Fitbit will do anything to keep current Pebbles working through the end of 2017
- Fariha Khan
- December 16, 2016
- 501
Pebble has expressed that Fitbit will do almost anything in order to keep the number of software services required to keep Pebble watches going through the end of 2017 at the least including the Pebble SDK, a number of APIs, Pebble’s Android and iOS mobile apps as well as the Pebble Appstore.
Read also: Despite of new models Apple Watch sales expected to drop in 2016
Many have wondered that Pebble/Fitbit is going to update that will brick active watches. However, the firm has established that it has no intentions to do so.
Fitbit is going out of its way to keep Pebble software and services running through 2017. To be clear, no one on this freshly-formed team seeks to brick Pebble watches in active service. The Pebble SDK, CloudPebble, Timeline APIs, firmware availability, mobile apps, developer portal, and Pebble appstore are all elements of the Pebble ecosystem that will remain in service at this time. Pebble developers are welcome to keep creating and updating apps. Pebble users are free to keep enjoying their watches.
Our first action to preserve the Pebble experience far into the future will be to update our mobile apps, loosening their dependency on a patchwork of cloud services (authentication, analytics, app locker, etc.). Expect this update in the coming months. The mobile app updates will ensure the operation of core Pebble functions, even with cloud services discontinued—they won’t break functionality.
In addition, Pebble has verified that it is considering ways to make the Pebble experience less dependent on cloud. They are presently evaluating Pebble features dependent on third-party services— weather, dictation etc. in order to determine if and for how long these experiences can last.
At least by the end of 2017, the Pebble watches on your wrist be working but we don’t know what will happen after that. If Fitbit decides to simply stop active upkeep on Pebble devices, they will not crease to work instantly. However, updates to the Android and iOS will ultimately spoil the devices in any case.