Pebble today announced new software updates for its line of Pebble smart watches, bringing the timeline feature to Pebble Classic and Steel and introducing a new Pebble Health feature for the Pebble Time lineup.

According to Pebble, Pebble Health was created through a collaboration with researchers at Stanford University. Pebble Health is able to track daily activity and automatically detect sleep phases, displaying stats and insights right on the wrist. Pebble Health brings the Pebble Time in line with the Apple Watch and other activity trackers with a first-party solution that eliminates the need for third-party fitness tracking apps on the device.

pebblehealthfeature

Since you are your best motivator, Pebble Health focuses on personal success. Instead of striving for an arbitrary step count, your daily progress is measured against your own personal average. At night, Pebble Health tracks how long and well you sleep, helping you make better sleep decisions. Weekly graphs of both step and sleep stats make it easy to see trends over time.

Pebble Health is compatible with Apple HealthKit and in the future, Pebble plans to launch a Pebble Health API that will allow developers to build apps and watchfaces around the new feature.

Pebble Time, Time Steel, and Time Round owners will get access to Pebble Health after updating the Pebble smartphone app and the watch to the latest version of the software. Pebble Health is not available on earlier Pebble watches.

Top Rated Comments

skinned66 Avatar
102 months ago
Anybody here actually use a pebble with this new timeline feature? I've got an original pebble, as well as an Apple Watch. Not sure if it's worth my time to break out the pebble and play around with it again. Can't say I've been entirely happy with my Apple Watch for various reasons.
Go for it. I really like it; it's almost like a got a new watch. You can always downgrade if you want to go back.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turtlebud Avatar
102 months ago
I feel kinda bad. Pebble is trying so hard and they make some quality stuff. But the Apple Watch will destroy them in the long run.
I don't know if I agree with that. I think there is a market for pebble and I hope they continue to innovate and come out with new software/hardware. So far I've been very happy with my pebbles. I got an original pebble about a year ago and got a pebble time this year. The one issue I've had with pebbles is I've had a couple break down on me (screen starting banding or even just goes out). However, Pebble customer service has been top notch and has taken care of me in each case (either fix via troubleshooting or send me a replacement pebble). I'd say they are as good as Apple customer service.

I wanted so much to like the apple watch, but it still falls short in some critical areas for me. Coincidentally, the pebble shines in those same areas:

[LIST=1]
* swimming - very useful for swimmers that don't already have a swim watch. There's a pretty good app (swim.com) which runs on the pebble and tracks swim metrics which syncs to your swim.com account. A side note - I tried the basis peak for awhile and one interesting thing I noticed was that swimming really messed with the touch screen. I had a stopwatch running and while I was swimming it must have registered water as taps cause after a few laps, it had lapped 8x and exited the stop watch.
* battery - regularly get 3-4 days of battery per charge and it recharges within a few hours.
* sleep tracking - related to #2, because of the good battery life, I can wear it to sleep and it tracks my sleep (I use the misfit app, but the pebble health app just came out so I'm going to give that a shot)

There are other things that I find it handy for - these are things that the apple watch probably does as well.
[LIST=1]
* notifications - calls, emails, texts, app notifications, etc. I like that I can decline calls from the pebble.
* music - I can control any music app via the pebble. handy when I'm listening via earphones and washing dishes and can't get my phone to skip a song or change the volume.
* watchfaces - I currently use a watchface where I get the date, sunset/sunrise, battery life, and weather along with the time.
* alarms - easy to set reminders to move car or do something in 1 hr or x time.
* voice notes - when I'm in the shower and remember something I can make a voice note
* swarm - i have one of the shortcuts set to swarm. easy/quick check ins without getting my phone out.

There are number of other things that the apple watch does (heart rate, photos, local music, etc.) but I honest don't feel like I'm missing out because I don't think I'd use them very much.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turtlebud Avatar
102 months ago
Anybody here actually use a pebble with this new timeline feature? I've got an original pebble, as well as an Apple Watch. Not sure if it's worth my time to break out the pebble and play around with it again. Can't say I've been entirely happy with my Apple Watch for various reasons.
I have a pebble time and have been using the timeline. Coming from the original pebble, it took a little getting used to, but it actually makes sense and is useful. Out of the box, it is basically a calendar timeline, but you can pick any app to integrate into timeline, weather, sunrise/sunset, espn scores, foursquare/swarm check ins, etc.

