Smartwatch+ The first iOS app that makes your Pebble smartwatch even smarter! Get it now on Cydia!

About

Smartwatch+ is an iOS companion app that enhances the experience with your Pebble smartwatch. Smartwatch+ allows you to display additional information on your watch, such as weather, your iPhone's battery status, unread SMS/email and missed call counts, current stock and Bitcoin prices, your current GPS location, and your latest calendar appointments. Additionally, you can control certain functions of your phone from the watch, such as replying to text messages and initiating calls, launching the camera and taking pictures, controlling the phone's volume and activating Siri.

Download

Smartwatch+ for jailbroken iPhones (running iOS 6.0 and newer) is available through the Cydia Store. You don't need to add any repositories, as it is hosted inside the BigBoss repository, which is part of the standard Cydia installation. Click here on your iPhone or search for Smartwatch+ in Cydia.

There's also a version for regular non-jailbroken iPhones on the App Store now. It does offer less features, but you might still want to check it out if you don't have a jailbroken device.

Features









Smartwatch+ uses different screens to display data on the Pebble watch and to interact with an iPhone. The screens can be accessed through a menu on the Pebble watch using a custom watch app. The iPhone app lets you configure the number and order of screens to adjust it to your individual needs. All screens that display data are automatically updated at user-defined intervals.

SmartStatus is technically a screen as well, but it acts a little bit different in the sense that it's not part of the regular menu. Instead it is its own watch app and provides the iPhone's battery and status counters, which dynamically change as soon as the correlating info on the iPhone changes. More info on SmartStatus can be found here.

Currently, there are 12 screens available in Smartwatch+:

























Settings

The iPhone app lets you adjust the number of active screens on the watch by dragging them between Enabled Screens and Disabled Screens. It also lets you change the display order of the screens.













How it works

Several screens have individual settings screens to configure their update frequency and other parameters:

Technically, the current iteration of the Pebble SDK does not provide two-way communication between a smartphone and your watch. To circumvent this limitation, Smartwatch+ uses the built-in music app of the Pebble to display information from the iPhone and send button presses back. Admittedly, this is kind of a hack, but it's the only option for now. The downside of this hack is that it will only work with jailbroken iPhones.

Smartwatch+ consists of two parts: An iPhone app that lets you adjust the settings and screen configuration, and the built-in music app on your Pebble. The iPhone app runs continuously in the background and sends data to Pebble, where the built-in music app displays that information.

On the Pebble watch you can access Smartwatch+ by selecting the Music app in the main menu. You will be presented with the first screen and you're able to cycle through all enabled screens using the "previous song" button. In screens that merely display information (Status, GPS, Bitcoin, Stocks, Calendar), the data is automatically updated at user-defined intervals. In addition, data can be manually updated using the middle (or select) button at any time. In screens that interact with the iPhone, a line of text describes the action that will be triggered by a corresponding button press.

Future Plans

I will consistently add features and additional screens to Smartwatch+.

Some things that I'm currently working on:

Weather forecast

Sending SMS

Showing news headlines

Trigger URL requests (to integrate with webservices and webhooks)

Sending predefined "taps" to your iPhone

Open any app on the iPhone

If you have a good idea what the next feature of Smartwatch+ should be, please go to http://smartwatchplusapp.uservoice.com and make a suggestion/vote on other users' ideas.

As soon as the extended Pebble SDK is released, I will integrate Smartwatch+ with it, such that it doesn't need to live inside the built-in music app anymore, but has its own app on the Pebble watch.

All future updates will be included in the purchase price.

Limitations

You need to understand that Smartwatch+ is very much a work in progress. At this early stage of the Pebble smartwatch itself and the software development around it, things are not perfect, can break at any moment and will certainly change over time while the ecosystem around smartwatches is slowly catching up to their abilities.

Before you purchase Smartwatch+, you should be aware of the following limitations:

Bugs/Software issues: Although I've extensively tested Smartwatch+ with the help of several beta-testers, I'm not able to test every single device configuration. The app is at a very robust stage right now, but you might still run into issues with your specific setup. Don't hesitate to contact me with any issues that you might encounter and we'll find a solution together. Battery life: Smartwatch+ will negatively affect the battery life of your iPhone, as well as your Pebble. Since the iPhone app is continuously running in the background (and fetching data from the internet), it uses more power than other apps that are able to be suspended. I cannot say how much more power is used, as it largely depends on the frequency of updates, whether the GPS screen is active, etc.. Future versions of Smartwatch+ will try to reduce power consumption. Siri: The integration of Pebble and Siri does not work perfectly at the moment. This is not an issue of Smartwatch+, but a general issue with the Pebble watch. One of the beta testers has written about his experience with Smartwatch+ and Siri here Music Playback: You can start regular music playback on your iPhone using Smartwatch+' Music Screen. Currently, music playback is restricted to the built-in iPod music player. While music is playing, you will not have access to any of the other screens, since the regular playback controls are exposed to you by the iPhone - Pebble pretty much acts as if Smartwatch+ is not present during music playback. As soon as you pause the music playback, you'll be automatically back in Smartwatch+' Music Screen and you can use it the same way as before.

