Ask HN: Programmable Watches with WiFi?

Hi. I'm looking for a programmable watch with wifi. Ideally I should be able to write custom programs/apps for the watch to display whatever I want to on them (e.g., make the watch make an https call to a server, receive json and render accordingly; allow the watch to receive "notifications" from the server)

Also, ideally, no requirement of a smartphone to send-receive data (it's ok to need a smartphone for the initial setup of the watch, though). I know about Pebble, but it doesn't have wifi. I know about some Garmins with wifi but for the kind of apps I want to write, the communication between the watch and the server has to be mediated by a phone. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't want to pay $100/year just to be able to use my custom app in apple watches. I usually don't trust Google either (e.g., they discontinue everything in a blink of an eye).

So, what are my options?

21 points | by dakiol 3 days ago

8 comments

  • huydotnet 1 hour ago
    Bangle is a good one https://banglejs.com/ Quite fun to work with. I got one from a conference, and my kid has been enjoying it a lot.
    [-]
    • geokon 29 minutes ago
      Wonder if you could get Clojure (through the SCI) running on it.

      How is the general watch API? The development experience?

      is there some community or list of exciting projects made for it? for inspiration :)

    • mycall 42 minutes ago
      When your watch supports the most common computer language on Earth, it is hard to go wrong with it. 4 week standby is pretty good too.
  • oliwary 3 days ago
    I have one of the TTGO T-watches: https://www.tinytronics.nl/en/development-boards/microcontro...

    For me it is mainly a decoration of my drawer, but maybe comes close to what you are looking for. :)

  • andyjohnson0 2 days ago
    Wear OS watches commonly have wifi, and can be programmed with the standard Android API and toolchain/IDEs. I doubt that Google will discontinue Wear OS - although your evaluation of risk will undoubtedly depend on whether you're looking at developing personal or commercial apps.

    I'm currently wearing a TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra, which has wifi, Bluetooth, and GPS. I've written personal tools for it, and its fairly painless (and free). As a developer with some background in Android, I enjoyed the experience. Getting apps approved for the app store is a pita though, as Google sets quite high bars for the review process.

    I also have a Samsung Galaxy Watch4, which also has wifi. People here speak well of Pebble, which might be an option, but I have no real knowledge of it.

    Finally, though, wifi is power-hungry and watches have limited batteries and endurance. Both Wear OS and WatchOS will limit wifi use by apps to conserve power, and you ultimately can't do much about that. Using Bluetooth to a phone, and its much greater wifi capacity, is a common approach.

  • griffindor 2 days ago
    AsteroidOS, which runs on many Android watches, and offers a Linux environment over SSH and WiFi (for watches that support it). https://asteroidos.org/

    The simplest integration is writing a daemon (in the language of your choice) that schedules wakes, syncs, and sends FreeDesktop notifications.

    If you want more of a UI, then you'll be writing QtQuick, which is QML/Javascript/C++.

    Their best supported watch is the TicWatch Pro: https://asteroidos.org/watches/catfish/

  • lyaocean 3 days ago
    If you want truly standalone + WiFi + custom code, check SQFMI Watchy (ESP32). You can flash your own firmware, call HTTPS endpoints, parse JSON, and render custom UI without a phone in the loop.

    Main tradeoff: it’s very DIY (power management, UX polish, tooling). If you want less DIY, Wear OS gives a better SDK, but the platform lock-in is much stronger.

    [-]
  • curioussavage 1 hour ago
    You should definitely check out the pinetime. I’m about to pick one up myself. For ~30 bucks why not.

    Default OS is a community project. I followed development for a few years. It’s pretty solid last I checked with good battery life and support for user apps written in rust

  • wewewedxfgdf 1 hour ago
    https://unexpectedmaker.com/shop.html#!/TinyWATCH-S3-P10/p/5...
  • herczegzsolt 3 days ago
    Is this question in any way related to television?

    I just had to solve this problem recently. I've settled on Google Pixel Watch 4. There are some rabbit holes to go down though before it works reliably.