Creating, Editing, Duplicating, and Deleting Schedules

Last Update: May 26 2026 5:29pm • Est. Read Time: 7 MIN

Summary

This article covers how to create, edit, duplicate, and delete watering schedules for Rachio Sprinkler Controllers and Smart Hose Timers. It also includes schedule limitations by device, common editing scenarios, and important considerations for Flex Daily and Flex Monthly schedules.

Contents

1. Creating a Schedule
2. Editing a Schedule
3. Duplicating a Schedule
4. Deleting a Schedule
5. Schedule Limitations

Creating a Schedule

Sprinkler Controller (Rachio 3)

1. Go to your schedules tab and tap on "+ CREATE SCHEDULE".

2. Select your type of schedule.

Warning

Schedule type cannot be changed after a schedule has been created. To use a different schedule type, delete the existing schedule and create a new one.

3. Name your schedule.

4. Choose the zones you'd like to include in the schedule. Disabled Zones can be included, but will not water until enabled in the Zones tab.

5. Select when you'd like to water:

Specific days: selecting specific days of the week for the schedule to run on those days every week.

Even/Odd Interval: run the schedule on even or odd dates.

Daily Interval: water every "x" number of days.

Warning

Interval type cannot be changed after a schedule has been created. To use a different interval type, delete the existing schedule and create a new one.

6. Select the time of day you'd like your schedule to run at.

Note

Using more than one "End Before" schedule is not recommended. When multiple schedules are configured to end before a set time, the system may shift run times progressively earlier, potentially causing schedules to start on the wrong day.

7. Select Start and End dates.

8. Enable or disable Smart Cycle for this schedule.

9. Enable Weather Skips (remove the checkmark to disable a Weather Skip) and Seasonal Shift.

10. Edit the suggested watering duration for the zones in the schedule (or hit done to finish the setup).

Smart Hose Timer

1. Go to your schedules tab and tap on "+ CREATE SCHEDULE".

2. Name your schedule.

3. Choose the valves you'd like to include in the schedule.

4. Select when you'd like to water:

By day of week: selecting specific days of the week for the schedule to run on those days every week.

Even/Odd Interval: run the schedule on even or odd dates.

Daily Interval: water every "x" number of days.

5. Set the watering duration and the time of day for the schedule. Enable Smart Soak, and you can also set the valves to run at the same time in the schedule.

6. Select Start and End dates.

7. Enable or disable Rain Skip.

8. Finish Schedule (or hit Edit to go back and edit any setting in the schedule).

Smart Hose Timer Additional Schedule Settings (Step 5)

Smart Soak

• Smart Soak can be found in a schedule's settings under the "Time of day and duration" options. Smart Soak splits up schedule runs to allow water time to soak into the ground. It also improves watering in clay-rich soils and/or long schedule runs.
• Smart Soak splits the total watering time for any individual cycle into two equal parts. At the start, it waters for the first half of the total duration. Then, it pauses to let the water soak in for at least the same duration as the first watering session, potentially extending this soaking period if multiple runs or valves are active in the schedule. After the soak, it resumes watering for the second half of the total duration to complete the cycle.
• When using Smart Soak, each valve will soak for at least 50% of the runtime of the longest-running valve included in that schedule.
• When a schedule includes multiple valves, the system enhances efficiency by cycling between them to reduce total runtime, operating one valve while others soak.
• If you’re using the Open valves at the same time feature in your schedule, you can expect to see even more soak time; as your valves will not resume their watering until the longest-running valve included in that schedule has completed its soaking.

Open valves at the same time

Open valves at the same time can be found in a schedule's settings under the "Time of day and duration" options. This feature will allow a schedule containing multiple valves to open all valves simultaneously at the beginning of each run. Keep in mind that this can have a serious impact on water pressure depending on the type of irrigation devices you have connected to the Smart Hose Timer Valves.

Editing a Schedule

To edit a schedule, head to the Schedules Tab, tap on the name of the schedule or the kebab menu ( circle with the 3 vertical dots) , and hit > Edit Schedule. You'll be able to edit the following:

• Enable or Disable the schedule (disabling it turns the schedule off, which means it won't run until it's re-enabled)
• Name of the schedule
• Color
• Zones/Valves included in the schedule
• Interval
• Times (the time of the day the schedule runs at)
• Start and End dates
• Cycle and Soak
• Weather Intelligence skips

Note

Make sure to hit " Done" or " Save" after making a change to the schedule.

Adjust Watering button (controller only)

With this button, you'll be able to edit duration (both in minutes or percentage) and interval (based on your primary Interval option - the days the schedule will run if you opted for Specific Days, for example. Click on the tabs at the top of the screen to navigate between the two menus.

