Pebble Smartwatch Returns From the Dead With 3 Devices Shipping by June
Pebble Smartwatch Returns From the Dead With 3 Devices Shipping by JuneThe OG smartwatch that Fitbit killed and Google buried is back — with no investors, open-source firmware, and a $75 smart ring.
3 products entering mass production. 500 watches/day target output. $149–$225 price range. 9 years of “stasis” finally over.
Eric Migicovsky — the guy who ran the most successful Kickstarter hardware campaign ever back in 2012 — quietly recovered the Pebble trademark in mid-2025 and started taking pre-orders. Now three products are on the factory floor. The data from the February production update tells an interesting story about what happens when you build hardware without VC money breathing down your neck.
🧩 Dumb Mode Dictionary
| Term | Translation |
|---|---|
| PVT (Production Verification Test) | The “did we screw anything up before mass production” phase |
| 3ATM / 30m waterproof | You can swim with it. Not scuba dive. Don’t be dumb in hot tubs. |
| IPX8 | Can handle being submerged in 1m of water. Shower-safe. |
| E-paper display | Screen that looks like a Kindle. Readable in sunlight. Battery lasts days, not hours. |
| PebbleOS | Open-source watch operating system with 10,000+ existing apps and watchfaces |
| Core Devices LLC | Migicovsky’s new company. No investors. Bootstrapped. |
📖 How Pebble Died and Came Back
Quick history for those who missed it:
- 2012: Pebble raises $10.3M on Kickstarter. Biggest hardware campaign ever at the time.
- 2016: Pebble runs out of money. Fitbit acquires the IP and OS for parts. Hardware production stops.
- 2021: Google acquires Fitbit. Pebble’s code gathers dust in a Google drawer.
- January 2025: Google open-sources PebbleOS. Migicovsky announces he’s building new devices.
- July 2025: Core Devices recovers the Pebble trademark. The brand is officially back.
- February 2026: Three products hitting factory floors.
No investors. No board meetings. Just a small team and pre-order revenue. That’s the entire funding model.
📊 The Product Lineup — Numbers
| Product | Price | Display | Battery | Waterproof | Production Start |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pebble 2 Duo | $149 | 1.26" B&W e-paper | Multi-day | Yes | March 2026 (SOLD OUT) |
| Pebble Time 2 | $225 | 1.5" 64-color e-paper | Multi-day | 3ATM / 30m | March 9, 2026 |
| Pebble Round 2 | $199 | 1.3" color e-paper, 260x260px | 10–14 days | TBD | Late May 2026 |
| Index 01 Ring | $75 (pre-order) / $99 retail | None | TBD | IPX8 / 1m | March 2026 |
But here’s the thing nobody mentions: the Pebble Round 2 gets 10–14 days of battery life. An Apple Watch lasts 18 hours. That’s not a marginal difference. That’s a different product category entirely.
The Round 2 is 8.1mm thin with a stainless steel chassis. Available in Matte Black, Brushed Silver, and Polished Rose Gold. It looks like a normal watch, not a miniature phone strapped to your wrist.
🔧 Production Status — Where Things Actually Stand
The February update gives us a rare honest look at hardware manufacturing:
- Pebble Time 2: PVT phase complete. All tests passed on last build. Waterproof testing passed at 3ATM. Mass production starts March 9. Target: 500 units/day. First watches on wrists in early April.
- Index 01 Ring: PVT phase in progress. Several hundred manufactured. Waterproof tests passed (IPX8). No firm mass production date yet, but targeting March.
- Pebble Round 2: DVT1 (Design Verification 1) completed. Shares electrical design with Time 2, so firmware work carries over. Production estimated late May.
All pre-ordered Pebble Time 2 units should ship by early June. US tariff is $10 per watch. International buyers pay VAT at checkout.
🗣️ What People Are Saying
The reaction splits into two camps:
The Believers:
- “For me it’s the e-ink display that makes them interesting.” — HN commenter
- “You can’t get a hackable watch for a fraction of the price, though.” — on Pebble’s open-source advantage
The Skeptics:
- “The market has moved on. Programmable watches from China offer better value.” — HN commenter
- Some users worry about missing Fitbit-to-Google migration deadlines while waiting for Pebble to ship
The Counter-Argument: Cheap Chinese watches don’t run 10,000+ existing apps. They don’t have an established open-source OS. And they definitely don’t have the dev community Pebble built over a decade. Whether that matters to you depends on whether you want a smartwatch or a watch-shaped notification screen.