Don't know if it's a killer feature, but it's pretty useful to me.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ffnc1020 Avatar
102 months ago
Sleep Cycle and other apps have been around for years and do just as good of a job at tracking this.

Heck, Sleep Cycle can even do so with multiple people in bed and pets. Pebble can't do that.
Since when did sleep cycle have apple watch support?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
APlotdevice Avatar
102 months ago
I don't really care about this health feature. I'm just glad to be finally getting timeline on my classic!

BTW, I was initially confused because the app I had didn't have the update. Turns out you have to download the Pebble Time app to upgrade.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
8281 Avatar
102 months ago
I feel kinda bad. Pebble is trying so hard and they make some quality stuff. But the Apple Watch will destroy them in the long run.
I don't think that's true at all. I was under the impression the Apple Watch isn't selling very well and they are $100 more expensive than the top of the line Pebble. I have a bunch of Apple stuff, but I'll be getting the Pebble Time instead of Apple's product. It's cheaper, has most of the same features, and the battery lasts a full week.

For most people, sinking $350 into a niche product that's difficult to justify is simply out of the question. A $100 or $150 Pebble? That's a different conversation.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Multi Display CarPlay 1

All-New Apple CarPlay Launching Later This Year With These 5 New Features

Friday September 29, 2023 11:29 am PDT by
At WWDC 2022 last year, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, personalization options, and more. Apple said the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience would be announced in late 2023, but it has still not shared any additional...
BMW Logo iPhone 15 Pro

Warning: BMW Wireless Charging May Break iPhone 15's Apple Pay Chip

Sunday October 1, 2023 6:14 am PDT by
If you have an iPhone 15 and drive a BMW, it might be best to avoid charging the device with the vehicle's wireless charging pad for now. Over the past week, some BMW owners have complained that their iPhone 15's NFC chip no longer works after charging the device with their vehicle's wireless charging pad, according to comments shared on the MacRumors Forums and X, formerly known as Twitter. ...
iPhone 15 Pro lineup

Apple to Address iPhone 15 Pro Overheating Issue With iOS 17 Update

Saturday September 30, 2023 9:28 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an iOS 17 update to address a bug that may contribute to the reported iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max overheating issue, according to a statement the company shared today with MacRumors and Forbes reporter David Phelan. Apple also says some recent updates to third-party apps have overloaded the system and contributed to the overheating issue. The report notes that...
iphone se 4 modified flag edges

iPhone SE 4 Details: Action Button, USB-C Port, Face ID, and More

Wednesday September 27, 2023 1:34 pm PDT by
Significant changes are expected to arrive with Apple's fourth-generation iPhone SE, in terms of both design and hardware, MacRumors has learned. The iPhone SE 4, known internally under the codename Ghost, is expected to receive a new design derived almost entirely from the base model iPhone 14. According to our sources, the iPhone SE 4 will use a modified version of the iPhone 14 chassis...
iPhone 16 Side Feature

iPhone 16 and 16 Pro: Preliminary Weights and Dimensions

Friday September 29, 2023 12:34 pm PDT by
MacRumors has obtained preliminary information on the weights and dimensions planned for the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The information corroborates previous reports suggesting that the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will feature larger displays. iPhone 16 and 16 Plus Current information suggests that the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will maintain the same...
CarPlay SharePlay

CarPlay Not Working for Some iPhone 15 Users, Possibly Because of USB-C Cables

Friday September 29, 2023 2:27 pm PDT by
CarPlay is not working as expected for some iPhone 15 users, an issue that is likely linked to the transition to USB-C. There are multiple complaints from MacRumors readers and Reddit users who are unable to get CarPlay to work with their new devices. Cable type and available port options are a common theme in the CarPlay reports, with many of the functionality problems linked to USB-A to...
iOS 17

Everything New in iOS 17.1 Beta 1

Wednesday September 27, 2023 1:57 pm PDT by
Just a week after releasing iOS 17, Apple has seeded the first beta of iOS 17.1 to developers. iOS 17.1 adds some features that Apple promised were coming to iOS 17 in the future, plus it refines and improves some existing features. This guide covers everything new in the first iOS 17.1 beta. Apple Music Favorites You can favorite songs, albums, playlists, and artists in the iOS 17.1...