Ya I second that, the problem before was there was no support from homekit now apple has added support. so please update the app accordingly.
ya no dont really care, priority should be homekit. its a million dollar feature.
Itās not an Apple provided chip.
As the one who started this thread originally I am really looking forward to some kind of official update from Rachio based on todayās news.
Voice control of the Iro is a feature that I see myself using a few times a year. Mostly when Iām working on a zone and need to turn it on/off and my hands are dirty or wet. Or maybe some cute situation like the Amazon Alexa where the dad turns on the sprinkler to soak the butthead boyfriend that made his daughter cry.
IMO, the whole purpose of the Iro is to water the lawn automatically for me.
If I ever have to start interacting with it so frequently that having voice control becomes a āmillion dollar featureā, then it isnāt fulfilling its purpose very well.
3 Likes
I agree 100%!!! This is FAR more important than voice control!
3 Likes
I understand but with homekit and with the new Siri enabled speaker you can do both. so ya Homekit #1 plus there are a lot of automation setting in the app itself.
HomeKit support is not about voice control, itās about security and ensuring that those devices connected to our wired/wireless network and thus potentially (or intentionally) accessible over the public internet can be properly secured to prevent unauthorized access.
IMO, HomeKit support will add an additional method for remotely managing the Iro (that may or may not be more secure than the non-HomeKit method that the Iro has been using over the last four-plus years to communicate over the public Internet). I personally have no security concerns with how the Iro currently communicates over the public Internet.
But ā¦ HomeKit doesnāt support Android. Nor does HomeKit support web browsers running on computers.
Unless youāre proposing that Rachio drop support for non-HomeKit devices (by only allowing HomeKit access), the Iro is going to have to keep the original non-HomeKit connectivity method that itās always had.
Adding HomeKit support to the Iro will be great (not sure itās a million-dollar feature), but AFAIK it shouldnāt have any effect on the other methods the Iro retains in order to be compatible with non-Apple devices.
ā¦ 
is that the official Rachio statement? 
3 Likes
I just hope they donāt take the āeasyā way out so many others are taking and create yet another bridge device to provide the support. Iām not interested in yet another gateway from homekit to (insert random IOT device here). One of my key reasons for choosing HomeKit compatible devices is the security aspects of the platform but too many are taking the easy way out which does not provide the level of security HomeKit intended.
Since itās out in public in the Apple keynote, I do believe itās time to expect some actual content from Rachio on their plans. They didnāt get on that slide by mistake
I got an email from Rachio yesterday about āIntroducing new Google Assistant and SmartThings integrationsāā¦ thought the timing was kind of ironic. lol
Will there be HomeKit support in existing Rachio hardware?
Thanks!
1 Like
Now thatās what Iām talking about, a real automation guy. The time spent on HomeKit could be spent getting me more granular data from my flow sensor via the API.
But seriously, most diy zwave solutions allow you to substitute the module with rest code. I had one basically working for openhab but I put it down for more turf management studies.
I donāt suppose you could tell us if Gen 1 hardware will be supported in HomeKit? The latest HomeKit WWDC session includes talk about software authentication being added, so at least some of the hardware limitations are being lifted.
Some promising information in this article for making Rachio compatible with HomeKit. In iOS 11 and macOS 11 a special security chip will no longer be required for HomeKit integration and sprinklers are supported.
2 Likes
One Rachio poster said they needed Siri integration for HomeKit integration. That was announced last week, so you can start developing for it now.
I work for Schlage and have work on the Sense lock. I am telling you that Rachio could implement HomeKit if they make it a priority now. Nothing is holding them back. Letās make this happen!!!
1 Like
+1 million
I too am looking for a Apple HomeKit enabled controller. I guess I will keep looking.