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I really don't like dealing with small change.

There's really no technical reason why these contactless payment systems couldn't be FOSS. When I registered my card with my watch, I needed to call my bank to confirm it was me. The same process could totally happen without Google being involved.

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As they rightly should. I would certainly call my bank to set it up just like I did with my OTP app with my brokerage. I'm not trying to hide anything from my bank, I just don't want to share that info with Google.

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Yes, but reading the page tells you they've gotten google to open-source PebbleOS and highly suggests they're either going to maintain the open source version, or otherwise fork the code.

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I picked one up, just to check it out, but I guess I don't really see much use for it. I just wear an analog watch.

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PineTime has been the only watch I've liked since my pebble, but it is a downgrade to my overall experience. If I want a good battery life (great, even) I can't have an always on screen, and I miss the physical buttons for interacting without looking. The vibration motor is solid, though.

I will miss my 28 day long battery when I leave it. Hopefully a new pebble can achieve a similar battery life.

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I was looking into Pebble watches right before they got bought by Fitbit, was super bummed. Since then I've tried a Garmin (hated the app) and now on my third Apple Watch... I still don't love the Apple Watch and want an alternative. Between having to charge it all the goddamn time and after 10~ years it only having 3 usable watch faces I've been craving an alt. I signed up for the Pebble list - I'm ready. Pebble for every day and going to try out a Coros for fitness.

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Ayoooo nice g string cuz

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I hate to be that guy, but if you're doing NFC payments, your card issuer is tracking you, AND selling your data. And of course, the merchant you're using is almost certainly tracking you and profiling you for more ads, too.

There's no way to do any sort of electronics payment with 'nobody' tracking you.

I trust Apple to be slightly less shitty than anyone else in the payment industry, but if you don't want to be tracked its' either cash, or you become one of those Monero dudes.

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Under the Apache License 2.0 license, no less! Nice!

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Yup. I've been rocking the PineTime since my Pebble crapped out. It does what I need it to do without any of the invasive stuff.

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There’s no way to do any sort of electronics payment with ‘nobody’ tracking you.

I fully understand that. My point is that I don't need Google also getting easy access to my data, along with all the metadata along the way (GPS, heart rate, etc). Right now, I only connect my watch to my phone every other week or so to refresh payment tokens, so the data they're getting is at least delayed.

I really don't need any of the smart watch features other than payments. I don't care about vitals monitoring, seeing my texts, etc. I ride to escape all that. I don't even need the time, I only need a way to buy a snack or something.

I'd probably use cash if we got rid of pennies, nickels, and dimes, because with sales tax, I always end up with a handful of nonsense ($1.84 -. $2.02 or some BS). I suppose I could just drop it all in a donation cup or something, but that adds up. And some stores don't even accept cash anymore.

So my solution is a smart watch. It's not great, but I get extra credit card rewards for using it (3% everywhere), so it'll pay for itself after a year or so.

Maybe I should just suck it up and just use cash. Idk. Maybe once I've finished degoogling everything else (last one Google Sheets), I'll get rid of my Pixel Watch.

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Sorry if i missed it but I have a really stupid question: why not just use the card directly?

Is this just a dont-want-a-wallet thing, or something else?

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Yup, pretty much.

I don't like stuff in my pockets when I exercise, and I often wear shorts without pockets. Before the watch, I'd put my phone and wallet in my saddle bag, which works, but that's not a thing when running (and I hate those hip ot arm bands).

And my wallet is tiny (basically this, one slot on each side and one pocket), so it's not the size.

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Ah cool. I kinda wish that card issuers would issue a tiny little NFC disc or something so I can just integrate that into whatever and get the same functionality.

But that'd probably be a thing all of 8 people on earth want, and everyone else would lose it or eat it or something.

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Costco has something like that for gas only (e.g. so your teen driver doesn't need the card).

Just give me the NFC bit and let me set a low limit on it, and I'll tape it to a Casio watch or something, I just need something I can wear and buy stuff with. Make it water proof so I can take it swimming too.

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I all keep going back to my Pebble Time. The battery life and focus on productivity are second to none.

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PebbleOS was open sourced and now the original founder who hasn't worked for alphabet for ages wants to build a new device using the now open sourced OS. No way Google can drop support and they have essentially given the code away because they aren't using it anymore.

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Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve been enjoying my Withings watches for fitness tracking and everyday wear as well. They look like a decent, non-smart watch. Battery lasts about a month or so.

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I mean, this is really janky, but you can probably get a second credit card and just cut it down. The NFC area on a credit card is quite small compared to the card itself. I doubt anyone would question it if you were tapping "something" on your wrist to a terminal as people are now used to smartwatch payments.

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Thank you for the rec. I checked them out, but it's not really what I'm looking for. Ideally my watch face will let me see a lot of information related to location and weather. For example, my main Apple Watch face currently shows: a compass, date, time, current temp, the high, the low, the conditions, wind speed and elevation. That's partly why I've stuck with an Apple Watch despite the severe shortcomings

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We're bringing Pebble back!