Announcements and Updates - Pebble Forums

Update 38: Announcing RunKeeper Support for Pebble

Joseph — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:53:23 +0000

18 May: New York Programming Class and Hackathon with NYC Resistor

Joseph — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 06:24:18 +0000

What time is it?

It’s time to #MakeAwesomeHappen and learn to program the new Pebble Smart Watch! We’ll be teaching a three hour class on 18 May on how to write custom watch faces that work with the official Pebble SDK. The programming environment is low-level C, with no memory protection, and no emulator nor a debugger, so you’ll need to be fairly comfortable with writing embedded code or at least not afraid to debug with printf()*.

If you’ve programmed a device like an Arduino you should be ok with the class. Tickets for the class are on sale for $125. The hackathon afterwards is free!

Announcing PebbleOS v1.10 [Release Notes]

Joseph — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:20:02 +0000

PebbleOS v1.10.0 (JW) Release Notes | Friday April 12 17:00:00 UTC 2013

Pebble Technology is pleased to announce the release of PebbleOS v1.10

for the Pebble SmartWatch.

If you are not currently seeing the firmware update when you open Pebble app, try force quitting Pebble app and restarting. Delete and reinstall Pebble app as a last resort to fully clear app cache. If for some reason the firmware update fails, try a clean slate.

What's New

Added support for third-party watchfaces created by the watchface SDK (see the SDK release notes for more details).
Resolved power-savings issues causing impaired battery life when connected to an iOS device.
Improved the responsiveness and power-efficiency of several system applications.
Improved battery indicator to be more responsive and accurate.
Added an option to disable turning on the backlight using the accelerometer.
Added an option to disable the vibrating motor when a notification arrives.
Factory reset now removes all non-system applications and watchfaces.
"Allow Pebble to communicate..." pop-ups occur much less frequently on iOS.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a crash that occurred when an email is sent over MAP on iOS with an empty subject.
Fixed a crash in the music app that occurred when Bluetooth was disabled.
Fixed a crash in the music app if tracks were changed too quickly when paired with an iOS device.
Fixed an issue where non-fullscreen apps that aren't animated don't render properly.
Fixed an edge-case where Pebble would not properly connect to an iOS device.
Fixed an issue where multiple vibration patterns would run concurrently.

Online Fun for Tonight's #PebbleYearOne Celebration

Joseph — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:09:21 +0000

We're unleashing tons of awesome from San Francisco. Keep track of the #PebbleYearOne hashtag on Twitter for live news, announcements, and giveaways. The fun starts tonight at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific.

PS: After this week, I look forward to diving back into my regular presence here and on the rest of Pebble's Community channels—catching up on your PMs, Tweets, Facebook messages, and whatnot. There's been a lot of prep work involved in putting this event together but it'll be a lot of fun, whether you're participating in-person or online.

Update 35: Color Pebble Production + 12/24 hour Watchfaces

Joseph — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:49:58 +0000

Full update here »

Update 37: FreeCaddie + Cherry Red + Apps + SDK + Anniversary Celebration

Joseph — Fri, 03 May 2013 22:57:52 +0000

Lots covered in Eric's latest:

Freecaddie for Android launches Pebble support!
Red Pebbles Now Shipping
Pebble Watchapps
Future SDK update: Two-way Communication
Pebble 1 Year Fiesta

Full Update here »

Update #3: We're waterproofing Pebble!

Chris — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:10:37 +0000

*Thanks again to our amazing backers.*

When we started this project, we dreamed of making a waterproof smartwatch that could be used for swimming.

With the amazing support that you've given us, we're going to make that dream a reality. We were originally going to make this a milestone at $1mm or something...but you guys are too fast!

### All Pebble watches will be waterproof enough to swim with!

We don't know the exact waterproofness rating yet (ie 3ATM, 5ATM to be confirmed!), and we still have to work on the industrial design for the change. It's not going to be a dive watch, but it should be great for swimmers and people who get wet a lot! (I'm from Vancouver, Canada which is well known for it's rainy climate. I'll use it when I go home!)

