# Rebble app store Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/rebble/ 13 people recommended Rebble app store in Hacker News comments, 7 had mixed feelings and 21 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. Keeps old Pebble watches and their apps working after the original company shut down. Critics object to its revenue plans and use of scraped app data. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Profits from scraped developer work (5 comments in the sample): "It's actually offensive that Rebble is using other developers' data (that they originally scraped from Pebble) as a bargaining chip" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45970186)) "Rebble took the original open-source Pebble work of thousands of independent developers, scraped it off the original store" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45970855)) "Rebble built a business on top of scraped Pebble App Store data & open source code." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45971808)) - Revenue-driven goals seen as misguided (5 comments in the sample): "This seems a little silly, no? rent seeking behavior for maintaining code they didn't write to begin with?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45995653)) "But they are clearly misguided. The goal should not be to have an ongoing revenue stream for Rebble." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45970466)) "trying to extinguish any ability for Core to implement their own solution without paying them more" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45992335)) - Hostile, immature response to critics (5 comments in the sample): "It seems like an incredibly short-sighted fight against someone who (legally) owes them 0" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45969973)) "there's some hypocrisy here, given their roots, and they don't really acknowledge that" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45971282)) "should have been an immediate "Yes, that's incredible, lets make it work" from Rebble" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45970854)) ## Why people recommend it - Maintained the app store for years (4 comments in the sample): "Their main contributions were writing a web app to clone the Pebble store and maintaining it for many years, which we are all grateful for." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45961755)) "built a new API and storage layer, facilitated the publishing of new apps, and kept old apps updated" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45961526)) "Rebble has updated a number of these apps to keep them supported." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45971714)) - Kept old Pebble devices working (4 comments in the sample): "Rebble kept the lights on for devices that would otherwise have been bricks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45973759)) "They were effective only keeping the old devices on life support." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45971227)) "Rebble picked up the pieces to keep things working." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45973060)) - Stewardship of the community ecosystem (3 comments in the sample): "I think they kept the community alive since Eric M cashed out and Fitbit shut it down." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46038935)) "their stewardship of the app store and continuance of services is laudable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45973753)) "Rebble have demonstrated great stewardship of the ecosystem" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45962678)) ## Other app stores people recommend - [F-Droid](https://hackerapproved.com/p/f-droid/): 180 recommend, 41 mixed, 80 criticize - [Aurora Store](https://hackerapproved.com/p/aurora-store/): 43 recommend, 15 mixed, 16 criticize - [Apple App Store](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-app-store/): 39 recommend, 28 mixed, 461 criticize - [Obtainium](https://hackerapproved.com/p/obtainium/): 34 recommend, 2 mixed, 5 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://rebble.io/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Rebble app store", https://hackerapproved.com/p/rebble/ (13 recommend, 7 mixed, 21 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.