Before the Apple Watch, Wear OS, Garmin, and even FitBit, there was the Pebble.
Released as one of the first successful large scale Kickstarter campaigns back in 2012, the Pebble featured an black and white LCD “e-paper” display which was visible in direct sunlight and backlit when needed so you could see the screen at any time. Initially, the watch displayed notifications from your smartphone, but Pebble would eventually release an app store of its own and a software developer kit so anybody could create apps for the watch.
After the initial Pebble, the company would develop the Pebble Time, Pebble Time Steel (with a color screen!), the Pebble Time Round, the Pebble 2, and the Pebble Core. Then the bottom fell out: Pebble declared bankruptcy in 2016, selling their assets to FitBit. Pebble owners found a way to keep their devices working, though, thanks to a developer group called Rebble, which restored some features lost when Pebble shut down.
After Google bought FitBit (and Pebble’s assets) in 2021, it seemed like Pebble would just fade into memory as the existing watches aged and failed, as all technology does. Imagine our surprise, then, when, just last year, Google announced it was open sourcing Pebble OS, followed by the announcement by Pebble co-founder Eric Migicovsky that he was bringing back Pebble with new smartwatches. Everything old is truly new again.
Speaking of old, I still have my old Pebble Time Steel. The battery, while not lasting the whole week like it used to, still lasts me 4-5 days before I have to charge it. I get step and sleep tracking built in, as well as notifications from my phone, plus I have weather, alarms, timers, and even voice notes. I switched back to my Pebble Time Steel as soon as the open source announcement was made, retiring my Apple Watch Series 4, and I find myself getting more use out of it than I was getting from my Apple Watch. As a result, I began my move from Apple before I even planned to do so.
I am very interested in the Pebble Core 2, as well as the Pebble Index 01 ring, which takes audio notes and transfers them to my phone. Oh, and none of my data goes to Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, or Meta when using Pebble devices, which suits me just fine. I highly recommend Pebble smart watches to anybody who wants a smart device which respects your privacy yet is still useful to you.
