Is Pebble Discontinued? What Happened?

Pebble was a smartwatch company that got its start on Kickstarter in April 2012. The campaign asked for $100,000 and hit that goal in two hours. By the time it ended, 68,929 backers had pledged over $10 million, making it the most funded project in Kickstarter history at that point.

The original Pebble watch had a few things that made it stand out. It used an e-paper display similar to what you find in e-readers, which meant it was easy to read in direct sunlight and used very little power. The battery lasted about a week on a single charge, which was far longer than most smartwatches that came after it. It worked with both iPhone and Android phones, which was uncommon at the time. It could show notifications, track steps, and run third-party apps and watch faces built by developers.

Pebble released updated models over the next few years. Pebble Steel in 2014 brought a stainless steel case. The Pebble Time in 2015 added a color e-paper display and a microphone. That model also ran a second Kickstarter campaign that raised $20.3 million, again a record at the time. Pebble Time Round was a thinner, circular version released the same year.

By 2015 and 2016 the competitive landscape had changed significantly. Apple Watch launched in 2015 and drew a lot of attention and developer resources. Android Wear watches from Samsung and others gave Android users more options. Pebble struggled to raise new investment to keep up.

In December 2016 Pebble filed for insolvency and sold its software, patents, and key employees to Fitbit for an estimated $30 to 40 million. All Pebble hardware was discontinued immediately. The backend servers that handled app syncing, voice replies, and the app store were shut down over the following years.

A community project called Rebble rebuilt those servers independently and kept existing Pebble watches functional for people who were still using them. Fitbit itself was later acquired by Google in 2021.