“We’re making new Pebble watches,” writes authentic Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky on the “rePebble” launch web page.
Eight years after Pebble’s time as an upstart watchmaker got here to an finish, Migicovsky says that he is working with a small staff on “a Pebble-like smartwatch that runs open supply PebbleOS.” There needs to be some new options, however new watches would keep “true to the core Pebble imaginative and prescient.” With sufficient sign-ups, the location claims, that watch will get constructed.
Pebble, launched in 2012, was one of many first smartphone-era smartwatches, promoting 2 million fashions and serving as an early success story for {hardware} crowdfunding. After the comparatively inexperienced {hardware} agency bumped into funding gaps and stiff competitors from the Apple Watch, Pebble stopped making its personal watches after an IP-only sale to Fitbit in 2016. Google acquired Fitbit in 2021, gaining some authentic Pebble employees as nicely, who then helped the Rebble undertaking launch substitute net providers for the watch and stored the watch engaged on the latest Android telephones.
Retaining Issues Easy
Why would somebody need to make 2016’s e-paper watches once more? One massive motive is that Google, pushed alongside by its in-house Pebble vets and Rebble volunteers, has launched a lot of the supply code for Pebble’s working system. It is lacking some blobs of proprietary chipset and Bluetooth stack code, however it may be constructed, if not absolutely compiled. There’s “a non-trivial quantity of labor to do find replacements” for these items, in addition to bringing years-old supply code updated, Google’s publish notes. However anybody who needs to make a Pebble-ish watch can now use Pebble’s code.
With that code, Migicovsky can tackle the second motive for a brand new Pebble—nothing has actually changed the unique. On his weblog, Migicovsky defines the core of Pebble’s attraction: always-on display screen, lengthy battery life, a “easy and exquisite consumer expertise” targeted on helpful necessities, bodily buttons, and “hackable,” together with customized watch faces.
Migicovsky writes {that a} small staff is tackling the {hardware} facet, making a watch that runs PebbleOS and “mainly has the identical specs and options as Pebble” however with “enjoyable new stuff as nicely.” Crucially, they’re taking a unique path than the unique Pebble firm:
Nonetheless Not an Apple Watch—by Design
Ars Technica requested Migicovsky by electronic mail if modern-day Pebbles would have higher interoperability with Apple’s iPhones than the unique fashions. “No, even much less now!” Migicovsky replied, pointing to the Division of Justice’s lawsuit in opposition to Apple in 2024. That lawsuit claims that Apple “restricted the performance of third-party smartwatches” to maintain folks utilizing Apple Watches after which, consequently, much less prone to change away from iPhones.
The core performance Migicovsky detailed on his publish, he wrote, was nonetheless attainable on iOS. Sure superior options, like replying to notifications with voice dictation, could also be restricted to Android telephones.
Migicovsky’s web site and weblog don’t set a timeline for brand new {hardware}. His final main undertaking, the multi-protocol chat app Beeper, was offered to WordPress.com proprietor Automattic in April 2024, following a protracted battle with Apple over entry to its iMessage protocol.
This story initially appeared on Ars Technica.