Pebble Round 2, the circular smartwatch powered by the open-source PebbleOS, has begun shipping after several months of production delays. The first 200 watches have arrived at the company’s warehouse, and customers are receiving invitations to confirm their orders.
As you may recall, the Pebble Round 2 was introduced in January as a modern revival of the original Pebble Time Round, featuring a larger 1.3-inch color e-paper display, a slim stainless steel body, and an expected battery life of up to two weeks. Initially scheduled to ship in May, the $199 smartwatch is now entering its first delivery phase.
According to Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky, production is proceeding in batches. After the first 200 units, another 1,000 watches will enter production after China’s October 1–7 holiday, with shipments expected toward the end of October.
Production of the remaining preorders is planned to start in early November, followed by shipments later that month.
Beyond the shipping announcement, Migicovsky shared updated details about the finished hardware. One notable change concerns battery life. Although Pebble Round 2 was originally advertised as lasting up to 14 days, the current PebbleOS version delivers about eight days of average use.
Users can extend battery life to 10 to 14 days by disabling the touchscreen, choosing a watchface that refreshes less frequently, and turning off the shake-to-backlight feature. Further software improvements are being developed.
The circular display improves on the original Pebble Time Round, offering a larger viewing area, thinner bezels, and better contrast thanks to optical bonding with the front glass. The watch supports touchscreen navigation alongside Pebble’s physical buttons, allowing users to disable touch controls entirely.
On the software side, developers have already created approximately 1,400 apps and watchfaces specifically for Pebble Round 2, while another 3,000 designed for the original Pebble Time Round can automatically scale to fit the new display.
Moreover, the updated Pebble SDK now supports building applications entirely in JavaScript, and CloudPebble, the browser-based development environment familiar to longtime Pebble enthusiasts, has returned. The company continues to welcome community contributions to both PebbleOS and the Pebble mobile application.
As for the hardware, Pebble Round 2 features a 41.5 mm stainless steel case available with either 14 mm or 20 mm straps. A matching silicone strap is included, while customers who preordered the watch can add a nubuck leather strap for $5 as a gesture of appreciation for their patience.
The device also provides basic step counting and sleep tracking, although Pebble makes clear that it is not intended to compete with dedicated fitness watches offering advanced health features or GPS tracking.
For more information, see the official announcement.
Image credits: Pebble
