Fi radio to connect to HomeKit. Seems a bit odd to blame this on network topology when they are able to handle the same topology with their regular Wi-Fi implementation.
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Firmware 631 broke everyone’s controllers integration with HomeKit. —> • <— period. The least Rachio could do would be to roll back to 615 (or whatever FW it was before 631) and let those of us that can make it work get it working. It would at least show that they care enough to work with US and not Jack with us With the same troubleshooting steps they have been suggesting for over a year
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Same thing here. I am on 615 and never prompted me to update. I suspect they rolled back due to the issues.
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I noticed that the Rachio Controller network name changes from Rachio… to “Murata Manufacturing Company” on a regular basis throughout the day… Sometimes, every few minutes… Hmmmm
Why would I buy another rachio product when the homekit issue is still not fixed almost a year later?
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Created separate WiFi network connected to same Apple Home on an ethernet bridged WiFi access point running on 2.4 Ghz freq non-meshed.
Reset Rachio. Now it shows up again in Apple home for about 60 seconds before disappearing, but I am unable to add it to the home within the 60 seconds it is seen by Apple Home before disappearing.
It’s not just a mesh network issue… it’s the firmware revision. Why can’t we go back to a previous revision. Who is making these decisions?
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Thanks @basilbabaa, I was considering the same approach of establishing a stand alone network on dedicated hardware to see if I could get this stupid thing to work - but I won’t bother now.
And to answer your question of who is making these decisions…? It would appear nobody. The Rachio staff that were active on this thread have all disappeared too…
I should have just bought the Orbit Hive and saved a bunch of money.
I’ve been following this thread for a year now. Being in the software development world myself, I can’t imagine having an outstanding issue like this in my product, especially one that has many displeased customers posting on the public internet about it.
Personally, at about the second month of this thread I moved my Rachio to Homebridge and have never looked back. I realize that Homebridge is not for everyone, and that Rachio is a consumer product that shouldn’t need that kind of “tinkering” to get an advertised feature to work, but it has been a good solution for me.
What it comes down to, in my opinion, is that Rachio is not a software company; they are a lawn/landscape care company that felt like they could make a IoT product and be early to market with a compelling feature like Homekit integration. Their reliance on third party code and consultations with Apple and their vendors to attempt to find a solution shows this, in my view. Since we know the first version that broke, and the last version that worked, doing a simple compare of the code differences between those versions should at least shed light on the issue, if not point it out explicitly.
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Hey everyone!
Thank you, as always, for the discussion, candid feedback, and troubleshooting. I assure you we are not ignoring you and are incredibly active on this thread (though lately as readers rather than posters.) Our new Director of Engineering, @Michael_I, will be a pair of fresh eyes on this issue to determine what else can be done without third party support. He does need some time to get acquainted with your reports, troubleshooting history, and setup, so we ask for your patience while he gets up to speed (I know, I know, I’m the worst for asking this again. We understand how long this is taking and sincerely appreciate the patience.)
I want to stress that this feature is not being neglected and we working to find solutions for everyone. We’re as frustrated by the experience as you are and hope we can take a new look to determine what’s happening with those having issues outside of mesh routers.
Please know that our Engineering team is committed to providing the best possible experience for our customers and we promise this is being worked on and not neglected.
@laura.bauman please tell @Michael_I to revert to the previous firmware. At least then I could get a few days of HomeKit functionality before having to reboot it. I refuse to believe this is a 3rd party issue when the issue changed so dramatically between firmware revisions. I am not running a “Mesh” network either… so it aint that…
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Agreed @MaydayDarkhorse.
@laura.bauman and @Michael_I I too have followed all of the troubleshooting steps and even removed my entire mesh network and went back to a single router running 2 separate networks and STILL have this issue. I’ve spent hours troubleshooting and have basically given up now hoping that there will be a real fix posted in this thread which will hopefully resolve the issue and most likely result in a new fully tested and QA’d firmware for us all.
Like most of us on this thread, we’re eager to know what was even added to the most recent firmware that broke it all for us. Is there any way to revert?
I’m sure there would be a bunch of people on this thread who would even assist with testing a beta firmware for you if you wanted to go that route.
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It’s nice to know you have hired a new engineer with fresh eyes to look at this problem. Hopefully someone with experience in software and networking !!! We are all rooting for you Michael !!!
*FYI - with my Synology router and companion mesh router (the best and most versatile mesh system available in my humble opinion) it is easy for me to remove the companion mesh access point and go back to my original configuration. I tried this after the 631 FW update and no dice. 631 is broke for sure
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There’s a new 632 firmware update but apparently it doesn’t fix HomeKit integration:
I updated firmware to 632 and reset my device.
Connected to dedicated non-mesh hidden WiFi network called “rachio” via Apple AirPort access point backhauled via Ethernet to main Eero network.
Have seven zones.
Only added 1 zone as a test so far, disabling the remaining 7 on the controller.
Was not able to add HomeKit accessory while phone was connected to the “rachio” Wifi, but was able to after connecting phone back to my main Eero WiFi mesh network, and keeping the Rachio connected to it’s own “rachio” dedicated WiFi access point.
Then unplugged the Rachio and waited for Accessory to go into “not responding” status.
After plugging the Rachio back in, the status returned to responding and seems still to remain controllable.
Will continue to add remaining zones. Will unplug and replug a few times as well to monitor connectivity and responsiveness.
Looks like some progress at least. I’ll be in touch.
No Dice!
Rachio started showing “not responding”…
If I switched back and forth between the Eero mesh and dedicated WiFi on my phone, it would start showing responding for a few mins, but then go out again.
Last test was to disable the dedicated network and try and reset it and connect back to the Eero mesh… But while it connects and works, it will not add as a HomeKit accessory on the Eero mesh network.
So for me, even a dedicated WiFi network was unstable and relegated it useless.
I’ll give it 1 more season, then I’m trashing it and moving on to something else… I think I’ll set it up as a target for my gun range… at least that way I’ll have gotten some satisfaction from having had it.
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It was mentioned to delete home from homekit and re-add all devices to see if it un-bricks Rachio controller. I hate do that since I have so many Homekit devices to re-add.
Deleting my home would take me months to reconfigure. I have hundreds of devices and very complex setups… It’s not worth a few hundred dollars to me to just get something else… And I don’t see them fixing this. They obviously are unwilling to purchase a mesh network to trouble-shoot in their labs…
Anyone heard anything about other HomeKit compatible units working reliably?
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Have a look at this:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.imore.com/best-homekit-sprinkler-controllers%3famp
I’m on 615 still it seems and haven’t been able to get mine to work in months… I’ll start doing some deeper trouble shooting tomorrow…