Unofficial Pebble OS successor Rebble may be making its own smartwatches

Rebble, a project to replicate elements of Pebble watch software to maintain functionality if Fitbit ends support, is developing its own smartwatches. There is already a prototype of a watch with e-paper screen.

Screenshot Rebble in emulator

Rebble leader Ish Ot Jr says in an interview with Wareable that it wasn’t difficult to put together a prototype. “We were soon able to put together something cool.” He hasn’t announced any new models yet, but says “he’s going to make it if no one else does.”

Those smartwatches must run on Rebble OS, software that aims to take over functions from Pebble’s operating system. Rebble cannot rely on the source code of Pebble’s operating system, because Fitbit keeps it for itself and uses it for its smartwatch Ionic. Fitbit has extended support for Pebble features and allowed the official Pebble apps for iOS and Android to access a different download store than the one on Fitbit’s servers. The company has also updated the apps, so that a connection to the servers is no longer necessary to activate a smartwatch.

Rebble already has working software, but the energy management is not yet in order, so Pebble watches with that software are empty within a quarter of a day. Pebble watches with the Pebble software usually last a week.

The project will want to have at least a working alternative to Pebble’s operating system online by June 30. It is unknown how many active Pebble watch users there are. The company sold an estimated several million units before Fitbit took over in late 2016.

Pebble Time