Pebble today announced new firmware for its smartwatches, and it’s a pretty significant update.
Pebble firmware 4.0 is now rolling out, and it’s available to the Pebble Time, Pebble Time Steel, Pebble Time Round, as well as the Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2. You can update using the Pebble app on iPhone and Android.
Included in Pebble firmware version 4.0 is an improved version of Pebble Health that’s easier to find. You can press up on your watch face for a quick view at your steps and sleep stats through redesigned activity cards. Pressing right from each activity will let you get deeper info. Pebble Health in the iPhone and Android apps have been improved, too.
Firmware 4.0 also brings Timeline improvements. With it, you can press down on your watch face to view current and future items. Quick Views — which are supported on Pebble Time, Time Steel, Pebble 2, and Time 2 — let you get peeks at your upcoming times.
There’s a new Launcher menu in firmware 4.0, too. Pressing Select from your watch face will kick you to the new Launcher menu which has a condensed banner design to show more items at once. There’s also a new feature called App Glances that’ll show preview info without requiring you to actually open an app.
Pebble firmware 4.0 also includes speed improvements. This includes faster system animations, a 4-button Quick Launch that’ll let you assign your favorite apps to the Up, Down, Back, and Select buttons, and refreshed iPhone and Android apps.
Finally, Pebble is letting iPhone users act on their emails. With iPhone Email Actions, you can use your Pebble to delete, archive, mark as read, reply all, and star emails that you get from Gmail accounts. To try iPhone Email Actions, go into your Pebble app, go to Settings, then tap Email Preferences.
Overall this looks like a pretty big update for Pebble owners, as you might expect from an update to firmware 4.0. So if you’ve got a supported smartwatch, go grab firmware 4.0 for yourself and give these new features a try!
