PineTime - a $27 smartwatch that runs open source firmware and software that's easy to flash and easy to modify and tinker with

This is the smartwatch I own. True netrunners know that the tech we wear on (or under) our skin is a prime entry vector for ever hungry megacorps to bleed the pulsing data from our digital veins, so having a wearable I have full control over is of paramount importance. I can flash it with new firmware whenever I want, the multiple open source options available are all an open book to any hacker worth their cyberlinguistic salt, and I can know for a fact that it won't phone home with my location or other data to any corporation behind the scenes. If we are all going to be cyborgs integrating technology onto and eventually into our bodies, better to control that tech ourselves!

CyberBear,

I'd be down for something that was more designed around all the fun bio data smart watches can collect. I'd even be down for a slightly invasive implant that would collect data about my health so I can better keep track of it all. Apple seems the most interested in the health stuff from what I've seen and I have no interest in the apple ecosystem. Open source health stuff seems like an opportunity to latch on to before the corpos make the stuff and sell the data.

edgerunneralexis,

Agreed, that'd be nova

saplyng,
saplyng avatar

Is this some new lingo that's streets ahead?

edgerunneralexis,

"Nova" means "awesome" or "amazing" kinda

enfa,

nova's the new fetch.

Widget,

fetch is the new XHR.

modulartable,

This gave me a good chuckle!

postscarce,

I agree. I'm less interested in "smartwatch" and more interested in "fitness tracker". PineTime is missing several sensors that competitors like Apple Watch and Fitbit devices have, such as electrical sensors, GPS, and temperature sensors which can be used for more advanced fitness tracking.

Widget,

Yeah the Apple Watch was kinda the final straw that got me to switch over from Android. The amount of effort required to root a phone hard enough to where apps couldn't stalk me wasn't helping.

Apple's made privacy a fairly large part of their value offering recently. The main issue remains integrating with other local services.

edgerunneralexis,

Apple's made privacy a fairly large part of their value offering recently.

The problem is that that's mostly marketing smoke and mirrors. They define privacy as not giving your data to third parties (who aren't subcontracted with them), not actually refusing to collect in-depth data or link it to your personal identity. There have been a number of pieces of evidence released recently that show that they actually collect as much if not more data about you then Google does, and tend to ignore your privacy settings.

The amount of effort required to root a phone hard enough to where apps couldn't stalk me wasn't helping.

Depending on your phone, you could use GrapheneOS (which is super easy to set up compared to rooting and basically the best security and privacy you can get in any smartphone) or CalyxOS. Both easier (and more effective) than rooting, and certainly better than Apple.

lezgineer,

How is graphene day to day? Is it basically just android sans google or are there major compromises?

dorkian-gray,

Graphene user here. I rooted my devices and flashed cousin ROMs for years, but stopped because I got tired of the compromises. A couple of months ago I took the plunge while upgrading and got a pixel 7a (so it's got the longest support) to put Graphene on. I have found it to be, basically, Android. Googless at first, but you can add Goog to taste. Play Services runs sandboxed, if you want to run it.

Most apps work just fine, but in my setup Google Wallet does not. I can't remember exactly why but I think it's related to Play Services. Banking and "pay me" apps like Venmo seen to work fine though!

edgerunneralexis,

It's basically just Android sans (or with sandboxed) Google, I really don't miss anything. It's honestly a pleasure to live with.

lezgineer,

Well now you make me want to switch, but I still have a perfectly good iphone and replacing it just seems wasteful. sigh, maybe in a few years.

edgerunneralexis,

Haha, that's the same position my gf is in, yeah.

