With the recent changes to remote access (bait and switch for those of us that have been long time customer since 2014 and advocates for this product... until now), I am not able to access my rain machine any longer, even from my local LAN.

My home network is a routed network, where my IoT style devices sit in a separate subnet from my other devices (laptops, phones, servers).  Previously, I would rely on the remote access capabilities, as rainmachine has never truly supported the ability to "direct access" from a different subnet with reliable results. Yes you can set it up, but it doesn't actually work consistently, as the app hangs trying to load content from the rainmachine.  My LAN firewall shows many numerous small packet count sessions when this occurs, as if the app is trying to establish multiple repeated TCP connections to the device instead of using just the first one.  The only reliable way for me to connect to my controller was via remote connect.  Now that I've been subjected to this bait-and-switch of making me pay for a feature that I've had for YEARS previously, I am unable to consistently and reliably access my rainmachine directly from my OWN home network.

Now that I'm being held hostage by having to pay for remote access, when will the app support the ability to access my rainmachine directly over my LAN reliably?  When will developers fix the app so that it doesn't sit there and hang when trying to connect? 

I am a long time customer that used to be pleased with this product.  Depending on how this issue is handled will decide if I start calling all the people that I've previously recommended Rainmachine to and tell them to consider anything BUT Rainmachine.  I have used the remote access feature capabilities for years to work around other shortcomings in the product's ability to work on anything but the most basic and unsecure LAN.  If Rainmachine now wants to charge for that capability, then you absolutely MUST provide FAR better local LAN support for customers who choose not to pay an annual fee.  Why can I not choose to direct connect to the device via http (unencrypted) from the app?  If it's a matter of CPU resources on my rainmachine that are causing my issues, why can I not have the choice to forego the encryption when all my traffic remains on my local LAN, and save the rainmachine from having to do SSL encryption.  No matter what I try, the app wants to force the usage of an encrypted connection. 

FWIW, connecting from my laptop via web browser using an unencrypted http connection is possible, but the menus are not reliable.  Editing schedules always loses the set days, and I cannot reset them.  System settings such as "extra watering on hot days" show as unchecked, but are in fact set on the device.  Several other features either behave incorrectly or show inaccurate date/settings. It's as if the unencrypted web frontend is half-baked at best. 

The lack of QUALITY in the programming for UI functions in general is disappointing.  The only workaround to get RELIABLE and moderately decent control of my device is to use the remote connect functions, so when that is now held hostage by way of a fee, it sends a terrible message to customers and is an indicator that profits are the focus when customer satisfaction is not.

(edit: updated content, changed some verbiage to be more specific)