Pebble Index 01 - AMA

Pebble Index
41

This is a great question.

I have a Fairphone 4, it’s a four year old device which I do not intend to replace anytime soon (the idea of a Fairphone is you keep it as long as possible).

A few relevant extracts from @eric’s (very good) blog post:

Regarding speech-to-text processing (appears to confirm two separate functions/models):

It’s converted to text on-device, then processed by an on-device large language model (LLM) which selects an action to take (create note, add to reminders, etc).

Regarding the capabilities of that STT function (capabilities may indicate model size):

Speech to text and local LLM support over 99 languages! Naturally, the quality of each may vary.

Regarding MCP servers running locally (I assume these would be fine, the effort is likely required by the LLM/SLM when deciding how/when to use them):

The built in actions, set reminder, create note, alarms, etc, are actually MCPs - basically mini apps that AI agents know how to operate. They run locally in WASM within the Pebble mobile app (no cloud MCP server required).

Regarding optional cloud services, appears to be solely for backup of data (not LLM/SLM inference):

The app works offline (no internet connection) and does not require a cloud service. An optional cloud storage system for backing up recordings is available.

Extra confirmation that MCP servers are running locally:

Use MCPs (also run locally on-device! No cloud server required) to add more actions

It appears that a lot of work will be delegated to the phone, using an offline LLM (more likely SLM?).

With all of this considered, what would the minimum phone specifications be?

This is a very tempting product, and I was about to preorder, but the question of phone specifications is an important one.

Thanks!

Updated: 19:24 12/12/2025 - I noticed the blog appeared to confirm two separate models/functions for speech-to-text and processing actions. Focussed question on understanding hardware requirements.

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42

Ah my bad - it’s 160 gram-force, which is ~1.6 newtons. The unit format for these tact switches is 160 and for some reason I always called them N but 160N doens’t make any sense :slight_smile:

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43

it’s CPU based so it should work on all phones. If your phone has an NPU, it gets accelerated. We use this open source library for STT and LLM GitHub - cactus-compute/cactus: Kernels & AI inference engine for mobile devices.

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44

Something we may consider doing. Not sure yet though.

Second – what happens to the index product if Core devices disappears? People still have their decade old Pebble watches running, but that won’t be possible with silver-oxide batteries. Is the index meant to be a source of more continuous sustainable revenue then?

That’s certainly a risk, but as I’ve mentioned before on my blog - the #1 goal with Core is to build a sustainable company (one that can be around long into the future).

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45

It’s much worse - smaller mic and more compressed condec. It’s good enough for speech-to-text models to understand though!

Is the battery life the same between all sizes? (oura battery life varies depending on ring size)

Only size 6 is different, it has 1/8 smaller battery.

Do you forsee any issues with owning multiple indexes? Example use cases - different colors, as well as some peoples finger sizes vary a larger amount over the course of the day.

nope! it works great with multiple Index 01 already - I use several for testing.

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46

2.95mm thick, 6.6mm wide

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47

That’s the plan! Will be an input available to Pebble - similar to a Quick Launch button (which includes some data for the app when it boots up)

Yup! That’s definitely a consideration. I think what I’ve said before is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all :slight_smile:

Haha that sounds wild! Like a real ‘mood ring’!

There actually is an RGB LED in Index 01 - it’s used only for indicating that the ring has been factory reset. Though maybe we could expose it as an API…but it would certainly affect battery life.

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48

Asked our firmware engineer - I’ll post here when I find out!

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49

Yes exactly this is included by default in the Pebble app. Also if you choose you can ‘route’ your notes to another external note service. I have all my notes (ie everything that is not a reminder, or setting a timer or alarm) appended to the top of a Notion ‘scratch pad’ file. each day I look at this file and either do the task, or move it to another note.

Basically what I’ve learned is that everyone has their own bespoke note/todo/reminder workflow and we’re going to do our best to support that. But we have a native flow for notes and reminders - no external service is required unless you want to integrate with your existing workflow.

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50
  1. no, we licensed the FW from a friend of mine. He owns it.
  2. ~56mAh
  3. varies depending how far your phone is, BLE noise, but roughly 3mAh
  4. No plans to do this, sorry. it’s sealed with glue to be water resistant.
  5. Yes, exactly. Keep in mind for shorter utterances (like one or two words) it will have a harder time figuring out which language you’re using. But that’s a good point - maybe we could add a setting where you could configure which languages you use (to help the model figure it out).
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51

Honestly I don’t know if we have a minimum spec for hardware. I think we’re targeting Android 12 at this point. We use GitHub - cactus-compute/cactus: Kernels & AI inference engine for mobile devices. for STT and LLM, it has CPU fallback for devices without an NPU.

