Are there smart irrigation products with HomeKit support?

On our most recent IoT Podcast, Marty called in to our voicemail hotline with a question about smart irrigation products. He’s looking for a multi-zone solution, preferably with HomeKit support, as well as a smart timer to go with it. There are a few products worth considering for this situation.

If Marty can live without HomeKit support, one option would be the $199 Flume for water monitoring. This is less of a smart irrigation product and more of a water usage device. Flume helps you conserve water by tracking usage and looking for leaks, so it may not be ideal. However, it does work for both indoor and outdoor plumbing.

Rachio is a true smart sprinkler option that may be better suited for Marty’s use case.

The $149 Rachio 3e Smart Sprinkler Controller uses WiFi to give you control and insight into your sprinklers. Since it has a connection to the internet through your home network, it uses local weather data to provide more water during dry days or not use water on rainy days. You can also schedule your sprinklers with the Rachio app.

Rachio recently added HomeKit support to this device, but there are still issues with the integration being worked on:

There are known issues with the HomeKit integration including disconnecting, difficulty reconnecting, “no response” notifications, and mesh network connections. The team is working with Apple and testing a new firmware release to resolve these issues.

If those HomeKit issues seem too daunting to you, there are two other options available.

The B-Hyve smart spigot timer from Orbit costs $59 and works well based on my testing.

There are scheduling options, watering optimization based on weather, and remote access to control the flow. The downside, aside from being a single hose solution? It doesn’t work with HomeKit.

The $99 Eve Aqua does work with HomeKit and, even better in my opinion, just gained Thread support this week.

I haven’t yet tested this particular device but I did recently get a review unit so stay tuned for my thoughts. If it works as well as the other Thread-supported products by Eve, it would be well worth considering.

However, this too is a single spigot solution, rather than a full irrigation system.

To hear Marty’s question in full, as well as the discussion on it, tune in to the IoT Podcast below: