PebbleOS
Shares rank 58 of 87 operating systems by recommenders
People recommend it as an open-source smartwatch OS released under Apache-2.0, with rapid iteration on watch faces and apps possible. Critics say the browser build is slow and unstable, and it still includes some proprietary blobs.
People recommend it as an open-source smartwatch OS released under Apache-2.0, with rapid iteration on watch faces and apps possible. Critics say the browser build is slow and unstable, and it still includes some proprietary blobs.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 50%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Open-source under Apache-2.0 license
“All development is happening in the open, and released under Apache-2.0 license.”
Comment from 18 Nov 2025 in “Pebble, Rebble, and a path forward” “they did the Right Thing this year and open-sourced PebbleOS”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “Pebble Watch software is now open source”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow frame rate in browser
“Getting 2 fps on my iPhone SE 2020.. it's nearly usable!”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Run Pebble OS in Browser via WASM” “Really slow FPS for me (macOS, Firefox). Not really getting past 1fps”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Run Pebble OS in Browser via WASM” Crashes or unstable in browser
“found an assertion just by clicking up/down. doesn't seem too stable.”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Run Pebble OS in Browser via WASM” “Keeps crashing on iOS safari for me”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Run Pebble OS in Browser via WASM” Contains proprietary binary blobs
“Getting a functional OS out with "only" a few binary blobs is a massive engineering and legal victory.”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “Pebble Watch software is now open source” “PebbleOS contains some proprietary blobs for some peripherals in the watch”
Comment from 24 Nov 2025 in “Pebble Watch software is now open source”
Other operating systems people recommend
The four most recommended other operating systems, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 87 operating systems, rankedWhat people said
11 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Definitely lots of potential for rapid iteration on new watch faces and apps!”
“Getting 2 fps on my iPhone SE 2020.. it's nearly usable!”
“Really slow FPS for me (macOS, Firefox). Not really getting past 1fps”
“Keeps crashing on iOS safari for me”
“found an assertion just by clicking up/down. doesn't seem too stable.”
“I'm not even getting that - its stuck at: 10:26:18.028 [status] Loading QEMU WASM module (17MB)...”
“Getting a functional OS out with "only" a few binary blobs is a massive engineering and legal victory.”
“they did the Right Thing this year and open-sourced PebbleOS”
“PebbleOS contains some proprietary blobs for some peripherals in the watch”
“All development is happening in the open, and released under Apache-2.0 license.”
“Their libc is kind of a mess of various sources.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.