Pebble’s open-source – After Pebble’s rocky ride—Kickstarter success, a Fitbit acquisition, quiet shelving, then a Google acquisition and open-sourcing—its watches are back in hands of everyday developers. Two new apps built in C show what’s possible again, including a 80% charge no
When Pebble first became a sensation, it felt like a future you could hold in your hand. Then came the dust. The company’s wearable technology had a “rocky” history: it was one of the most successful Kickstarters of its era. later acquired by FitBit. quietly shelved by them. and then acquired by Google and open-sourced.
Now the watch platform is back—at least in spirit—where regular people can develop for it again. Because it’s open source, it’s no longer locked behind corporate decisions. [Coconauts] have put together a guide aimed at helping developers build for Pebble watches, both new and old.
The work is not as friendly as modern app ecosystems. The original Pebble watches had to be coded using C. It’s a fundamental language. but one that generally isn’t used much today outside embedded systems and other areas where efficiency matters. Coding in C means you get less hand-holding than with languages like Rust. Go. and Python. which handle more for developers on their own. Even so, the platform’s revival is giving people a reason to dust off those older skills.
That revival showed up in a small. practical way: a two-person team recently built a pair of apps for the Pebble platform as part of an app-making contest. One app notifies the user when the watch is charged to 80%. The other brings an interactive kitten to the watch’s face—small. yes. but exactly the kind of thing that makes people want to tinker.
Both apps are available from the Pebble app repository. From there, the source code can be found on their respective GitHub pages, offering more than just a download—real examples for anyone trying to understand what it takes to build on the platform again.
The message is simple and oddly comforting: if you have an old Pebble watch. or you’ve been waiting to get one but didn’t want to deal with FitBit. now might be the time to get it out and start experimenting. With Pebble now in the open-source domain, the next batch of apps doesn’t need permission. It just needs someone willing to write code the harder way—and see what their watch can do.
Pebble open source wearable technology C programming Fitbit Google app repository GitHub embedded systems