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52

Great News Eric….Well done. Your today statement about “lots of people requested”… please work with and poll your existing community members as theyre full of ideas/tweaks/love. Together were stronger.

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53

Has it been tested yet on an older phone? I’d be very interested to hear how well it works! The one I’m using has a snapdragon 855 and is on android 12.

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54

Hi Erik,

how would the Index01 will work on an iPhone with Apple’s restrictions?

  1. For actions like “set reminder,” “create note,” and “alarms,” ​​which you described in the blog, how would that work on an iPhone? Would it create alarms/timers in the stock iPhone app? Or would Pebble Core iOS have its own alarms, notes, and reminders?

2 . Would the index01 able to create alarms, timer on the stock apps (or third-party apps) of our pebble watches as an alternative over the iphone/android?

  1. Regarding triggers, you mentioned that Shortcuts doesn’t have an Apple API, but it does have URL schemes. Would that not work because the iPhone would have to be unlocked/screen on and the Pebble Core app opened to execute the URL?
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55

It has 1/8 smaller battery

This means it’s 87.5% the size of the full size battery, right? And not 1/8 the size of a full battery?

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56

Thanks @eric, really useful information. It looks like I had this repository bookmarked! Looks very interesting…

May be of interest to you @chorf:

TL;DR:

I have run some basic tests with the Cactus inference engine on my 4 year old device, I am happy with the results.

Test details:

We would likely need some more information from Eric as to what models are in use and how complex the workflow is for processing the transcribed audio, but, you can at least see how your mobile handles basic usage of the Cactus inference engine quite easily.

The GitHub repo shared by Eric links through to the organisation’s website.

Looking at their documentation, they publish details of demo apps.

Applications are available for iPhone and Android, you can download those apps for free from the official stores.

The apps allow you to run the models locally and test how your device handles chat interfaces using a variety of what I would consider Small Language Models (SLM).

Note: The default model in the app is Qwen2.5 0.5B Q6 which has 0.5B parameters, placing this firmly in SLM territory… I think?

Running those basic tests will not be a direct comparison to what Eric and the team will be implementing for the Index 01, but, it will at least indicate the capabilities of your device in relation to the Cactus inference engine.

For reference, I am running:

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G
  • 8GB memory
  • Android 15

In order to test this I have set a basic system prompt asking the model to respond with a list of actions identified within sample utterances (I am simply typing out phrases I would expect to speak into the Index 01).

The inference engine and model performed far better than I was expecting on a 4 year old mid-range device.

We have to remember that this is a simple chat interface, it is not linked to any MCP tools and does not follow a complex workflow (which may or may not be required by Index 01).

It would be good to understand:

  1. Which model(s) do Core intend to use.
  2. A rough overview of the expected workflow.

…but, this simple test has given me confidence that local AI should not, hopefully, be an issue for my device.

Feel free to run your own tests with the app, it is free to download.

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57

Lovely to read this morning that youve got INDEX01 shipments for testing.

Can i ask regarding the following scenario please.

I order a Time2 and wife orders an Index01.

Could duplicate features on Time2 allow me to use Pebble for other worklike notelets and my good lady to record shopping notelets on the Index01, with both infos managed in the same way regarding app settings etc. So 2 notelets loaded via 2 family entries stored in parallel as such?.

Will Pebble app be ready same shipment time as Index01?

Thanks

SM

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58

Hey Fedeb!

  1. These would be set and recorded inside the Pebble app on iOS.As you are no doubt aware Apple does not allow any third party apps to set alarms or reminders or create notes.

  2. On Android, you can set OS alarms and timers from Index 01. Third-party apps will depend on developers adding support.

  3. You nailed it. These actions do not work because the screen is locked.

My recommendation would be to switch to Android, it’s much more customizable and flexible for these things.

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59

correct. 87% of the other sizes

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60

Your good lady would still need her own smartphone running the Pebble app but you can theoretically sign into both Pebble apps with the same account and sync them together.

The Pebble app was already live - Pebble Mobile App

We’re planning some interesting features for couples who both have Index 01 - my wife in particular wants to be able to add things to my to-do list from her ring :slight_smile:

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