Are there open hardware wrist watches around?

a year ago by trilobite to c/privacy

I couldn't find any when I looked around a couple of years ago. Anything these days? And if none are floating on the market, are there any decent wrist watches that respect your privacy and don't send all the dam data home?

otter 41 points a year ago

https://gadgetbridge.org/

This is where I'd start

are there any decent wrist watches that respect your privacy and don't send all the dam data home?

I've heard Garmin is decent, and Pebble is coming back

https://repebble.com/

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otter 16 points a year ago

Personally, I'm pretty excited about the Pebble coming back. Cautiously optimistic, but optimistic nonetheless.

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OhNoMoreLemmy 14 points a year ago

Garmin sends all your health data to the cloud and the app won't work without an Internet connection.

On the plus side, they're not part of the Google/Apple/Samsung data ecosystems, and I don't think actually they do anything with the data, beyond computing statistics for you.

Depends how much you're prepared to trust them I guess.

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kmacmartin 8 points a year ago

Gadgetbridge supports a good chunk of their watches. Completely offline and you can configure watch settings through it.

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Lfrith 1 point a year ago

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kmacmartin 4 points a year ago

Mine does (a fenix 7). I think any model that has a heart rate sensor would probably work based on the wiki page. There are certain models that offload sleep tracking to the official app, and I don't think those support sleep tracking in gadgetbridge yet (last I checked this was the case), but the ones that handle it on the watch like mine fully support that too (and you can view stats and a graph in gadgetbridge).

Speaking of the wiki page: https://gadgetbridge.org/basics/topics/garmin/ - there's a lot to parse since so many models apply, but my fenix 7 has had full support aside from live cloud maps in the weather app, and I've been issue-free since last October aside from a couple things they quickly fixed for me after I opened them.

There are 2 main gotchyas:

despite the weather sync not requiring the official app (gadgetbridge can sync with breezy weather), the watch stops trying to refresh it if it's been ~3 months since rotating the api key. In the advanced settings you can have gadgetbridge create a new api key for you, but that may break the ability to use the official app (I don't so I went with that).
gadgetbridge can't update the firmware or maps, however you can update directly on the watch via wifi, or you can use the PC app (which works great in a libvirt windows vm).

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Ilandar 6 points a year ago

Garmin sends all your health data to the cloud and the app won't work without an Internet connection.

However, unless something has changed with newer models, you do not need to use the application or connect to Garmin's servers to use the watch.

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Tundra 2 points a year ago

however if you want to change goals (eg steps per day) you have to use the app

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Ilandar 0 points a year ago

I consider that quite a minor feature (that I don't use) as a Forerunner owner who bought mine specifcally for running and other activity tracking, but Garmin does have a wide range of models so I'm sure there are people who would require the app for other things like you say.

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zelnix 2 points a year ago

Their privacy policy is good

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Tundra 35 points a year ago

there are different approaches to this, but some of these links should help:

Hardware:

https://banglejs.com/

https://pine64.org/devices/pinetime/

OS: https://asteroidos.org/

Gadgetbridge:

I personally use a garmin, which is paired to gadgetbridge

DIY: https://open-smartwatch.github.io/

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codenul 2 points a year ago

+1 for PineTime. I have had mine now for 3-4 years. Love the little guy

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Defectus 2 points a year ago

Been curious on pine time. But I'm no developer, just a tinkerer. What can you do on it now?

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Sxan 0 points a year ago

+1 for the BangleJS. So open hardware, you can buy it as a kit you assemble yourself. Or, prebuilt.

I have every model of þe Pebble, including þe absolutely horrible Round. BangleJS is better þan Pebble was, and completely privacy friendly.

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18107 19 points a year ago

Pebble has an open source OS and companion phone app.

It's made for developers, tinkerers, and tech enthusiasts. There are many community made apps and watch faces available in the phone app, and fairly good documentation and examples if you want to make your own.

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stormeuh 11 points a year ago

Man I adored my Pebble back in the day, and I'll never forgive FitBit for buying the company just to kill off competition. I kind of want to buy the new one, but with them being based in the US I'm a bit scared of getting a nasty surprise due to import taxes...

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carzian 3 points a year ago

Iirc the watches ship from China, international buyers won't get hit with us terrifs

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Cramszilla 3 points a year ago

Whoa! I didnt know they brought them back! I may have to order one! Thanks!

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anon5621 13 points a year ago

I guess nobody here knowing about "lilygo t watch" which u can buy on aliexpress it based on esp and entire firmware can be recompiled modified from source code in github https://github.com/sharandac/My-TTGO-Watch It can integrate in gadget bridge too

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fubarx 11 points a year ago

https://lilygo.cc/products/t-watch-ultra

There's also a Plus version.

Also: https://open-smartwatch.github.io/

If you search for "ESP32 open source watch" there are quite a few out there.

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piefood 8 points a year ago

I used a pinetime for a bit: https://pine64.org/devices/pinetime/

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AndyMFK 8 points a year ago

I have a few Seiko watches, a Citizen, a couple Casios. All of which respect my privacy.

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thanksforallthefish 7 points a year ago

AsteroidOS is a linux based replacement for wearOS (android for watches) which is FOSS and removes all the google privacy issues.

https://asteroidos.org/

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jordanlund 6 points a year ago

Mechanical ones, sure. :)

Daaaaaaaaannnngggg...

https://www.citizenwatch.com/...

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snap 5 points a year ago

+1 for banglejs. Been loving mine

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Zoldyck 4 points a year ago

I suppose you're talking about smart watches?

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Nicro 4 points a year ago

Not to sound stupid, but it really depends on how smart you want the watch to be. From connectionless firmware device to fully-featured Android. +1 for gadget bridge either way.

I have a Fossil Hybrid, that combines physical hands with a 2-color e-ink display. It can't do apps, but it has standalone timers, notifications, media control, pulse/oxygen and step counter. I personally don't need more. It's cloudless and lasts a week.

If you need full Android/WearOS check AsteroidOS and specific ROMs. Hardware tends to be on the older side here.

The only thing that's hard to do is sleep tracking. That tends to rely on proprietary algorithms and cloud compute a lot.

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Magnum 3 points a year ago

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solrize 3 points a year ago

sensorwatch.net is the only one I'd want. Note it doesn't have any data communications to speak of. It's an old fashioned digital watch with some cool features including software thermocompensation for accuracy within a few seconds per year. And it runs on a regular coin cell for a year or so, not a stupid nightly recharge like it thinks it's a phone.

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LiveLM 2 points a year ago

I've heard of the SQFMI Watchy and the Bangle.js but I haven't used them myself.

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trilobite 2 points a year ago

Bangle.JS seems interesting and more capable than Watchy. But guess the latter's battery lasts longer because of sink screen?

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LiveLM 1 point a year ago

I would assume so, but I haven’t used them myself to confirm.
Overall the bangle seems better built.