More than 24,000 people may still be using their Pebble smartwatch
Lots of people are still using their ageing Pebble smartwatches. Their total number may number over 24,000 as revealed by new data.
The rough figure was calculated by Rebble. This is the service that was established in December 2016 to maintain and advance Pebble functionality. It follows Fitbit’s acquisition and subsequent closure of Pebble. The aim is to keep the hardware going for years to come.
To this end, Rebble has been maintaining most services that were closed down by Fitbit. It hasn’t been easy going but they are doing an excellent job. It 2019 Rebble announced that its App Store has opened for submissions. This was a major milestone in replacing the PebbleOS.
And while the iPhone Pebble app was pulled from the App Store in 2019, the Android app is still alive and well. In fact it has received a surprise update a few days ago that brings compatibility with new Pixel and 64-bit Android smartphones.
Some would argue that there really hasn’t been a true replacement for Pebble watches. Something with an e-ink display, that is lightweight, has excellent battery life, looks good while not costing an arm and a leg. What’s more, these devices open to others to develop own apps and watch-faces.
Loyal Pebble community
It should, therefore, come as no surprise that there a large community which is still loyal to Pebble watches. But how large is it?
Rebble set out to find out. To arrive at the figure, they sent out an update to RWS (Rebble Web Services) that kept tabs on analytics data sent “home” by the Pebble app. They didn’t gather any personal data, only kept count of pings. The result indicated there are 24,520 active users out there.
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As published by the Rebble blog, Pebble Time seems to be the most popular watch, accounting for over 40% of the pings. This was followed by Pebble Time Steel (28%) and Pebble Steel (8.5%). The Android platform was much more popular than iOS. It accounts for around 83% of the active user-base. Not really surprising considering the iOS app was pulled.
Of course, these figures should be taken with a pinch of salt. Some people may have the Pebble app sitting on their smartphone even though they are not actively using their Pebble watch. Looking at only pings from devices with connected watches, the total falls to around 16,000. Still a very large figure considering the last Pebble watch was released about 6 years ago!
It has also not been revealed over what period the data was gathered. But despite these health warnings, the info does provide us with a rough idea how many Pebble watch users are still out there. The loyalty is impressive!
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