Rain Bird vs iChef ET
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Rain Bird
Control your sprinklers remotely from your mobile device. Automate watering schedules and adjust for weather conditions to conserve water and reduce costs. Compatible with various Rain Bird controller models.
- Remote sprinkler control
- Customizable watering schedules
- Automated weather adjustments
- Water and money saving
- Controller model compatibility
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Smart Watering Made Simple. Connect your Rain Bird controller to your mobile device to turn on sprinklers, set up customized watering schedules, and automate weather adjustments, saving you water and money. Compatible with the following Rain Bird controller models: ST8-WIFI ESP-TM2 ESP-RZXe ESP-Me ESP-ME3 RC2 ARC8 For more information: http://wifi.rainbird.com 1-800-RAINBIRD
iChef ET
This app connects to a Bluetooth thermometer to monitor cooking and BBQ temperatures. It offers customizable settings for different meats, provides cooking progress updates, and sends notifications when target temperatures are reached. It also includes multi-channel timers for various cooking durations.
- Bluetooth thermometer connectivity
- Real-time temperature monitoring
- Customizable meat and taste settings
- Cooking progress tracking
- Target temperature notifications
- Multi-channel timers
- Celsius/Fahrenheit display
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This App is used for Barbecue and Kitchen to help user for a better cooking. The App is connected with a Barbecue Thermometer device (ET-735) by Bluetooth. The thermometer will send the temperature data from the temperature probe to the App of the Smart-phone for various functions as below： 1) Thermometer - Monitoring the temperature of the cooking / BBQ - Select different meat and taste with default Set Temperatures and customized Set Temperatures. - The App will provide the progress of the cooking. - The App will provide notification (sound and / or vibration) to user when target temperature is reached. - The App can display temperature in ℃ or ℉ and is user selectable. - Support at most 4 probes of thermometer and end user can assign different meats and tastes to individual probe for cooking purpose. 2) Timer - There are four channels of timers which assist the user for various cooking / BBQ purpose. - Each channel can be selected to work as up count or down count timer. - Count up timer is used for monitoring the duration of cooking activities. - Count down timer is used to set a target time for cooking. When the timer count down from target time to zero, the App will trigger a notification (Sound and / or Vibration) to user
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Rain Bird at 4.7 against iChef ET's 3.3. Rain Bird also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 20 months) and ratings volume (79K vs 4). iChef ET's advantage is iOS requirement (7.1 vs 13.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Rain Bird holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Rain Bird has 79K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 31% of Rain Bird's written reviews are positive against 10% of iChef ET's.
Rain Bird ships an update every 2 months, iChef ET every 20 months. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Rain Bird | iChef ET |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (79K ratings) — better | 3.3 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 31.1% of reviews — better | 10.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 79K — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 20 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 7.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rain Bird Corporation | Maverick Industries, Inc. |
Customer experience
Rain Bird
iChef ET
Bugs and requests
Rain Bird
Reported bugs
5 issues- Constant connection errors
- App crashes frequently
- Date/time not syncing correctly
- Seasonal adjustment not working as expected
- Manual controls not functioning properly
Requested features
6 requests- Add water usage history and analytics
- Allow pausing of individual zones
- Improve manual control options
- Add weather integration and smart scheduling
- Improve notification system
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- Add ability to turn off entire system remotely
iChef ET
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Rain Bird
No in-app purchases
iChef ET
No in-app purchases
