RainMachine Touch HD 12/16 Gains Beta HomeKit Support
Rainmachine, the company behind the popular line of garden irrigation controllers, have released a beta firmware update to their RainMachine Touch HD models (both the HD-12 and HD-16). According to the company, “with the release of the latest beta firmware update (v4.0.1125) for RainMachine Touch HD-12/16 we added Apple HomeKit support.”
If you have one of the aforementioned models, once the beta firmware is installed on the RainMachine Touch HD-12/16, to get HomeKit integration you need to go into:
- open Apple Home app and tap the (+) or “Add Accessory” button
- on RainMachine Pro tap on: Settings – System – IoT – Apple HomeKit – Pairing Mode – Yes.
- on RainMachine Touch HD tap on: Settings – System – IoT – Apple HomeKit – Enter pairing mode
- wait for the Apple HomeKit code & QR to be generated on the RainMachine screen
- scan the Apple HomeKit QR with the Apple iPhone/iPad camera
- wait for the RainMachine to be added as Apple HomeKit Accessory
If the process was successful, you can rename the RainMachine HomeKit accessory name, add it to a room, mark it as Favorite, change zone names and their status (active/inactive), manually start/stop zones, change their default running times and also ask Apple Siri by voice to get your sprinkler status, to start/stop a zone (eg: “Hey Siri, what’s my sprinkler status”, or “Hey Siri, start zone 3 for 10 minutes”)
This is great news for owners of these models, as for a while it looked as though they may have gotten passed over for HomeKit support, given that the RainMachine Pro already had it.
If you’re an owner of either the Pro – which also has firmware updates available – or the Touch HD, then click HERE for more details on how to update your system.