For Flex Monthly and Flex Daily schedules, adjusting the interval will affect the allowed watering days, which the controller will use as a reference to calculate when to water based on each of the schedule type's specificities.

You can increase or decrease the amount of watering duration (minutes) for each zone as needed. You can edit watering durations directly from the Schedules tab by tapping Adjust Watering under the schedule name. From the sub-menu, you can adjust durations either by setting a specific duration down to the second or by percentage. Both options are available from the dropdown menu at the top of the screen: "by time" or "by percentage".

Adjusting the percentage adjusts the percentage of the total duration of all zones in the schedule. Individual zone durations can then be further adjusted as needed by tapping the - and + signs next to a specific zone. The maximum adjustment through percentage is 60% (adjustments to longer durations can be done by time). You can either increase by 60% or decrease by 60% of the total duration.

Duplicating a Schedule (Gen 2 and Rachio 3 controllers)

You can duplicate a schedule by tapping the kebab menu ( circle with three vertical dots). After selecting Duplicate schedule from the overflow menu, you will be given the option to name the schedule (the default name will be “[schedule name] copy”. You'll then see the duplicated schedule appearing as a new card on the Schedules tab.

Note

A zone cannot belong to more than one Flex Daily schedule simultaneously. When duplicating a Flex Daily schedule, you will be prompted to select different zones for the duplicate.

Common Scenarios when Editing a Schedule

Scenario 1
''My schedule runs every 4 days, and since it ran yesterday, the calendar showed the next run to occur 3 days from now. After I edited my schedule to run every 10 days instead, I expected the next run to occur 10 days from now, but it's actually scheduled for tomorrow.''
Whenever a schedule is edited, the system will build it from scratch, which means all intervals are reset as if it were a new schedule. In this situation, editing the interval overrides the old schedule as if it were a brand new schedule. Some zone watering durations may also change when the interval is changed, especially in Flex Schedules.

Scenario 2
''My schedule ran for much longer after I edited it.''
It's possible the schedule was edited while it was already running. In this case, when the schedule is rebuilt and sent to the controller, it starts the timer from the beginning, making it run longer than expected. If a schedule has to be edited mid-run, make sure to stop the run first.

Deleting a Schedule

You can delete your schedules by tapping the kebab menu ( circle with three vertical dots). You can also delete it by tapping on the name of the schedule and scrolling down to "DELETE SCHEDULE". Please keep in mind that this action can't be undone, and deleted schedules can't be recovered. If you need to pause a specific schedule for a certain amount of time, we recommend disabling it.

Schedule Limitations

1. Multiple Schedules

For different reasons, you may need to use more than one schedule. In this case, please be aware of the schedule limitations for each controller generation.

• Rachio Smart Hose Timer
  Accommodates up to 19 schedules per valve.

• Rachio 3
  Accommodates up to 16 schedules per controller.

• Generation 2
  Accommodates up to 16 schedules per controller.

• Generation 1
  Accommodates up to 8 schedules per controller.

More than 16 Schedules?
We hope to support a greater number of schedules in the future. Until then, please use one of Rachio's many IFTTT recipes for any complex schedules that need multiple start times per zone. You can also create your own custom recipes to suit a variety of needs. Explore the possibilities!

2. Grow-in Schedules
   Grow-in schedules can be set to run between every 1-6 hours with a Start time and an End time.

3. Multiple Schedules, which include a Zone that is also included in a Flex Daily Schedule
   While any zone can be scheduled to run on multiple schedule types, we do not recommend running a zone on a Flex Daily schedule in conjunction with other schedule types. Doing so will nullify the benefits of a Flex Daily schedule (which monitors and regulates a zone's soil moisture), as that zone's moisture level will be increased every time a schedule containing that zone is run. The zone's moisture levels can be observed using the soil moisture level graphs in Flex Daily schedules.

4. Flex Daily Schedules running the day before it's scheduled to
   If the total duration of your Flex Daily Schedule (if all of your zones were to run) is greater than or equal to 10 hours and it's configured to " End Before Sunrise", the system must factor the entire duration into the time it begins watering in it's attempt to "End Before Sunrise"; this will likely lead to the schedule commencing watering the night before.

How to fix it?
To ensure your Flex Daily schedule doesn't start the day before, you should edit your schedule to "Start at Specific Time" and choose a time at or slightly later than Midnight.

5. Flex (Monthly and Daily) Schedules with too few allowed watering days
   Flex Schedules allow Rachio to automatically adjust watering intervals and durations to offset seasonal weather changes and soil moisture estimates. If a Flex Schedule has fewer than 4 allowed watering days per week, you might want to consider using a Fixed schedule instead. Flex Schedules do not perform optimally if you have 3 or fewer allowed watering days per week.