Google just pushed reset on a cult smartwatch brand that died off in 2016. You might remember Pebble from the halcyon days of 2012, when it became (at the time) the most successful Kickstarter campaign in history.

The nascent brand offered a simple interface and efficient set of features, drawing in millions of dollars from thousands of users. Then, in 2016, the smartwatch maker suddenly closed after being sold off to rival Fitbit, which continued to build upon Pebble’s forward-thinking software.

The story could have ended there, but then Pebble’s fortunes changed once again. Google bought up Fitbit in 2021, including all of Pebble’s original technology and intellectual property.

This week, Google announced plans to open source Pebble’s software, making the original watches usable once again.

“Despite the Pebble hardware and software support being discontinued eight years ago, Pebble still has thousands of dedicated fans,” said the blog post from three of Google’s engineering managers. “We are hoping this release will assist the dedicated community … and carry forward the support for Pebble watches that users still love.”

As a result, the founder of the original Pebble has already announced plans to restart production of the watches as well.

Why Bring Pebble Back

During its heyday, Pebble sold over 2 million smartwatches. With a price tag of about $100, the brand’s watches represented a budget alternative to the Apple Watch or Fitbit models available at the time.

Pebble watches never embraced the “everything but the kitchen sink” approach of top-shelf watches from companies like Apple or Garmin. Instead, the brand’s success stemmed from its focus on a few key features, according to founder and CEO Eric Migicovsky. He announced the official relaunch of Pebble in a post to his personal website Monday, and reiterated his commitment to the same principles of the original brand.

“You’d imagine that smartwatches have evolved considerably since 2012,” Migicovsky wrote. “I’ve tried every single smart watch out there, but none do it for me. No one makes a smartwatch with the core set of features I want.”

He explained those features as:

• Always-on e-paper screen (it’s reflective rather than emissive. Sunlight readable. Glanceable. Not distracting to others like a bright wrist)
• Long battery life (one less thing to charge. It’s annoying to need extra cables when traveling)
• Simple and beautiful user experience around a core set of features I use regularly (telling time, notifications, music control, alarms, weather, calendar, sleep/step tracking)
• Buttons! (to play/pause/skip music on my phone without looking at the screen)
• Hackable (apparently you can’t even write your own watchfaces for Apple Watch? That is wild. There were >16k watchfaces on the Pebble appstore!)

“This time round, we’re keeping things simple,” Migicovsky said. “Lessons were learned last time! I’m building a small, narrowly focused company to make these watches. I don’t envision raising money from investors, or hiring a big team. The emphasis is on sustainability. I want to keep making cool gadgets and keep Pebble going long into the future.”

Want to stay in the know about when the watches become available? Head over to RePebble.com and sign up for email notification about when the new watches become available. The source code for PebbleOS, meanwhile, is already available through GitHub.