Rachio Gen 3 Hardware release, Homekit Support For Gen 2 still Coming?

I am having a very difficult time with your explaination of why Rachio Gen 2 will not support Homekit due to memory limits. If that is indeed the reason, Rachio device engineers were cutting too many corners, and not planning ahead. How can a fairly expensive device that I bought in 2016 to run my sprinklers be essentially obsolete in under 2 years, and unable to adopt something like HomeKit integration or incorporate the new Rachio flow sensor introduced with Gen 3?!?

I have been able to integrate many non-native HomeKit devices in my home over the years using open source projects such as Homebridge. In my experience, physical device memory has never been a limitation, only the ability of the device vendor to allow access to make API calls, and documentation of the API so that developers can make integrations.

I would be more apt to believe that the Rachio marketing folks tried to make a calculated decision to quietly deprecate the Gen 2 devices, hoping that someone that owns the Gen 2 and wanting HomeKit would go out and plunk down another $200+ on a Gen 3. I originally chose Rachio because I saw the potential for the technology to expand as new things were introduced, and thought that Rachio would support and expand the software and services for the device for many years to come. I am sad and disappointed with Rachio’s sheer lack of device support for new tech and equipment that is introduced.

I feel slighted as a paying customer for Rachio’s lack of ongoing support, and will make sure that the friends and family that are considering a smart controller fully understand that Rachio should no longer be a consideration simply because older models are quickly dropped, and they do not have my back as a customer.

If Rachio wants to change my mind about their products and company, FIX IT! Make a working Homebridge plugin for Gen 2 (and maybe even Gen 1) customers. Post and document your APIs for open source integration into other platforms. STOP playing the game of “your less than two year old previous generation device is just not supportable” garbage! When people pay extra money for something like what Rachio is selling, we expect better support two years into the investment than a placating explanation and a coupon code to spend more money on their “next big thing”.

This is a perfect object lesson on how to lose customers and earn a bad reputation.

Seriously, guys! Seriously.

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This is a very good point. I find it hard to believe this is a hardware limitation. Rachio Gen 2 integration with homekit has been working just fine through Homebridge for over a year

I think we need some more detailed explanations as to why Gen 2 is not receiving HomeKit- it works with HomeKit right now if you are savvy enough to set up Homebridge

Hey @FuzzyMicrobe,

I’m so sorry for the frustration and completely understand. Our team truly tried incredibly hard to make this work. Our team of engineers worked for a year and a half to try and get this to fit onto the Generation 2, but Homekit requires so much more memory than we expected and we weren’t able to make it work.

I can assure you that our team has not cut corners, nor have we kept this feature from the Generation 2 in order to sell the Rachio 3 controllers.

However, if you’re interested, @conradh created a hack earlier this year for Generation 2 and HomeKit. You can learn more about that here.

Again, we’re incredibly sorry that Homekit cannot work with the Generation 2.

-Lo :rachio:

@steve82 Unfortunately we can’t create promotions for Amazon purchases. I’m sorry!

I think that would be a good enough compromise…why not just officially support the hack

Great questions @steve82 and @miked1987,

There are certainly ways that HomeKit has been unofficially integrated with IoT products, but as an official HomeKit partner, we have to follow certain requirements.

:rachio: Lo

Thanks for the quick reply! So if you follow the official requirements, the Gen 2 unit does not have enough memory for HomeKit? I am not a developer so I assume that is the line of thought here

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You’re welcome! And yes, that’s the gist of it.

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Bummer!!!

Please please please let us trade in our old devices. I would happily pay the difference

The company takes back and refurbished units all the time

That would go a long way in showing your long time customers you appreciate their loyalty to the company

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People seem pretty peeved by this on here and on Reddit. I think it would go a long way, offering a service such as that

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Oops! Sorry I missed that one, Steve! We do have an Amazon store, but we don’t have control over any promotion codes they push.

I’ll share your thoughts and feedback with our team today so we can review, we’ll let you know if we decide to implement a trade-in program in the future!

:rachio:

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Thank you for your timeliness and professionalism. I know it’s not easy dealing with an angry mob!

Fingers crossed the company makes the right decision for us long time customers

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For some reason, there seems to be a difference between the size of sellers - I’m checking with the team for more information!

You’re very welcome, Michael! Thank you for the great discussion :slight_smile:

Continuing the discussion from Rachio Gen 3 Hardware release, Homekit Support For Gen 2 still Coming?:

I think everyone is not being fair about expecting Gen 2 to support HomeKit. I sold my gen 2 and upgraded to gen 3 when it came out because I assumed gen 2 would never be HomeKit compatible. Even when gen 3 came out Rachio didn’t promise HomeKit. This isn’t a case like Ring that announced it and it never launched. If you are mad that gen 2 doesn’t have HomeKit, then that is on you. No promises were made but they made an effort. That is all we as consumers can ask.

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Thank you for the support @PaperFriend. While we never promised HomeKit for Generation 2, we truly tried incredibly hard to make it work!

:cheers:

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I’m very sorry you feel this way @steve82 and I truly wish there was something I could do make this better.

Sure, Steve! I’d be happy to continue this in a direct message if you’d prefer.

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If this goes private and you are offered a rachio 3 for free I will start a #burnyourrachio challange on instagram to all 36k of my followers.
This company has disgusted me today.

And apparently the best option here is to buy a gen 3 from amazon. Swap the guts from your gen 2 and return the “gen 3”

Free upgrade.:roll_eyes:

Is there a way to upgrade the memory on the Gen 2? I would rather spend $30 upgrading my Gen 2, than buying the Gen 3 at a discount and trying to sell my Gen 2 to someone.