Weaselmaster,

I think you’re (intentionally or otherwise) mistaken about Apple and privacy. E2E encryption and key data being stored only on device, it’s the best privacy story around. They don’t make money by selling you or your data - they make money selling hardware to you.

edgerunneralexis,

You should watch this video about how much invasive user data MacOS collects and sends (in plaintext) to Apple's servers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMc5zgALLiY

And this one, about App Store tracking and them ignoring privacy settings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=016QGxOsjQY

And read this NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/19/opinion/apple-iphone-privacy.html

E2E encryption and key data being stored only on device

That's for iMessage. And you can get identical functionality from Signal on any Android phone with a secure element (like a Pixel). They don't encrypt iCloud backups, and regularly turn that info in to the government. And, ironically, those iCloud backups include messages, which aren't stored on their servers encrypted! According to the NYT: "Apple also has access to text messages that it says are otherwise encrypted when they are backed up in iCloud, a workaround that’s apparently necessary to aid law enforcement."

it’s the best privacy story around

Not remotely. That would be GrapheneOS on a Pixel or CalyxOS on another Android phone. Apple is good in comparison to other stock vendors, sure. But it isn't the best option. Also, maybe read their privacy policy sometime: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww. It's enlightening stuff. They collect a lot, and use it for whatever they want as long as it doesn't leave Apple (or the businesses its partnered with).

They don’t make money by selling you or your data - they make money selling hardware to you.

Maybe not: "Apple is also building out its own online advertising business, portions of which a French privacy watchdog said may run afoul of European laws. The agency said that Apple doesn’t appear to require users’ consent for tracking, as it now does from other app makers, meaning it could benefit from the targeted advertising that its do-not-track feature is meant to hinder." (From the NYT article)

After all, why would a megacorporation turn down the opportunity to milk more profit out of their very captive (have you ever tried to get an Apple person to leave their walled garden?) income source? Remember, this is /c/cyberpunk lol

s_s,

Basically, Apple says all sorts of nice things about privacy, but its all entirely bullshit.

They don’t make money by selling you or your data

Correct. They make money holding it hostage.

Widget,

When your device is locked with a passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID, all of your health and fitness data in the Health app — other than your Medical ID — is encrypted and inaccessible by default. Additionally, if you are using iOS 12 or later and turn on two-factor authentication, Apple will not be able to read your health and activity data synced to iCloud.

Most of iPhones' data at this point is e2e encrypted. (Medical ID is the info for first responders thing, which has to be accessed while the phone is locked.)

lwgrs,

Re: Apple + privacy

I believe most of their intentions about restricting 3rd parties from seeing your data is keeping it for themselves. IIRC Apple plans to (if they haven't already, I'm on the Android platform) release their own ad service using their own proprietary data.

grannyweatherwax,

I have one. To be honest, it's super expensive to have it shipped to Europe. The step counter and the sensors in general arent that great. Perhaps it will get better with time and development

sexy_peach,

It's so expensive in Europe :'((

CriticalSilence,

Software developer here with basic DevOP, Pi and Linux experience. I heard about PineTime earlier but I was afraid that its too complicated. I saw pictures where its opened so I guess you need a little deeper knowledge about micro computing? Is this project still alive and software on both sides usable or us it more like a DIY project where you have to adjust and work on all the time?

edgerunneralexis,

I flashed the updated infinitime firmware to my watch once, when I first got it, and it's worked flawlessly since with Gadgetbridge, so if you don't want to tinker with it and just want a simple no-nonsense smartwatch it's great for that. And everything seems to be in such a good working state it doesn't need updates at all. At least thats how it is for me. But it is relatively actively maintained.

As for needing to know a lot of microcomputing to do any tinkering with it, it really doesn't seem like it — the APIs and stuff for adding apps and functionality to either of the major operating systems for the pinetime seam really easy to use. WaspOS even uses MicroPython for everything! Yes, you can open it up, but even that isn't to do anything very complicated, it just makes access to the chips for direct flashing (instead of OTA flashing) possible, so that you can recover if you brick it. It doesn't require any crazy low-level or microcomputing knowledge.

CriticalSilence,

Thanks! So maybe its time to give it a shot! I mean its that cheap

envis10n,

Just ordered one!

