Rachio abandons HomeKit for its smart garden sprinkler

Rachio has announced that its Rachio 3 smart sprinkler controller will no longer support HomeKit after engineers are unable to resolve issues, and is offering refunds to users.

The Rachio 3 sprinkler controller added HomeKit support back in 2018. Recently users have been reporting "no response" errors.

Since April 2022, Rachio has been detailing the work its engineers have done "working with Apple's dev team" to resolve the problem, but have concluded that they cannot.

"We've put a considerable amount of effort into determining the root cause and possible solutions for the 'No Response' error that some Rachio users report when using HomeKit," wrote Rachio manager Dane Berry, in a forum post and an email to consumers seen by AppleInsider. "We're sorry we have some disappointing news. We are suspending this work indefinitely."

"We did not make this decision lightly," Berry continues. "Although it seems like we have come closer to determining the root cause, our recent findings have led to more unknowns than answers."

"We understand the disappointment and frustration this will cause some users and we want to make this right for you," he says. "For any user who is unable to use HomeKit with their Rachio and would rather use a competitor's product we will reimburse you the cost of the Rachio controller after receiving your controller."

Details on how to return the Rachio 3 for a refund are included in the forum post.

William Gallagher has 30 years of experience between the BBC and AppleInsider discussing Apple technology. Outside of AppleInsider, he's best known for writing Doctor Who radio dramas for BBC/Big Finish, and is the De...