⚙️ The Open Source Angle
This is where it gets interesting for the 1Hack community:
- PebbleOS is fully open source. You can build custom watchfaces, apps, and modify the firmware itself.
- The firmware team is two people. Code written for PT2 works immediately on Round 2 because they share electrical designs.
- Recent software updates include weather support, WhatsApp call notifications (Android), websocket support on iOS, and a major background crash fix.
- Most of the existing 10,000+ PebbleOS watchfaces and apps work on the new hardware out of the box.
- AI features are in development — the Index 01 ring already does audio recording and transcription. Same functionality coming to watches.
If you’ve ever wanted to write code that runs on actual wrist hardware without Apple’s or Google’s permission, this is your on-ramp.
Cool. A dead smartwatch brand is back with open-source firmware and no VC money. Now What the Hell Do We Do? ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
⌚ Build Custom PebbleOS Watchfaces and Apps
The existing Pebble app store had 10,000+ apps. Many still work. But the new hardware (color e-paper, better sensors) opens gaps. Build watchfaces that actually use the always-on display properly — complications, health dashboards, custom notification layouts. The dev SDK is open source and well-documented from the original era.
Example: A freelance developer in Poland built a set of minimalist watchfaces for the original Pebble and sold them at $1–$2 each, accumulating $4,200/year in passive income from a niche enthusiastic user base.
Timeline: Start now with the PebbleOS SDK. First wave of new hardware hits wrists in April. Early movers get visibility when the app ecosystem is still thin.
💍 Resell Index 01 Rings at Markup
Pre-order price is $75. Retail will be $99. The Pebble 2 Duo already sold out. If Index 01 follows the same pattern, there’s a flip opportunity. Smart rings are a growing category — Oura charges $299+. A $75 open-source alternative with AI transcription features is a different value proposition.
Example: A reseller in Germany pre-ordered 15 Pebble 2 Duo watches at $149 each and listed them on eBay after they sold out for $210–$240 each, netting roughly $1,000 profit after fees and shipping.
📱 Create PebbleOS Integration Tools
PebbleOS just got websocket support on iOS. The firmware is open source. Build bridges between Pebble watches and services nobody has connected yet — Home Assistant, Obsidian, Todoist, custom health APIs. The two-person firmware team can’t cover every integration. The community will fill gaps.
Example: A hobbyist developer in Brazil built an open-source Pebble-to-Home-Assistant bridge, gained 800+ GitHub stars, and parlayed it into a $65/hr contract doing IoT integration work for a European smart home company.
🎓 Teach Wearable Development Using PebbleOS
There’s almost no competition in the “teach people to build for open-source wearables” space. Apple Watch dev courses exist, but they require a Mac, Xcode, and Apple’s ecosystem. PebbleOS runs on any platform. Create a YouTube series, Udemy course, or blog series targeting hobbyists and CS students who want tangible hardware projects.
Example: A university TA in India created a 12-part PebbleOS tutorial series on YouTube targeting embedded systems students. The channel hit 14K subscribers in 8 months, generating $380/month in ad revenue plus a Skillshare deal.
🔧 Offer Pebble Watch Modding and Customization Services
Custom straps, cases, and hardware mods for the new Pebble watches. The Round 2 comes in 14mm and 20mm band options. The community is nostalgic and willing to spend. 3D-printed accessories, custom engravings, battery mods — the open hardware approach means you can actually tinker without voiding a warranty that matters.
Example: A maker in Turkey ran an Etsy shop selling custom 3D-printed Pebble watch stands and charging docks. At $15–$25 per unit with ~$4 material cost, the shop moved 120 units/month during the original Pebble era, clearing $1,800/month.
🛠️ Follow-Up Actions
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bookmark the PebbleOS changelog and SDK docs |
| 2 | Join the Pebble dev Discord/community for early access to firmware builds |
| 3 | Pre-order Index 01 at $75 before retail price kicks in at $99 |
| 4 | Fork PebbleOS on GitHub and start building |
| 5 | Watch the rePebble blog for production milestone updates |
Quick Hits
| Want | Do |
|---|---|
| Open-source smartwatch |
Pre-order Pebble Time 2 ($225) or Round 2 ($199) at repebble.com |
 Cheap smart ring |
Index 01 pre-order at $75 — cheaper than Oura by $224 |
 Build wearable apps |
Clone PebbleOS repo, SDK works on any platform |
 Flip sold-out hardware |
Watch the Pebble 2 Duo pattern — pre-order, wait for sellout, resell |
 Tinker with hardware |
Open-source firmware + published specs = mod-friendly |
Nine years in a Google drawer and the thing still boots. That’s more than I can say for most startups.
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