Rachio 3 Not Responding in Homekit (Again)

Macsterguy · May 11, 2020, 5:05pm

Michael, a new engineer has been giving us weekly updates on their work to resolve HomeKit issues. I know Franz, the co-owner is on this too. If you scroll up you can see the last update. I think they will get this sorted out soon. 615 works well for me

franz · May 11, 2020, 5:46pm

Thanks for the information everyone. We have a dedicated firmware engineer working on this issue and hope to have a consolidated firmware build (HomeKit issues, newer phone (i.e. iPhone 11) WiFi connectivity issues) as soon as possible. One of the reasons we moved off of 615 was that for some controllers not even using HomeKit we were seeing firmware reboots, possibly from code provided by our vendor related to HomeKit. We are trying to make sure our entire customer base is fully supported (all issues resolved, HomeKit, Wireless Flow, WiFi, etc) with our next release.

Thanks for your patience and have a great week.

Cobreezy · May 11, 2020, 9:30pm

@rcapron how did you re add the Rachio 3 Controller to Homekit? Anything needed to be reset (i.e. wifi) on the controller? I just got my controller firmware back to ver 615 and would love to know the process you took. Thanks in advance.

Macsterguy · May 11, 2020, 9:54pm

Cobreezy, It really is very easy - follow these steps:

Cobreezy · May 11, 2020, 10:33pm

Did that, but no luck

rpn314 · May 11, 2020, 10:36pm

I would power cycle your Rachio and maybe your WiFi. I know I had to shut my Rachio down and then back on to get it to show up while trying to add it to HomeKit.

rcapron · May 12, 2020, 11:14am

Good Morning @Cobreezy,

Try doing a reset on your controller:
(https://support.rachio.com/hc/en-us/articles/115010541188-How-do-I-factory-reset-my-controller-Rachio-3-Generation-2-and-Generation-1#option-2-controller-reset-using-the-buttons-on-the-controller)

Use Option #2 for the Rachio 3. There are other options if you have an older controller.

Do not remove the controller from your app or you will lose everything (schedules, photos, etc.).

franz · May 12, 2020, 5:55pm

Good news from the engineering team!

Some Rachio controllers were missing feature flags in the Rachio database that were precluding firmware version 632 from recognizing HomeKit. This issue has been corrected. A power cycle of the controller should re-connect it back to the HomeKit app. If that does not work (it should) re-adding the HomeKit app should work.

Thank you for your patience and apologies for the inconvenience.

Please let me know if you are still experiencing issues with HomeKit after following the instructions above.

For users that were downgraded to 615 we would like to get those controllers on the new firmware (632) that has WiFi connectivity fixes for the iPhone Pro 11 and Samsung S10/S20.

Have a great day!

rpn314 · May 12, 2020, 5:59pm

Okay. You can push the update to my controller. Or do you want those of us who downgraded to 615 to manually hit upgrade in the app?

franz · May 12, 2020, 6:05pm

The team is patching the upgrade process, I will let you know when that is patched and then you should be good to go. I will put a note here today.

chrisandeden · May 12, 2020, 6:18pm

I was stuck on 615 long after 631 was released, and I still had the HK issue. My controller disappeared from my Home, and hasn’t appeared to be re-added in well over a year.

chrisandeden · May 12, 2020, 6:31pm

I tried this, still no luck on HomeKit. Is it possible that there is an issue with adding the controller through HomeKit via the router app? I’m using eero and the HomeKit Secure Router feature, meaning the HK workflow is done via the eero app. So my controller is already on my network as a WiFi device, but when I try to add it to HomeKit, I still get the same issue where the controller never appears after entering the eight digit code.

Clement107 · May 12, 2020, 6:32pm

I can confirm this worked. After unplugging and plugging back in, I was able to add to HomeKit. Thank you!

franz · May 12, 2020, 6:55pm

Sorry, I’m actually not well versed in this area. @Macsterguy - Could you provide any guidance regarding these details?

franz · May 12, 2020, 6:56pm

Ok great, that’s what we were hoping to hear

Macsterguy · May 12, 2020, 7:26pm

My Synology has not been “blessed” by the Apple Gods but I do like what Apple is doing with the secure Router thing…

I did find this on Eero’s website:

How to Add a Device

Open the eero app and tap the the blue + in the top right of the screen.
Tap Add a Device.
Tap HomeKit Accessory .
Choose which Home you would like the device added to.
Follow the onscreen HomeKit instructions.

If not that, Lots more here. You should find your answer:

franz · May 12, 2020, 7:28pm

We sacrifice to them once a week

Macsterguy · May 12, 2020, 7:31pm

Hahahaha, That was GOOD!

I’m just reading above and it looks like you found your problem. Persistence pays off, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I’m on 615. Will I need to click on Update in the App or are you pushing 632 to to all?

franz · May 12, 2020, 7:33pm

Please hold off for a bit, we are patching the upgrade process to apply the feature flags on the upgrade process, I will post here today when ready.

chrisandeden · May 12, 2020, 8:08pm

I know how to add devices to HomeKit with my eero, I’ve done many. My Rachio controller still won’t show up as an available device once I follow the steps you listed above, that is my issue.