### In other news, answers to common questions:

* Pebble can keep time even when disconnected from your phone. You can also set the time using the buttons if you'd like.
* For color Pebble backers, you get to vote and choose your color option after the Kickstarter project closes (ie after May 17th).
* Pebble's USB cable is custom cable because the watch will be waterproof and can't have a big hole for the regular USB socket. We will be selling extra cables as well.
* Just want to remind everyone that Pebble includes a great strap, but if you'd like to swap it for one of your own, Pebble can accept any standard 22mm watch strap. I loved the photo of the NATO strap on the comments, I'm going to buy one for my Pebble!
* The watch body dimensions are: 5cm x 3cm.
* Pebble doesn't have a speaker or microphone, but it does have a vibrating motor for alerts.
* Just wanted to let you know that we've started ordering components for your watches already. We're ordering A LOT more as well, and we'll keep ordering if you keep backing!

Thanks again! And keep the app suggestions in the comments going.

The Pebble Team

[iOS] Pebble v1.0.6 Now Available in iTunes Store

Joseph — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:53:09 +0000

What's New in Version 1.0.6

Fixed a crash that could occur when looking up the name of the caller in the address book.
Fixed a crash that could occur during installation of a watch app.
Better debug and crash information is gathered when sending a support request.
Added features in preparation of the public watchface SDK.
For instructions on how to install third-party watchapps, see our SDK Documentation » "Install apps."
Force-quit and reopen the Pebble app if you updated it while while it was in the background to lock in update changes.

Download Pebble app for iOS here »

Browse the Pebble Watchapp Directory »

Helping Team Pebble with Local Media Projects

Joseph — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:37:47 +0000

If you have a Pebble and are willing to lend yours for reviews, photo shoots, and the like, we could use your help!

Our stock of review Pebbles is much smaller than all the requests we get in and are usually kept in the US. So far, local Pebblers have helped us with cool projects like photo shoots and segments for ABC News, GQ UK, and Men's Health. At the moment, we would appreciate assistance from folks in:

Basel, Switzerland
London, UK
Paris, France

If you'd like to help, send me a PM (the "Message" button on my profile) for more details.

Update 36: PebbleOS 1.10 + Proof-of-concept Watchface SDK

Joseph — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 03:55:36 +0000

Lots of linkage this week :)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android/posts/453675

Pebble Watchapp SDK

Joseph — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:13:36 +0000

Now live!

http://developer.getpebble.com/

Update #34 Pebble Watchface SDK Coming Out in April

CaffeineJunkie — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 07:00:01 +0000

Big news this week is that we're getting the watchface SDK ready to be out into the wild. We're going to publish it during the 2nd week of April. We're also publishing a firmware update next week, and while we have definitely not finished our manufacturing work, over 40,000 Pebbles have been built to date.

Firmware Update Next Week

In other news next week we'll be publishing a firmware update for Pebble, version 1.9. With this latest update, we've changed around the interface flow. Watchfaces are now at the bottom of the window stack; if you keep pressing the back button from anywhere inside Pebble's menus, you'll get to your previously displayed watchface. The right top and bottom (up and down) buttons now change between different watchfaces you've installed on your Pebble. This simplifies the main launcher menu. We've also made a lot of changes under the hood on the text rendering engine, making it easier and faster for developers to display text on Pebble.

Watchface SDK

Right from the beginning, PebbleOS was built with multiple apps in mind. This was mainly in reaction to the developer response to our first watch, inPulse. In the fall, as we began work on the user facing apps on Pebble, we started using a prototype of the SDK internally to develop watchfaces for Pebble. That's when we knew that the first release of the SDK would be mainly geared towards watchfaces as this was the first type of app that would be well supported. It turns out games are similar in structure (only require button inputs), so they are also candidates for this revision of the native SDK :)

Important note: the proof-of-concept Pebble watchface SDK will not enable access to the accelerometer (or magnetometer), or communication between watchfaces and smartphones (among other major deficiencies).

As a small company, we had to be very careful with our focus and priorities. We knew that getting Pebble into mass production and shipping watches to you, our Kickstarter backers, needed to be our prime objective. We also knew that the out of box experience was important which is why we worked really hard to support the wide variety of Android devices and iOS variations right from the start.

During the 2nd week of April, we'll be releasing a proof-of-concept watchface SDK. It's a work in progress, and there's a 99% chance that we're going to be changing a lot of the APIs...but it's an important first step towards shifting our focus towards supporting developers. I know we have communicated very poorly to developers up until this point, but we hope that you'll understand how important it was for us and for Pebble as a platform to have the initial release of the hardware go well.

