It’s been nearly a decade since Pebble was bought out and, in time, slowly killed. But now, Pebble is getting a reboot with the Pebble 2 Duo being the first smartwatch shipping to customers, and it’s ready to pick up exactly where it left off.
Pebble is what built the modern smartwatch. The foundations of Pebble formed what we now know as the “basics” of a good smartwatch. And, as avid fans of Pebble have said over the past few years, nothing quite encapsulates the same experience as the Pebble.
That’s why Pebble is back.
Original founder Eric Migicovsky has rebooted the Pebble brand in part thanks to Google’s release of the PebbleOS source code earlier this year. That alone provides a boost to the experience of using an existing Pebble smartwatch, but the bigger deal is new hardware, and that’s what is currently strapped to my wrist.
Advertisement – scroll for more content
The Pebble 2 Duo is the first smartwatch from this reboot, and it’s also quite literally picking up where the last one left off.
Pebble 2 Duo is literally a “do-over” of the Pebble 2 that debuted back in 2016. Comparing the two side-by-side, the design is effectively identical. What’s new this time? Under the hood there’s some better hardware, drastically better 30-day battery life, and a speaker, among other improvements – though lacking a heart rate sensor that was in place on the 2016 model.
Most of that will need time to test, but as I’m starting to use this device, I’m really just struck by how familiar it feels. This is really just a reboot from the smartwatch we left behind 9 years ago.
That starts with the unboxing. The packaging isn’t subtle, with “It’s still time” across the face and “some things are too fun to stay in the past” across the side. The watch itself sits inside of that box next to a USB-C charging adapter, and there’s a separate 22mm band included in a secondary package. The white model I chose is very white (literally my wife’s exact words on seeing it on my wrist), but it does invoke the fun look from the Pebble 2 I bought years ago. The white model also just feels like a blank canvas, ready for the likes of dbrand perhaps to give it some color. I have no idea what the third-party accessory ecosystem will be like for this thing, but a guy can hope, right?
Setup consists of downloading the new Pebble app and pairing.
The watch immediately sprung to life when I dropped it on the charger, and pairing was a breeze. The Pebble app needs a few permissions and then you’re good to go. You can further log into a Rebble account – the fan-powered platform that kept Pebble clinging to life for the past decade – to access the app and watch face store. Since this is a reboot and not an entirely new platform, there’s already a thriving collection of watch faces, though I did notice that some apps didn’t want to work.
What about PebbleOS?
Well, it’s the same as it was.
The software experience on the Pebble 2 Duo is springy and full of life, or at least that’s how I’d describe it. Fun little animations appear for notifications and transitions, but it’s all very simple. Pressing the side power button brings you to the watch face, while the other three buttons can be used to go up or down in the UI, or select an object. That changes based on the context. In a long notification, those buttons are used to scroll or open a menu, while on watch face, they’re used to access your calendar (down) or your step counter (up).
It’s all very responsive, though I do wish the buttons were a bit less stiff.
Does this smartwatch experience belong in 2025? That’s a question I’m not sure how to answer yet. I’m currently already missing my Pixel Watch 4’s more advanced notifications (especially the ones from my Nest cameras) and that “Raise to Talk” Gemini integration that I love so much. If the Pixel Watch 4, as our review said, puts the “smart” in smartwatch, the Pebble experience feels more like the absolute necessities and nothing more.
But that’s not really a bad thing. There’s absolutely still a place for that, even if it feels more like a niche than ever before.
The first batch of Pebble 2 Duo smartwatches is shipping now, and you can still order your own for $149. I’ll be curious to see how I feel about this experience in the coming weeks, and even more so when the Pebble Time 2 ships later on – that’s the one I really want to use.
Are you interested in giving the Pebble reboot a chance? Is there anything you want to know? Let us know in the comments below!
More on Smartwatches:
Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
