Pebble smartwatches are making a comeback with Google’s blessing

Pebble smartwatches are making a comeback after the custodian of the operating system Google (heard of it?) revealed it was making the software available to the open source community.

In a blog post, Google revealed it is releasing the source code to enable the enthusiast and volunteer community (aka “Rebble”) to continue with the updates and tweaks that have kept Pebble watches going all these years.

Google said: “We are releasing most of the source code for the Pebble operating system. This repository contains the entire OS, which provides all the standard smartwatch functionality – notifications, media controls, fitness tracking, and support for custom apps and watchfaces – on tiny ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers.”

That news has been a fillip for Eric Migicovsky, the founder of Pebble, who has announced plans to build a new watch running on Pebble OS.

You won’t see a Pebble-branded watch ever again, because that’s Google’s Intellectual Property now, but you will get a device running on the software. That’s great news for the dieheards whose 8-10 year old watches are beginning to show the strains of time and anyone else who wants an affordable, minimalist smartwatch.

Eric says he’s bringing together a small team of hardware engineers and work is underway. He says: “This time round, we’re keeping things simple. Lessons were learned last time! I’m building a small, narrowly focused company to make these watches. I don’t envision raising money from investors, or hiring a big team. The emphasis is on sustainability. I want to keep making cool gadgets and keep Pebble going long into the future.

“The new watch we’re building basically has the same specs and features as Pebble, though with some fun new stuff as well. It runs open source PebbleOS, and it’s compatible with all Pebble apps and watchfaces. If you had a Pebble and loved it… this is the smartwatch for you.”

You can follow the RePebble project here. Migicovsky says as soon as the product specs and timeline is established, the team will share release details.

From crowdfunding to Google and back

The smartwatch pioneer Pebble rose to prominence after what, at the time, was the most popular Kickstarter project to ever hit the crowdfunding site. The original Pebble smartwatch arrived in 2013 and was an immediate hit, outshining efforts from some of tech’s biggest hitters to get smartwatches off the ground.

For three years Pebble made new watches, including the Pebble Time, Pebble Time Round, Pebble Steel and Pebble 2. There was very much a law of diminishing returns and the company ran into financial issues, controversially so having taking millions from Pebble 2 backers. That’s what led the company’s proprietary technology into the hands of Fitbit in 2016. Google bought Fitbit in 2021.

Pebble was no longer a thing by then, but it had been used to inform Fitbit’s smartwatches which were in-turn used to inform Google Pixel Watch models. So the Pixel Watch you see today has, in a matter of speaking, its DNA grounded in Pebble watches.

It’ll be fun to see Pebble watches make a comeback.

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