I have had zero problems with Rachio in the Home App for months now… I know that doesn’t help others issues but here is some info that hopefully help push this along:
Maybe I am just lucky? Or maybe because of my current config *see screenshots:
Router - Synology AC 2600 (mesh capable by adding another access point). I have only the one…
I am using “Smart Connect” IE - letting the router manage which items use 2.4 or 5gHhz networks…
I have noticed that my "smart devices: -for the most part- are on the 2.4 network. *see screenshot
Some like the Leviton switches are on 5gHz?
I think more importantly, As illustrated below, I have 4 home hubs showing in the Apple Home App:
• Living Room Apple TV (ATV 4K) - The one that is “Connected” (via ETHERNET) almost always
• Living Room HomePod - Standby - connected via WiFi
• Master Bedroom ATV - In Standby (via ETHERNET)
What I have noticed about Hubs:
*I have seen the HomePod “Connected” and Rachio still works…
*A new iPad is not showing up as a Hub… It did, but now it does not??
*The connected Living Room Apple TV (ATV 4K) is connected to my network via (good ole) VIA ETHERNET Hmmmmm…
Again, for what this information is worth, I am having NO Rachio issues whatsoever.
*Suggestion - Try connecting your "Connected Apple Home Hub VIA ETHERNET if Possible??
** Also, I must say again, Once this is all working for you, ALL YOU CAN DO is turn single zones ON and OFF - That’s it… The Rachio App is the only one to use IMHO *see screenshots
After trying everything including splitting my network into a 5 ghz and a 2.4 ghz network and trying setting up the Rachio in both networks the homekit still disconnects. Although now that it is connected to the 5 ghz network at least it seems to fix itself after a while.
So now I’m being sent a replacement Rachio.
My question is will I need to set it up from scratch or is there a way to bring my settings into the replacement Rachio?
In answer to Macsterguy.
Yes having it work in Homekit is worth it.
Besides paying extra for this it is nice to be able to control everything in one place plus when I working in the yard, like finding and fixing sprinkler heads, it’s really helpful to be able to control them using Siri voice commands.
I have three zones. You can give them proper names in homekit so I don’t have to remember which zone is which.
It’s also nice getting the homekit notifications when they run or when they skip due to wind conditions or something.
But mine it once again down and now I’m being sent a replacement Rachio.
I get Sprinkler noticed all the time from HomeKit.
As I’m being sent a new controller I haven’t reconnected rachio to HomeKit again. Today I had to fix a few broken heads and really missed being able to use voice to control tether using voice.
Interesting. Usually the settings page for every Homekit device offers an on/off switch for notifications. I don’t see that option on the Rachio page, so that’s why I was confused/surprised. I do get notifications from the Rachio app when a schedule starts or stops, though.
I think I may have stumbled upon the trigger that knocks it off of homekit.
I’ve been emailing back and forth with a tech from rachio. One of the things he had me do was give my 5 ghz network a different name than my 2.4 ghz network.
This didn’t fix it but has resulted in learning the trigger that cause homekit to go offline. It is the handshake from when your phone switches from your WiFi and switches to cellular.
Today I received a replacement controller. That also didn’t fix it. I set it up and the first time I left home it went offline. Sometimes it would reconnect when I got back on my WiFi but not always.
I had the controller on the 5 ghz and also my iPhone. After a few more disconnects I switched my phone to the 2.4 ghz WiFi so that I could try adding the controller to the 2.4 ghz WiFi. But got the same disconnect behavior.
But then I told my iPhone to forget the 2.4 ghz WiFi and only use the 5 ghz network. So now the rachio is no longer directly connecting to my phone when I’m home as it is on a different WiFi than my phone is.
So far success, It hasn’t disconnected and I’ve been really trying hard to get it to go offline by turning the WiFi on and off on my iPhone. Actually homekit overall seems to work slighter better like this.
What happened today I think affirms my previous post.
It went offline in HomeKit sometime after I left my home today and required holding down the Wifi button.
But when I went to update its Wifi I discovered my iPhone had somehow defaulted back to my 2.4 ghz network even though I had told my iPhone to forget about this network after setting up the controller.
Had an unusually hard time getting it working with HomeKit involving pulling its power. Holding down the stop button and holding down the Wifi button. I
Deleted it out of HomeKit and added it back in as the first time it connected in HomeKit it wouldn’t turn on the sprinklers even though it was online and said it did. So I deleted it out of HomeKit and added it back in. Took a very long time for it to show up after hitting add.
