After weeks and weeks of waiting, Pebble owners using Android can finally download the long-awaited official Pebble app store. The newly designed app store arrived for iPhone owners back in early February, but Android users have been waiting ever since. At last both major smartphone owners can enjoy a newly redesigned app store with a number of exclusive Pebble apps.
As one of the first smartwatches to hit the market, early adopters of the Pebble have learned patience as the watch slowly gained many of the features it promised with back when it was a mere Kickstarter project in 2012. While it received a Software Development Kit (SDK) to allow for app development over a year ago in March 2013, it wasn’t until last month when we finally saw an official app store arrive for the Pebble owners with an iPhone.
Previously, uploading apps to your Pebble required a complicated process where you would download Pebble apps from third party websites and manually upload them to the smartwatch. With the new Pebble app store, developers upload apps to Pebble’s official repository. There, users can easily add apps to their smartwatches with a single click. Now, after about a month of waiting, Android users can enjoy the same experience. Pebble claims the reason for the delay was due to the complexity of developing apps compatible for most Android apps on the market, as well as the small development team that Pebble has to develop apps with.
Another major fix with the new Pebble app store has to do with customization. Certain apps, such as one that turns your Pebble into a two-factor authenticator, require custom editing in order to work for your specific device. Before the app store, users would have to actually edit the code in the app in order to customize it. The Pebble app store now allows users to change settings and customize their apps right on the device, saving a whole lot of frustration. The app also got a complete makeover and looks better than ever.
We’ve yet to check out all the apps in the new app store, but we’ll showcase a list of our favorite apps from the new Pebble app store very soon, so stay tuned! For now, you can pick up the Android version of the new Pebble app here.
