RainMachine 4+

I have had the RainMachine controller for 3 years now. The setup instructions are not clear. When you are connecting the controller to WiFi you have switch local discovery in the network settings to “on” and once your done with set up you have to switch to “off” or you won’t be able to control the unit when your off your WiFi, they don’t tell you this in any instructions. I had to call the support line multiple times and they didn’t even understand that was what was needed to be done. After multiple frustrating calls I actually figured it out myself.

Also, every year when I start my system up I have some sort problem. This year, about a week ago everything seemed fine, then today I tried to water an individual zone and I got the “infinite thinking circle” that wouldn’t let me do anything. I tried rebooting, didn’t work, tried turning phone on and off, didn’t work, tried reinstalling app, didn’t work. Finally I reset the controller and went completely through setup and that worked. Clearly they have bugs. The overall ratings for this app is currently 2.7 and it is clear to me why.

Updated Review 8-1-22
We’ll, what do you know, They have returned local access to my iPhone. I can once again control this app without going into my basement. Imagine my surprise when I came home to check on my system after my Sprinkler Company had made some adjustments and I just happened to open the app and there it was, my local access. I have updated my review to a five star review. Evidently they are listening to their customers. Thanks guys!

Original review below:
I’ve had this app installed on my iPhone since I purchased this rain machine approximately 7-8 years ago. I’ve never really cared about the remote access but to be able to control this app while I am at home with my phone, was the reason I bought the product. Now they have removed my access to even operate this from my phone. This is such a breach of trust, and as many have already said this seems to be very illegal. How could you change a product so drastically as to cut off access from the unit while I’m in my home? I now have to actually be standing in front of the unit and manually turn my system on and off. Phone access does not exist any longer. Your company needs to be a shamed.

I bought one for my previous home and now another for my newer home. All of a sudden, I have to pay a fee to use features that have always been included in the purchase price. If that is even legal, it is super shady. The developer says that the alternative is to connect directly or use port forwarding. However, direct connect does not work if you have 2 WiFi SSIDs. Well, I have 2 - I don’t want my IOT devices on my same network. Port forwarding only works if I’m outside of my network. So, I’m pretty much forced to pay.

Also, my grass looks like crap because the algorithm skips watering altogether rather than pushing it out a day. So, say I water every 4 days. If the forecast is for rain on my watering day, it skips watering. Then, if rain is in the forecast on the 8th day, it skips again. If there’s rain in the forecast on the 12th day, you got it - skipped. I’m the mean time, my grass is dead because it only rained a tiny bit on the 4th day. I guess if I lived somewhere like Florida, it might be ok. Where I live, the weather is finicky. Forecasts are rarely right, and almost always suggest rain that either doesn’t happen, or is much less that what they thought. Maybe I should just get a moisture sensor and forget about the forecast feature. But then, what’s the benefit of having a Rain Machine?