Hedgehog,

I've also got a pinetime watch, never been a fan of the data collection smartwatch companies do, its great to have something that I know exactly how it works with its open source firmware. It's not exactly perfect but there's been tons of updates from contributions by the community, I've even been able to make some modifications of my own too.

If anyone here in the comments has any questions about it I'd be happy to answer them

dorkian-gray,

How's the battery life? My favourite thing about the Pebble was that it lasted a full week between charges, which I always attributed to the e-paper screen.

Hedgehog,

I run a patched version of the Infinitime firmware that has some tweaks to optimise battery life, these will likely be in the main release soon enough. I did a test after installing the firmware and got 10 days battery life from 100% to dead of daily normal watch use. This is with a somewhat new (~2 months old) watch so don't know how it may degrade but getting over a week is easily achievable on the pinetime.

jaw,

Does it have a microphone? I'd love to use it to record small sound clips. Given that question, does it have a recording app?

Hedgehog,

No microphone unfortunately, it's a feature I would've liked but at least that guarantees it's not recording you

jaw,

Yeah fair aha, maybe in a future iteration.

JohnnyBandito,

This looks legit. Any info on how well it connects to an iPhone or Android?

joeyshabadu,

Works great using an app like gadgetbridge. It Syncs notifications, music control, HR, step counter, etc. It apparently has GPS text directions but I've never used it.

edgerunneralexis,

It connects to my android extremely reliably using Gadgetbridge

bappity,
@bappity@lemmy.world avatar

had never heard of this watch, the specs look amazing for that price!

Tywele,

Wow, that's a very good price for smartwatch! I might buy this to try it.

Maxcoffee,
Maxcoffee avatar

I noticed they have a phone too, is it any good?

Supermuff,

It's a developer phone. Not daily driver ready at all, but i guess it's nice for people messing with mobile linux

joeyshabadu,

Not yet. The camera is still not really usable and the battery life is very bad. It's all about Linux optimisation though, so it has huge potential.

enbee,

are there any sleep tracking apps that work with it?

argv_minus_one,

Wow! That's a bargain price for any smart watch, let alone one that's all FOSS and made by a small company.

VioletteRei, (edited )

Look very good, sadly the shipping is very costy for where I live but I will buy it sometime

Edit : do you know any other open-source smartwatch with more fitness tracker?

kittycatdance,

how strong is the metronome? the metronome wearable from soundbrenner is bit to big and masc. my wife is searching for a smaller wearable and I have read the pinetime has a metronome function <3.

joeyshabadu,

It does. Its one of the stock apps. I'd say it works pretty well but I don't like it as you can pick up the vibration sound on a condenser mic.

identity_disc,

I love my PineTime. I don't care about health stats (I'm well aware of how much time I spend sitting at my computer), but I wanted a watch that did the following things:

  1. tell me the time
  2. show text message notifications
  3. control my music

This watch does all that and... basically nothing else. It has a step-counter but I don't trust it. It has a heart rate monitor but it can never detect my heart rate (I probably wear my watch too loosely). So for my needs, it does everything I want and nothing I don't want. It definitely isn't the right watch for someone who cares about tracking health info, but for reducing the number of times I pull out my phone for stupid reasons, this is perfect. It can even reject phone calls so I don't have to pull my phone out of my pocket when I get yet another spam call.

666dollarfootlong,

How long is the battery Life?

identity_disc,

About 6-7 days. I haven't noticed myself consistently charging my watch on the same day (like, if I was charging every Sunday or something), but I just checked GadgetBridge (the companion app for Android) and it has a chart showing my battery go from 96% down to 12% over a 6-day period, when I then plugged in my watch to charge it again. The battery icon changes color when it hits 15% so I usually plug it in at that point rather than letting it drain completely.

joeyshabadu,

I gotta say, the step counter is accurate. I've tallied steps on longer walks and it was only off by 0.5-1%

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