We made the decision to beta test the watchface SDK with hacker backers. It's been incredible seeing just what a small subset of the Pebble developer community has created in a short period of time. As soon as the watchface SDK is released, developers will be free to share all apps that they've created. The good news is that the following 3 apps will be available as soon as firmware version 1.9 is released next.

Hoe Laat Is Het?, by Hudson (Can you tell time in Dutch?)

Fairly classic watchface

Snake game, by Nicholas

If you're searching for inspiration for your first Pebble watchface design, look no further than the fantastic Pebble Concepts site, hosted by RichardG. We're big fans of a bunch of designs there, but remember that some designs will not be implementable using the proof-of-concept watchface SDK. Pebble's display is 144 x 168 pixels, black and white only.

Some of the awesome Pebble-compatible designs that Pebblers have submitted to RichardG's site!

Tidbits from the Pebble World

Production of Red lenses happened this week (the first colour that has gone into production so far). Next step is to optically bond the display to these lenses, which will be happening next week.
Two thousand long watch straps will be shipped next week by letter mail. Over 85% of the Kickstarter backers who ordered long straps are in this first batch.
Over 40,000 Pebbles have been manufactured so far, with many more on the way (check ispebbleshipping.com for recent stats)
We're doing our best to work our way through all technical questions and issues. The best spot to start if you have any issues is at help.getpebble.com, then if you continue to have a problem, please use the 'Contact Support' or 'Email Support' button inside the Pebble iOS or Android app.

We know we've got a lot of work ahead of us, but we're really pumped up so far with the early reactions from Pebblers on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, our (new) forums and more! While we can't respond to everything out there, we do read voraciously. Keep the feedback coming, thanks Pebblers!

Eric + Pebble Team

(CJ: Sorry for the delay cross posting this. Limited access to a PC this weekend as out with the family, and impossible to do on an iPhone)

[Android] Pebble v1.7.0 Now Available on Google Play

Joseph — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:08:01 +0000

In preparation for the release of the Watchface SDK, Pebble app v.1.7.0 is now available on the Google Play Store.

Download Pebble v1.7.0 here »

What's New:

Added support for new features found in the Pebble Watchapp SDK
Rearranged the Settings screen
Assorted bug fixes & stability improvements

Firmware Update 1.9.1

whacko — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:30:54 +0000

Pebble Shutdown Fix - Firmware 1.8.x and 1.9

Last Updated: Mar 26, 2013 01:50PM PDT

[UPDATE] March 26, 2013

Firmware versions 1.8.x and 1.9 contained a bug where, on rare occasions, Pebble's MCU was not correctly reconfigured prior to entering shutdown. When this occurred it prevented button presses from waking up the Pebble. Firmware version 1.9.1 contains a fix that ensures the necessary reconfiguration is always performed before shutting down.

If you have experienced this issue, please follow the steps below to request a RMA for your unit:

1) Confirm you have tried to charge your Pebble for at least 3 hours and you have held down the Select button for 15-20 seconds to try to reboot. (http://cl.ly/image/0K2N2x3k3F0H)

2) Find "contact support" in your iOS or Android Pebble application or use the Email Us form.

3) Add a note within your email correspondence or in the subject line of your email: "Shutdown RMA"
If you are a Kickstarter backer please also include your Pebble Account email address if you are not already using that email in your request. For all other customers please include the following information in your email: Name, Email, Shipping Address, and Pebble Serial number.

Our support team will contact you within 48-72 hours with instructions to process a RMA for your unit.

http://help.getpebble.com/customer/portal/articles/1065033-pebble-shutdown-fix-os-1-8-x-and-1-9

Pebble Year One

Joseph — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:02:53 +0000

Big things have small beginnings.

Thanks to our Kickstarter backers for our first year. There's more to do and more awesomeness to come, but it's great to have you with us on this adventure.

New Help Article: Color Production Questions

Joseph — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:50:47 +0000

Full article here »

Just posted a Color Change Walkthrough to help any backers manage their decision to switch to a Jet Black Pebble »

New Mods and Official Community Guidelines Coming Soon

Joseph — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 04:59:55 +0000

In the coming weeks, we'll be welcoming new moderators, establishing our Community's goals for the Pebble Forum, and codifying some rules-of-the-road as a member of this space. If anyone is interested in becoming a Pebble Forum mod, please PM me.

