Pebble 2 smartwatch – last model delivered
Credit: Best Buy
An update to the Pebble app for Android appeared on my phone today. Judging from dates on the comments, it appeared world-wide at the same time. I have no way of verifying this, but it appears that an update for iOS has also been released, or will soon.1
What will the update do for your Pebble?
“WHAT'S NEW” for the update says:2
We’ve updated our Android app to preserve the Pebble smartwatch experience & remove the dependence on cloud services.
The app lets Pebble devices keep working, even if online servers are not accessible for any reason. The login process can be skipped, apps can be side-loaded, & the latest watch firmware (including language packs) can be installed.
Visit developer.pebble.com for full details.
All of which promises to extend the useful life of Pebble watches.
All functions I use continue to work, including:
● notifications: incoming SMS & email
● phone calls
● music control
● step count (with sync to Google Fit)
● weather continues to update – temperature indication retains the inaccuracy which has always prevented me from using it – to be fair, it's no worse than almost every phone app I have tried
● watch faces continue to be available for download
Pebble – “Pebble App & Developer Transition Updates”, https://developer.pebble.com/blog/2017/04/04/transitioning-update/
Pebble – "First Steps Forward With Fitbit"
https://developer.pebble.com/blog/2016/12/14/first-steps-forward-with-fitbit/
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1 Pebble: “Pebble App & Developer Transition Updates”, https://developer.pebble.com/blog/2017/04/04/transitioning-update/
2 Google Play: “Pebble”
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.getpebble.android.basalt
/ Pebble Into the Future Pebble ecosystem next major transition working hard make sure Pebble users can keep enjoying their smartwatch experience share the progress made Pebblers today continuing efforts honor Pebble's legacy ecosystem functionality Pebble app updated for iOS and Android today’s updates Pebble apps iOS Android liberate from past dependency on cloud services freeing ecosystem from these dependencies Pebble smartwatches can operate normally online servers are not accessible Pebble authentication server can’t be reached mobile app Pebble devices keep working login process can be skipped apps can be side-loaded the latest watch firmware including language packs can be installed iOS users update Pebble app iTunes App Store Android users Pebble beta program download update beta channel updated Android app publicly available Google Play Store soon after the beta channel release full release notes User Account Tokens deprecated getAccountToken() API discouraging developers relying on it consistently generated unique account token API continues to work normally for most users return random unique value users skipping Pebble app’s login process account token value should remain constant user either re-installs the Pebble app switches to a different smartphone danger zone authentication issues likely to arise user re-installs Pebble app skips the login process generate different account token value causing problems validating user account any watchapps purchased from third parties restoring a purchased license third-party watchapp re-validating new account token third-party service new options community developers updates include three new options for Pebble developers integrate efforts official Pebble mobile app Offline Mode link enable Offline Mode mobile app attempting to communicate with any Pebble cloud services Default Mode Online Mode Custom Boot Config link Pebble mobile app load its service configuration from the specified custom URL mobile application periodically check custom URL configuration updates default service configuration files iOS and Android developers new weather property variable identifies which server to ask for weather data /
