HomeKit still not working reliably - Smart Home & API / Smart Home - Rachio Community
HomeKit still not working reliably
post by Lucanaut on Jan 26, 2020
Hello, I’m checking in to see if there have been any updates on reliably keeping the controller connected to HomeKit. My controller is in a “no response” status for about 90% of the time. If I unplug it and plug it back in, it stays connected for a few minutes and then it’s back to no response. It’s connected to WiFi as I can control it from the app. All other devices nearby are fine. Anyone else with this issue…and a fix?
post by vcdx71 on Jan 29, 2020
Same… this is the reason I upgraded from a gen 1.
post by inkahauts on Jan 29, 2020
I had an issue where it was jumping on and offline period but it was because I had added a WiFi repeater to close to it and it was having some issues with that because I removed it and I’m back to rock solid.
What gen unit is it and how’s your WiFi setup? 2.4 or 5 and same or different passcodes?
If you watch the unit is it coming online then dropping offline itself or is it strictly a HomeKit issue and it’s always online?
post by laura.bauman on Jan 29, 2020
Hey friends! Latest update published here: Rachio 3 Not Responding in Homekit (Again) - #95 by laura.bauman
post by vcdx71 on Jan 29, 2020
I have over 10 home hubs between Apple TV’s and HomePods.
This is the only device that gives me this much trouble, WiFi is dual band but it’s still the same VLAN/subnet so that argument doesn’t count.
Occasionally I have other WiFi devices not respond but it’s rare and a simple reboot clears it up but not with the Rachio, it never works longer than 5 minutes after a factory reset.
post by plainsane on Feb 6, 2020
I have a bunch of hubs, no joy.
post by smk420 on Feb 19, 2020
I am having the same problem and it is getting really annoying. For background: I have 4 gen4 ATV, 3 Homepods all set up as hubs. One APT and 1 homepod are in the garage with the Rachio. I even have a Linksys tri-band node in there. All are within 2 feet of the Rachio device (so I promise it is NOT a wifi or hub issue). Using same SSID for both 2.4 and 5. I have over 50 Homekit products and this is the ONLY one giving me constant problems. When I unplug the Rachio device it will connect for a while then go back to its usual state of "no response’. Device works fine through the Rachio app. Any ideas?
post by laura.bauman on Feb 20, 2020
Hey friends! (cc @smk420)
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
post by smk420 on Feb 20, 2020
Thanks, just emailed them. Did something change in the last month or so? It was working fine for a few months.
post by laura.bauman on Feb 21, 2020
@smk420 Great! No specific changes that I’m aware of. We had an app update but that shouldn’t have affected the HomeKit integration at all. The support team might be able to identify something if there was something recent to affect your integration!
post by smk420 on Feb 22, 2020
Whats the SLA on response from support? I sent them an email on Thursday and havent been contacted; just making sure I didn’t mess up the request.
post by laura.bauman on Feb 22, 2020
@smk420 can you shoot me your ticket number? I’ll ping the team. Also, double check your spam just in case it fell in there
post by smk420 on Feb 23, 2020
yea, thats what started making me think it didnt work as I never received even an auto confirmation. I sent an email to that address you posted but nothing came back (even checked spam). Should I just send it again?
post by laura.bauman on Feb 23, 2020
Strange! Do you want to DM me your email and I can triple check on our end?
post by Lucanaut on Feb 23, 2020
In my case, I did receive the confirmation that I sent my ticket, but haven’t heard back.
post by laura.bauman on Feb 24, 2020
@Lucanaut - can you DM me your ticket number when you get a chance? If anyone reached out after 5pm MST on Saturday, the team has not been back in the office as we are closed on Sundays during the winter.
post by morps on Mar 2, 2020
I want to provide a potential area of investigation to the Rachio team for troubleshooting HomeKit support. In summary, I have HomeKit working 100% of the time now after also running into all the issues described in post after post here. How I solved it? Keep reading…
Homebridge
For those of you that are not familiar with Homebridge, it is an open source project that essentially HomeKit enables products not “officially” supported otherwise. I decided to give it a try after some other home automation devices I have wouldn’t work with HomeKit. I setup a Raspberry Pi with HOOBS ( hoobs.org) on it — super simple, you don’t need to be a developer to do this. If you can setup a HomeKit devices, you can setup HOOBS.
Once setup, I found someone had written a Rachio integration which uses their web socket API. After following the developer’s instructions, I had all my Rachio controller valves pop up in the Apple Home app!
Since I did this, I have had zero issues with status and controlling my Rachio managed valves through Apple Home app.
Web Socket is the answer?
I will fully admit, I am now over my skis here, but my Homebridge setup clearly demonstrates the Rachio controller can operate via HomeKit without a hitch. But why? Does the Homebridge do a better job of acting as a hub than the Rachio controller? Is the use of a web socket based API the answer (btw, I have no clue what the API method is for HomeKit itself, it could be a web socket based api too for all I know).
Regardless, since I did this I have had no issues whatsoever. I genuinely hope this helps the Rachio devs figure out what’s up (if they don’t otherwise already know).
post by Lucanaut on Mar 2, 2020
Very interesting! I run homebridge too. Can you send me the link to the API?
post by morps on Mar 2, 2020
post by laura.bauman on Mar 3, 2020
LOVE! Thank you so much for sharing this @morps! Shooting this over to our CS Manager for more investigation on our end
post by Ebaugh on Mar 7, 2020
I had to change some Arlo stuff and noticed that my Rachio 3 had turned Into “no response” state.
I know network and SSID hasn’t changed.
Removed it and now, like others, I cannot re-add it.
Tried power cycling it, but no luck.
It shows up fine in the direct app. But I have some automations I’d like to build via homekit ( I upgraded from a first gen to this for homekit - both have worked fine via Rachio app, but now wondering if I wasted my $$ given all the homekit issues ).
Any ETA on a workable fix? I’m on firmware 631.
post by laura.bauman on Mar 24, 2020
Hey friends!
Just wanted to share an update posted in another thread:
post by eggyacid on May 10, 2020
Same issue with HomeKit.
I did the reset back in March where I lost all settings, finally was able to get everything added manually. Now HomeKit isn’t working again and I do not want to go thru the trouble of redo everything
- it’s bad that there is no way to reset without losing all settings. Really, this is an v1 overlook.
- Mesh network is just a way to push the blame on someone else. I had completely created a separate non-mesh network and still can’t get it to work.
- I’m close to just sell this and put my original non-internet version of sprinkler controller back. If you are thinking of buying one, think twice.
- Please don’t tell me the only solution is to reset and start fresh again.
post by franz on May 11, 2020
@eggyacid Ill have an engineer from our team reach out to you.
post by laura.bauman on May 11, 2020
Hey everyone! Just to keep things organized and make sure people are getting the most up to date information, I’m going to close this thread. Our team is working hard to replicate, troubleshoot, and resolve the issues we’re seeing in HomeKit. That is being documented weekly here (and I have linked to the most recent post as of this comment):