Pebble Time 2 stuck in recovery firmware - setup hangs at “Checking for PebbleOS updates” on two phones

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1

Hi all,

Hoping someone (or Core) can point me in the right direction. I’ve read the existing “stuck on NEGOTIATING” and “OG Pebble time stuck after update” threads and tried the clean unpair sequence from those, but my situation has gone a step further and I can’t recover it.

Kit:

  • Pebble Time 2 (Black/Red), shows as “Pebble 5DC9”
  • Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, Android 16 / One UI 8.5
  • Pebble app 1.2.1.6
  • Firmware v4.9.178 (now sitting in recovery firmware)

How it started: on normal firmware the app cycled endlessly through connected → connecting → negotiating → connected, constantly, even with the app open in the foreground. Clean unpair on watch + phone Bluetooth + app and a phone reboot didn’t help.

Useful clue: I factory reset the watch, and in recovery firmware it connects rock solid - app shows “Connected (factory)” with no loop at all. So the negotiate loop seems to be in the normal firmware’s BLE layer, not the phone or the hardware. (I gather from the NEGOTIATING thread that the BT Classic workaround only applies to the older watches, not the BLE-only Time 2, so that route isn’t open to me.)

Where I’m stuck now: after the reset the watch sits on the QR/setup screen. When I run setup, the app hangs on “Checking for PebbleOS updates…” and never proceeds, so the normal firmware never reinstalls. “Skip Setup” just leaves it on the QR code with no way off. I tried setup from a completely different phone and it hangs the same way, on the “Get Started” screen - so it doesn’t look phone-specific.

Questions:

  1. Is there a known issue right now with the PebbleOS update check / firmware fetch during setup?
  2. Is there any way to force a normal-firmware reinstall onto a Time 2 that’s stuck in recovery - a manual flash, a debug option, or similar - to get it off the QR screen?

Happy to provide app logs, an in-app bug report ID, or a Bluetooth HCI snoop log if that helps. Thanks in advance!

3 Likes
2

I’m also encountering this issue! got here the same way as OP.
I’m on Pebble OS v4.9.142, app version 1.2.1.6 and Pixel 9 running Android 16

really frustrated that my watch is unusuable at the moment.

3 Likes
3

Hi there! Could you please submit a bug report in the Pebble app? We’ll be able to help you immediately. Go to Settings > Phone > Get Help > New Bug Report. Please let me know once you’ve sent it in!

2 Likes
4

Could you also submit a bug report?

In the Pebble app, go to Settings > Phone > Get Help > New Bug Report. Please let me know once you’ve sent it in!

2 Likes
5

I submitted a report just now! I wasn’t able to get the checking for pebbleos dialog unless it was a fresh install of the app. My bug report ID is #7600

fwiw, I was also on the beta version of the app before I downgraded to this version and encountering the same issue.

2 Likes
6

Hi @Trevor

I submitted a bug report before making this post.

#7579

3 Likes
7

I have the same issue. My watch keep showing a QR code with the name of the phone connected. I have tried to reboot my watch several times, to connect to another phone, … issue #7591

2 Likes
8

For anyone still suffering this issue mine was fixed after updating the watch to >4.9.178

2 Likes
9

Ah, so this has happened previously. I’m getting this with v4.11 that just came out. Not so bad as to make the watch unusable, but it’s annoying.

1 Like
10

Have you been able to figure out any work arounds for this issue?

11

I removed an app or two, but I’m not sure that did any good.

It has simply stopped happening.