“We’re just building cool gadgets we want to use”: Pebble Round 2 launches as the brand maps a calmer future for wearables

Pebble is officially back with a new smartwatch, and, perhaps more importantly, a clear philosophy for what the company wants to be.

The brand just announced Pebble Round 2, a refreshed version of its much-loved 2015 Pebble Time Round.

It keeps the familiar slim profile and classic watch styling, but fixes the big complaints fans had the first time around: small screen, chunky bezel, and short battery life.

Round 2 now features a larger 1.3-inch edge-to-edge e-paper display, a thinner 8.1mm case, and a battery life of 10–14 days with an always-on screen. But the watch itself is only half the story.

A comeback driven by philosophy, not scale

When I spoke to Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky, what stood out wasn’t bombast or big growth targets. Clearly, he learned from what happened to the brand a decade ago, and he's intended to approach things differently this time around.

“There are no investors. We’re five people. We’re almost exclusively building this for ourselves.”

Eric describes Pebble today as the opposite of the “do-everything” smartwatch trend.

During our chat, he explained that the company isn’t trying to replace your phone or your Garmin watch, and it isn’t chasing triathletes, adventure athletes, or spec-sheet bragging rights.

Instead, Pebble wants to make things that feel calm, playful, and useful, with battery life measured in days, not hours.

"When you glance down your wrist, you're supposed to smile a little bit," he says.

To help people tell the difference between the brand's wearables, unlike the recently announced Pebble Time 2, the new Round 2 doesn’t have a heart-rate sensor or speaker.

It does track steps and sleep, though, and delivers notifications, controls music, and supports thousands of community-built watchfaces and apps.

And crucially, Pebble is building in the open, with PebbleOS, the mobile app, and even hardware schematics being open source.

“The side door is open. People can come in, build, and help shape Pebble.”

Nostalgia, but deliberately modern

Pebble’s comeback inevitably leans on nostalgia, but this isn’t a reissue for the sake of it.

Eric admits he never found another smartwatch that felt right after Pebble went away, which is why he was thrilled when Google open-sourced PebbleOS, opening the door to a genuine revival, not just a brand resurrection.

And while Round 2 looks retro, it doesn’t feel stuck in the past, thanks to its higher-resolution displays, better power efficiency, and modern tooling that let Pebble finally make the Pebble Time Round he says they've always wanted.

“We fixed the bezel, we fixed the battery, we fixed the screen, and kept what made it special,” Eric added.

Pebble and AI: subtle, not shouty

Despite its throwback approach, Pebble isn’t ignoring AI; it’s just approaching it differently.

The Index 01 Ring already uses voice capture and on-device AI tools to act as “external memory.”

"I personally wanted 'external memory' for my brain,” Eric said, "Something simple, private, and calm. No product existed that did it the way we wanted, so we built it."

Pebble plans to bring that same infrastructure to its watches, so you can capture voice notes, ideas and reminders without turning your wrist into a notification slot machine, even if you don't have the ring.

The company has already integrated Claude into some of its wearables, and Eric is openly considering more ambitious ideas, such as generating watch faces from voice prompts.

A platform that feels personal again

What makes Pebble’s revival interesting isn’t simply that a beloved smartwatch brand is back.

It’s that Pebble is offering something wearables have arguably lost: personality.

A watch that smiles back. A platform people can hack, tweak and play with. A company unapologetically building devices for humans who don’t want more noise.

What I like the most about Pebble is that it isn't fighting for dominance like many other brands. Its goal is strictly to be part of the conversation.

And that might just be the most modern move of all.

The Pebble Round 2 can be pre-ordered at Pebble for $199 (~£147 / €169 / AU$295), with shipping expected in May 2026, and comes in gold, silver, and black, with 14mm and 20mm strap options.