While Eric and I iron out the scope of my presence on the Pebble Forums, I want to take time to thank @CaffeineJunkie for his continued excellence as our very first Pebble Forum moderator [this is where you start clapping if you're reading this], and give any interested potential Mod insight into what we're looking for:

CaffeineJunkie has by far the most expertise and participation on these Forums. I would like all new mods to defer to him if ever there's a point of contention in moderating duties. Basically, when the kid asks mom a question and she says, "ask your father," CJ's the father in this scenario.
I will be doing the same. As a member of Team Pebble, I will be deferring to CJ's input when I want to perform a moderator action that goes beyond basic housekeeping. It'll keep me from being too biased towards a pro-Pebble outlook on what's allowed and what isn't.
As our first Forum Moderator, CJ performed his duties solo for too long...completely as a labor of love. He's been balanced and even handed throughout the growth of this Community, and is the best ambassador we could ask for—he empathizes well with all sides.
That said, anyone who makes CJ's life on these Forums harder than it needs to be is taking steps towards being shown the door, so don't do it. Just because CJ is a great moderator doesn't mean folks engaging in this Forum aren't fully capable of moderating themselves.

So, tl;dr to any potential Moderators: be like CaffeineJunkie :)

Update #6: Warranty + Backer Discussion Forum

Eric — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 07:36:20 +0000

Hi guys and girls,

Friday evening update for you! I want to answer some key questions that came up this week in the comments section and through private messages.

Again, we are trying to read every single comment and message. It's hard, but that's what we need to do to earn your trust. Responses are taking longer because we're don't want to just copy and paste text. Instead, we'll be posting updates to bring everyone up to speed. It's a 37 day long Kickstarter project, and we'll be present and posting the whole way through. We're also here for the long haul, and we'll be using Kickstarter updates even after you get Pebble on your wrist.

Warranty
----------
We will be offering a warranty for all Pebbles sent out to backers. We're still working on the exact details of this warranty, keeping in mind the interests of our fully international backer list.

Discussion Forum
---------------------
We soft-launched our own discussion forum the other day. You may have seen a few links to it on the comments section...we wanted to try it out before sending it to all 39,000 (!!) of you.

http://forums.getpebble.com

That's the link! Please try to sign up using the same email address as your Kickstarter account. Don't worry too much if you forget, we'll be adding functionality to change your email address in a bit. Also working on new post highlighting and a search feature. What else do you want to see on the forums?

*Forum rules:* Absolutely no hateful comments. This will not be tolerated. We want this to be a friendly environment to discuss our mutual interest in a Pebble-y future. Please remain respectful of others. Other rules: do not spam, do not post copyright infringing material and do not post offensive links or images.

Answers to common questions
------------------------------------
We've posted a Frequently Asked Questions thread to the forums. Click here! It has lots of info, like how to add shipping charges to your pledge and other important answers

Thanks again, backers! Have an awesome weekend.

Eric + Team.

Update #4: Developer SDK availability

Chris — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:06:55 +0000

We were going to make a milestone at $2mm, but you guys beat us to it.

**The Software Development Kit (SDK) will be available to EVERYONE before Pebble ships. We're also building a simulator so developers can test their applications even before they receive their watch.**

Don't worry, HACKER SPECIAL backers...you're still getting your prototype units in August. This announcement just means that **more and more apps will be available for Pebble the moment that the main batch starts to ship!**

To learn more about the development capabilities of Pebble, you can follow the [dev blog](http://getpebble.com/blog).

We're also working on some other cool announcements for the remainder of the 30 days! Man...that sounds like a long time, but I know it will go by quickly.

Update #5: Most Funded Kickstarter Ever! Thank You!

Chris — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:54:09 +0000

Kickstarters!

We are the most funded Kickstarter project ever thanks to you! The Pebble team and I really appreciate your commitment and backing. It's been an incredible couple of days and we're amazed at how many people share our vision. We're working extremely hard to produce the best Pebble we can.

On a side note:

1. We are trying our very best to answer your private messages. We appreciate your patience.
2. Please post your questions and comments on this forum! We are keenly reading all your ideas and suggestions.

The Pebble Team