All Aboard the Pebble appstore
We are extremely excited to announce the Pebble appstore! Many of you, as developers, have asked for it and we are happy to announce that it will go live with Pebble SDK 2.0 early next year.
Pebble appstore will be included in the official Pebble smartphone application and will be the first place where Pebble users look for Pebble apps. For developers, the Pebble appstore is the best way to promote and distribute your Pebble applications to users.
The Pebble appstore includes watchfaces and 6 app categories for Daily, Remotes, Sports & Fitness, Notifications, Tools & Utilities and Games. In each category, we will feature a selection of the best as well as new apps.
If your Pebble app requires a companion iOS or Android app, you can also include links to Google Play or the Apple App Store to help users find your app. If you have built an iOS or Android app that leverages the Pebble Sports API and does not require a specific Pebble app to be installed on Pebble, you can also add an entry in the Pebble appstore that links to your native app.
As you know, Pebble 1.x apps will not run on the 2.0 firmware. To facilitate the migration for users, we will automatically upgrade existing Pebble apps on a user’s Pebble when upgrading the new firmware. In order to take advantage of this, you will need to have your new app be ported to the 2.0 SDK, submit your 2.0 app to the appstore and register your 1.x UUID in your 2.0 appstore profile.
Submitting an application on the Pebble appstore is free and open to everyone. To get started:
- Read the Appstore Publishing guides.
- Join the developer portal.
More information and answers to common questions after the break!
What is the developer portal?
The developer portal is the web application that developers use to publish an iOS or an Android application to the Pebble appstore. The URL for the developer portal is https://dev-portal.getpebble.com. Access to the developer portal is free.
Will you validate / approve applications?
All applications need to conform to the Pebble appstore Developer Agreement. We will not pre-validate apps but reserve the right to take down any app that does not conform.
Does the appstore support paid applications?
No, not at this time. You can however submit applications that work with an iOS or Android companion app and charge for the mobile apps in the Apple App Store or Google Play! Pebble appstore allows you to add convenient links to your Companion mobile app.
How do I get my application in one of the featured collections?
Submit your application on the store and make sure it is “published”. You can then contact the devsupport team to discuss featuring your app.
How will JavaScript apps be distributed to iOS users?
The Pebble iOS application cannot execute code downloaded from the Internet so we will package the JavaScript code of all Pebble appstore apps and include them in the official Pebble iOS app.
What about mypebblefaces.com?
We are immensely grateful for the awesome work done by Jason Smyth of MyPebbleFaces.com. His contribution to the community is invaluable, as well as other individuals that have contributed significantly on the app discovery and installation front. We want to continue to encourage these efforts.
Third party app stores will still work for 2.0 users and we will not prevent or block installation of applications by 3rd party websites. We hope to serve the needs of the majority of our users and look forward to new ideas being implemented by the community in third party services.
To show our support for the particular effort put into MyPebbleFaces.com, Pebble made a donation to The Neuromuscular Center, the association that supported the cost and energy of running MyPebbleFaces.com.
Overview
- What is the developer portal?
- Will you validate / approve applications?
- Does the appstore support paid applications?
- How do I get my application in one of the featured collections?
- How will JavaScript apps be distributed to iOS users?
- What about mypebblefaces.com?
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