Pebble’s latest app update lets you use your smartwatch offline

Following its acquisition by Fitbit, the future of the Pebble brand and its smartwatches has been somewhat in the air. 

Thankfully, one big question worrying Pebble wearers has now been addressed, loosening up the smartwatch’s reliance on cloud servers.

A new update for the official Pebble app for iOS and Android now allows the company’s wearables to function without having to operate without needing a connection to Pebble’s servers.

Effectively, Pebble’s smartwatches now have the option to work offline, giving wearers the ability to side-load apps and updates themselves. Of course, this method restricts certain features that rely on cloud data, but opens up the smartwatch’s functionality.

In addition to side-loading software, the update also gives Pebble users the option to bypass logging in to an authentication server. While going this route renders the official Pebble app store inaccessible, users can ensure that they’ll still be able to use (most of) their wearable’s functions even when they can’t get a signal.

While it’s still unclear what the future holds for Pebble and its wearables, the latest update promises that if nothing else, users won’t be stuck with a brick strapped to their wrist, should its servers go down — intentionally or otherwise.

Via The Verge