Told my iPhone to forget my 2.4 ghz networt. Been in and out of my home today many times and so far it has stayed
RACHIO Advertises it is compatible with 2.4 & 5GHz Networks
They need to fix this… Having said that,
My Rachio connection hasn’t failed in months. It works perfectly in HomeKit. The Rachio controller ALWAYS stays connected to the 2.4Ghz…
All my Apple devices with HomeKit & Rachio Control (My wife and my: 2-iPhones, 2-iPads, 2-MacBook Pro’s) connect via 5GHz. All are able to control Rachio in HomeKit… I get Rachio notifications on all of them (but have turned that off and leave Rachio notifications on).
I think the ONE thing that may cause Rachio (and all of my other network devices - wired and wireless) to work so well on my network is my router: It is a: Synology AT2600ac.
*Out of the box it has a setting called “Auto Connect” where it assigns all wifi devices a network (2.4 or 5GHz)… All by itself. Automatically, when they are connected.
Why it works so well, with ALL my IOT wifi devices AND HomeKit, I don’t know… It just does!
• Rachio • Hue Lights inside and out • Robot Vac • Garage door opener • Door Locks • Eufy camera’s • Ecobee thermostat and more…
Some connect on 2.4GHZ, others on 5GHz. They never drop out and are solid all the time.
I am thankful that “It all Just Works” for me and I believe it is my router. Whatever Rachio (and others) is getting wrong, The Synology is making right…
This may or may not help things along but hopefully it will provide some hints to Rachio and tips to others.
If you are in the market to upgrade your network I can’t recommend Synology highly enough. This router can also be Mesh by adding a Synology companion routers: AT2600ac and/or MR2200ac:
My network does the same thing as far as what uses the 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz. But the tech from Rachio had me give each a different name in an effort to fix the issue.
Since separating the two with two different names and putting the Rachio on the 2.4 ghz and my mobile devices on the 5 ghz network it has not gone offline.
The issue does return if I put my phone on the same 2.4 ghz network as the Rachio and then leave me house e a few times.
From the beginning when Rachio became homekit compliant it was supposed to work on both 2.4 and 5 GHz networks. I think it even said that on the outside of the box if I recall… If they can fix that I believe this problem will go away…
I can and have put it on the 5 ghz network so yes it can work on either network.
The issue comes up if my phone and the rachio are on the same network and I leave home and my phone switches from my home wifi to cellular. This will often cause the rachio to go offline until I re-add it back in by holding down the WiFi button or the Stop button.
Yes, So since you can’t select which network the Rachio can join (even though we should be able to as Rachio says we can) and The Rachio Joins the 2.4 GHz network by default, Can you not just forget the 5GHz network on your iPhone and let it join your 2.4GHz network all the time - as a work-around - for now.
*FYI - If you use iCloud sync services the wifi networks your apple devices join are “remembered” and “synced” to other apple devices so as not to require you to put in password all the time - This could cause your iPhone to rejoin the 5GHz network…)
Hey friends! Copying and pasting something here that I posted in another HomeKit thread:
We’re still waiting for some third parties to make changes on their end before some of our changes can be enabled. However, we have been seeing success when users reach out to support@rachio.com to troubleshoot HomeKit issues. We have some theories and hacks on what could be wrong and reaching out to the team allows us to troubleshoot and report any learnings for future fixes.
TLDR; reach out to support to troubleshoot if you’re seeing issues with HomeKit
It definitely has something to do with my mobile devices being on the same 2.4 ghz network as the Rachio and then when I leave my home something causes it to go offline.
All has been well but after I did an update to my cellular Apple Watch it reconnected to my 2.4 ghz network and then when I left home it caused the rachio to go offline requiring holding down its WiFi button.
Same exact issue here. I’ve had zero issues with my Rachio 3 and HomeKit until I installed the 631 firmware last night. I’ve tried reboot it, holding down stop for 10 seconds and reading it, and reconnecting to WiFi. Nothing works.
After months and months of trouble free Rachio operation in HomeKit mine is now broken too after this latest last xxx…631 firmware update… Thanks Rachio, nice try.
I am not going to even bother with trying to troubleshoot this just for HomeKit.
Rachio needs to fix this right - once and for all… Sad
TLDR; reach out to support to troubleshoot if you’re seeing issues with HomeKit 