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When Pebble announced new watches earlier this year, the company also revealed Pebble Firmware 4.0. The new OS for its smartwatch lineup promised faster access to apps, revamped navigation on the watch face and a few other little additions.
Instead of waiting to launch the new OS with Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2 to ship later this year, Pebble pushed out 4.0 to current watch owners this week.
Pebble Firmware 4.0 is currently available on:
Original Pebble and Pebble Steel users, unfortunately, are left out.
Before you can use the new features, update the Pebble app in the Play Store or App Store. To update your Pebble watch, open the app on your smartphone, or navigate to Settings > Support > Update your Pebble in the Pebble app if not automatically prompted.
1. Up for Health, down for Timeline
One of the first things you’ll notice after the update is that pressing the up button when viewing your watch face now opens the Health app instead of past events.
The first screen reveals your current step count, and another press of the up button shows your sleep stats for the previous night.
You can still view a timeline of upcoming events, weather updates and any other apps pinned to your timeline — just press the down button from the watch face.
2. Assign any button as a Quick Launch!
Enlarge ImageJason Cipriani/CNET
Don’t limit yourself to the up and down buttons for quick launch shortcuts — you can now use all four physical buttons on the Pebble to quickly open an app or view past notifications.
To assign the Select and Back buttons a quick launch action, go to the Settings menu on your watch, then Quick Launch and select the app or action you want each button to initiate.
3. Apps now show you at-a-glance info
Enlarge ImageJason Cipriani/CNET
Apps can now show you important information without you having to actually open the app. For example, the weather app now displays current city, temperature and weather conditions. Settings shows battery status and Notifications previews your last alert.
4. iOS can now send emails from their watch
Enlarge ImageScreenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Android Pebble always had the option to manage email directly from the watch, while iOS users — up until now — were left out of the fun.
Any iOS users with a Gmail account can manage email from their wrists. Both the Mail and Gmail apps are currently supported once permission to view and manage your Gmail account has been granted.
The feature might be a little buggy, though, since Pebble marked it as a “Sneak Peek.”
To enable the new feature, open the Pebble app on your iPhone, tap the three-dot icon at the top of the screen and selecting Settings. Under Actionable Notifications tap on Email Preferences (Sneak Peek), select the email app you currently use, and follow the prompts.
