New Pebble developer tools allow smart watch apps to talk to iPhone apps

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
The Pebble smart watch development kit was updated on Thursday to allow two-way communication between watch and phone apps, along with a new sports API for tracking exercise.

The newly updated PebbleKit allows communication between watch applications on the Pebble and those that reside on a smartphone running Apple's iOS or Google's Android. "Watchapps" can be built to receive weather or traffic information, act as remote controls for a phone or Internet-connected device, or even display bitcoin prices.

Pebble Menu


In addition, the new Pebble Sports API is now available for all developers to utilize. Its functionality can already be found in the iPhone app for Runkeeper, which was updated last week, as well as FreeCaddie, a GPS golf rangefinder.

The company behind the watch also announced that it has secured $15 million in venture capital funding, which it says will "be used to grow the software engineering team, expand Pebble's open development platform and scale to meet customer demand." Pebble gained considerable attention last year when the project earned more than $10 million in crowdsourced public funding on Kickstarter.

"The tremendous response we received from Kickstarter backers validated our belief in the value of a smart watch as a wearable computer, but also in the value an open platform brings to truly personalizing the watch to their daily activities", said Eric Migicovsky, Pebble's founder. "This new investment will help us build out the Pebble development ecosystem and deliver on Pebble's extraordinary potential."

Pebble's SDK was first released in April, allowing developers to create custom watch faces and games. But with Thursday's update, applications on the iPhone or Android handsets can be written to communicate with the Pebble and relay information to users.

Over 8,000 developers have downloaded the Pebble SDK, resulting in more than 5,000 unique watch applications and 300,000 app installs in just over a month. Users can find content at community websites such as mypebblefaces.com, forums.getpebble.com, and watchface-generator.de.

The smart watch space has been heating up with options like the Pebble, MetaWatch, I'm Watch, Sony Smartwatch and others now available. Rumors have suggested that Apple is secretly working on a so-called "iWatch," while reports have claimed Google, Samsung, Microsoft and LG are also said to be working on wrist-worn hardware accessories.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    r00fusr00fus Posts: 245member
    Just a nitpick, any way we can have these story images involving some female wrists? If I want to look at a pebble on a thick hairy wrist, I'll look near my keyboard, thanks.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    2old4fun2old4fun Posts: 239member
    To add to the nitpick, why have the watch on upside down.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by 2old4fun View Post

    To add to the nitpick, why have the watch on upside down.


     


    ??? ???? ?oo? ?,us?op

  • Reply 4 of 7
    kdarlingkdarling Posts: 1,640member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    ??? ???? ?oo? ?,us?op



     


    ¡no? ?noq? ??u???s ?u?????os s?? ????? ??u?

  • Reply 5 of 7

    Thanks for the info friend, I have a smart watch too, few months back I bought it from smartphone watch website with a warranty card. I was really amazed by the eye catching design of that smart watch. Love it man.

  • Reply 6 of 7


    I love cellphone watches . It is very comfortable to use and one gadget with many functions and smaller in size . I also found COOKOO watch , it helps  to  Stay connected anytime, anywhere. It is a new revolution in the field cellphone watch. Your smartphone may not be in hand but your smart watch will. Look at it yourself.

     

  • Reply 7 of 7

    i think the smart phone watch is really cool and fashionable.Nowadays there are various kinds of cell phones appear in the market and almost everyone owns a cell phone or more.However sometimes the cell phone can cause problems too especially in places where the phones are not allowed.To solve these similar problems, the wifi blocking  has been made to meet with people's requirement.

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