Roger Fingas
Rachio on Tuesday announced that its Rachio 3 smart sprinkler controller now supports HomeKit, enabling control via Siri and the Mac, iOS, and watchOS Home apps.
Using the Home app, HomeKit setup should take "a matter of minutes," Rachio said. The company didn't immediately explain how owners would get necessary HomeKit codes.
The Rachio 3 is designed to control complex home irrigation systems. It's available in 8- and 16-zone versions, and via Wi-Fi connects to an iPhone app that enables scheduling, monitoring, and metering.
Support for sprinklers and faucets was added to HomeKit with last year's iOS 11, but to date relatively few accessories have taken advantage. The best known example is probably the Eve Aqua, which can turn a single faucet on or off.
An 8-zone Rachio 3 is $229.99, and the 16-zone model is $279.99. People installing the controller outdoors will have to add a $29 weatherproof enclosure.
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5 Comments
Fantastic and unexpected news! I have never heard Rachio promise HomeKit integration, but here it is anyway. Kudos for underpromising and overdelivering! Now, for the guys at Ring........crickets after years of promises.
Been using orbits wifi enabled smart sprinkler for ages , bought at home depot and is really good and cheaper app on iphone too
Only for the “3”?!
So users of the 2 are out in the cold?
Oh, ok. Got it. Only Alexa gets compatibility with with the previous model.
Thanks, Rachio. You are now the new "CVS".
Rachio has been promising to add Homekit support since v1 hardware. It never materialized. They would say it was under investigation and around the corner, until you cornered them and then they would blame somebody. They didn't want to put in chips that supported the hardware auth that was initially required. Then, after being confronted that they no longer needed hardware chips, just wanted to blame Apple for not have a proper category. Now it is just a money grab to get people to upgrade to v3 hardware. They could support v2, but they won't. I would not be surprised if they EOL v1 hardware to force people to upgrade. If they pull that, I'm switching brands. On the other hand, a little good natured support of their user base, such as free back porting HomeKit to at least v2 might earn enough respect from me to upgrade. (from v1 to v3 hardware)