【Privacy policy】

Remember Pebble?Privacy policy The company made cool, versatile, affordable smartwatches a decade ago, before shutting down in late 2016 and selling most of its assets to Fitbit (which itself was acquired by Google in 2021).

Now, Pebble is back — sort of. Eric Migicovsky, founder of the original Pebble, is restarting the brand with two PebbleOS watches, set to launch later this year. Given that Pebble's intellectual property was sold off, these aren't exactly Pebble watches; Migicovsky's new company is called Core Devices, and these watches are called Core, even though they run the open source PebbleOS.

SEE ALSO: Apple M4 MacBook Air review: A really good deal

First, there's the Core 2 Duo, a $149 watch which is very similar to the old Pebble 2, and has a 1.26-inch, black and white e-paper display, a polycarbonate frame that comes in white or black, water resistance (Migicovsky says he's "targeting" IPX8), step, and sleep tracking. Given that the Pebble 2 is eight years old now, you'd expect some improvements, and indeed, the Core 2 Duo has a 30-day battery life (up from 7 days), a speaker, barometer, compass, and more reliable buttons.

---

You May Also Like

---

---

The $149 Core 2 Duo has a black-and-white, e-paper display. Credit: Core Devices

Then there's the Core Time 2, which has a larger, 1.5-inch e-paper touchscreen display that supports 64 colors. The frame is made out of metal, and the watch will be available in black and white, though Migicovsky says there will "likely" be a third color option as well.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Other features include water resistance (again, targeting IPX8), sleep and step tracking, microphone and speaker, and a heart rate monitor. Both watches can run existing Pebble apps and watch faces.

Pre-orders for both devices are open now over at store.rePebble.com; the Core 2 Duo ships in July, while the Core TIme 2 ships in December.

The new PebbleOS watches are platform-agnostic, but there's a bit of bad news for iPhone owners. In a blog post, Migicovsky argued that Apple "restricts Pebble from being awesome with iPhones," and listed a number of limitations Apple imposes on third-party smartwatch makers. These include the inability for a third-party smartwatch to send text messages or iMessages, or reply to notifications. He also says it's "very difficult to enable other iOS apps to work with Pebble," among other issues. Check the blog post for a full list of limitations according to Migicovsky.

The short version of it is that the new Pebble watches will work with iPhones, but fairly poorly. Android users should have a much-better experience. Sorry, Apple-lovers who also want a smartwatch with an e-paper display.

Topics Smartwatches

• Life
• Digital Culture
• Social Good
• Entertainment
• Games
• Shopping
• Deals
• Science

• SpaceX just stuck another rocket landing at sea, this time before dawn
• Chinese scientists have cloned two monkeys to advance human medicine
• Best Sonos deal: Save $50 on Sonos Era 100
• Best robot vacuum deal: Save $400 on the roborock Q5 Pro+
• Insane wildfire photo perfectly sums up America in 2017
• The Ember Mug 2 is 40% off as a Best Buy deal of the day
• Tesla sales are reportedly falling globally. How bad is it?
• Nvidia RTX 5070: Where to buy and is it worth the upgrade?
• Secret commands found in Bluetooth chip used in a billion devices
• Best soundbar deal: Get $50 off the Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus

• A Tiny Republic; Golden Eras by Lorin Stein
• Audible sitewide sale: save up to 85% on all titles
• Texas Forever by Adam Wilson
• A Father, A Daughter, A Novel by Jesse Browner
• Jennifer Egan, Visit From the Goon Squad, and Egan Fever
• Poem: Remembering the Children of First Marriages by Lucy Tunstall
• Antonio Lobo Antunes on 'The Land at the End of the World' by Anderson Tepper
• Constructive Abandonment by Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber
• Straight Talk by Ian Volner
• Gormenghastly by Jonathan Gharraie

• Free Rita's Italian Ice: How to get free Italian Ice on March 20
• Elon Musk breaks silence on stock plunge as Trump claims he'll buy a Tesla to help
• Mastering Gmail Search
• Old School PC Gaming: Classic Games that Have Aged Well
• Use Gmail Offline and Enable Email Scheduling & Snoozing
• EV sales up 30 percent this year despite Tesla woes
• Best Sonos deal: Save $50 on Sonos Era 100
• Climate change turns large green sea turtle population female
• Trump gets failing grade for Puerto Rico response from San Juan mayor
• Best headphones deal: Save $150 on Beats Studio Pro

• Grim video of a starving polar bear could show the species' future
• Trump administration to allow African elephant trophies back into U.S.
• MapQuest is letting you name the Gulf of Mexico whatever you want
• Google's new AI model is being used to remove image watermarks
• Chinese scientists have cloned two monkeys to advance human medicine
• Wordle today: The answer and hints for February 22, 2025
• Trump's national security strategy omits climate change as a threat
• Antigua GFC vs. Seattle Sounders 2025 livestream: Watch Concacaf Champions Cup for free
• Bayern Munich vs. Leverkusen 2025 livestream: Watch Champions League for free
• MapQuest is letting you name the Gulf of Mexico whatever you want