All that being said, Smartwatch+ is still a very nice addition to your Pebble smartwatch, as it is the first glimpse into advanced functionality in conjunction with an iPhone. I'm fascinated by the possibilities that the Pebble smartwatch provides and I'm committed to create software that makes the best use of this great piece of technology.

FAQs

Here are some of the most commonly asked questions:

The camera app is not launching - what do I do? One additional reboot of your phone will fix this issue for now. It has to do with extended app entitlements, that are required to launch different apps. An additional reboot will fix the entitlements for good. How can I reduce the battery usage of Smartwatch+? Smartwatch+ itself doesn't use too much battery. What drains the battery are the constant updates (and the GPS). So if you increase the different screens' update frequencies to 30 minutes or more (and disable the GPS screen), this should lower the battery usage. If you want to reduce it even further, switch the update frequency to "Manual" My calendar is showing "No Events" even though I've got events scheduled This may occur when you first run Smartwatch+. Just quit the app and restart it - that should permanently fix it. Can I turn Smartwatch+ off when I don't need it in order to save battery? There's no switch to turn off Smartwatch+ right now. Instead you can just quit Smartwatch+ from the iOS multitaskbar, as you would quit any other app. Does Smartwatch+ always need to run? Yes, in its current iteration Smartwatch+ needs to be constantly active in the background in order to communicate with the Pebble watch. Once you quit Smartwatch+ using the multitask bar in iOS, the iPhone, as well as the Pebble watch are back to their original operation - exactly as they were before using Smartwatch+.

Siri

dezign999, one of the early beta testers (who also designed the awesome app logo) was nice enough to provide this important information about Smartwatch+ and Siri:

Notes on Siri Compatibility One of Smartwatch+' more robust features is evoking Siri from your wrist. To get started we'll need to address the common issue with Siri and the Pebble which you are probably already familiar with, Audio Source. Team Pebble has yet to resolve this long standing issue, but its only a minor hang up that resolves itself after about a minute if you simply follow a few steps. 1) If you see that Siri is unresponsive and the Audio Source button appears to be active (icon to right of Siri button/mic graphic) press the Home button (Circle button at the bottom the iPhone) to dismiss Siri. 2) Wait. The iPhone needs a little time to resolve the Audio Source dilemma, and after about a minute, you'll be able to activate Siri normally as the iPhone will no longer select the Pebble as an audio source. 3) Now you can use Smartwatch+ to activate Siri without issue. If you're not familiar with this issue, let me explain further. After restarts, resprings or extended time outs, the iPhone may "forget" what kind of connected device the Pebble is and erroneously consider it an audio source. When this happens launching Siri may result in the normal Siri button and mic image without any feedback. Ultimately, Siri will sit there silent, and you may notice the Audio Source button to the right is glowing bluish green indicating the iPhone is using anther Audio Source for output. Upon inspection, you'll see the Pebble is selected. To resolve this issue, simply follow the steps above. How to recognize when the iPhone has selected the Pebble as an Audio Source from Smartwatch+ The easiest way to recognize this issue is by how Smartwatch+ responds to your commands after attempting to "Launch Siri." 1) You will see a "Calling" or "Call Ended" screen come up, as if placing a phone call. 2) "Launch Siri" does not evoke Siri's recognizable "ding ding!" sound when ready. To resolve this issue, simply press the "Dismiss Siri" button and wait for the iPhone to once again resolve the Audio Source. Using Smartwatch+ with Siri To activate Siri, press the Pebble's middle button to "Launch Siri." If on an iPhone 5, the noise canceling hardware should be powerful enough to take commands from your coat pocket, pants pocket, or desk without fail. For best results, place the Mic upwards or towards your face. To dismiss Siri, simply press the Pebble's top button. It is recommended to become accustomed to dismissing Siri to avoid any idle time while your iPhone is waiting to automatically go to sleep. This is especially helpful if you intend on using Siri hands free from your pocket.

Feedback/Contact

You can always email me with any questions/ideas/suggestions/bug reports.

Further discussions about Smartwatch+ can happen on the Pebble forum and on reddit.