Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.
Just a day after we reported that some Pebble Time 2 owners were seeing their screens crack during everyday use, Pebble has responded with more than just an explanation. It’s now replacing affected watches for free, even in cases where they’d normally be out of warranty.
Pebble and Core Devices founder Eric Migicovsky reached out to Android Authority to help explain what’s been going on. He shared fresh details on how many reports Pebble has received, what it believes is causing the issues, and what it’s doing for affected customers. More importantly, the company has been making things right for users who have encountered hardware issues.
If you’ve experienced a manufacturing-related problem with your Pebble Time 2 — whether that’s unexpectedly cracked front glass, unusually poor battery life, or another hardware fault — there’s a good chance Pebble will replace your watch at no cost. Migicovsky told us the company has already shipped around 330 replacement units to customers. That stands out at a time when many hardware companies are quick to point to warranty limitations or classify physical damage as user error.
As for the cracked-screen issue itself, Migicovsky told us Pebble has received 51 reports out of roughly 22,000 Pebble Time 2 watches in customers’ hands. Before manufacturing began, the team conducted extensive testing for impact resistance, water resistance, and overall durability, and believes the limited number of failures seen so far is consistent with those results.
Of course, percentages don’t matter much if you’re the person looking at a cracked watch. The good news is that every verified report has resulted in a replacement. Fortunately, getting one is fairly simple. If your watch develops a cracked front glass, you’ll need to submit a bug report through the Pebble app along with a photo or video of the damage. Once it’s verified as a legitimate hardware issue, Pebble will replace the watch free of charge.
The replacement program doesn’t sound like it’s ending anytime soon, either. Pebble says it will continue replacing reasonable cases of cracked glass for free “as long as we can.” Down the road, it plans to move to heavily discounted replacements while also exploring the sale of complete front display assemblies for users who’d rather repair the watch themselves.
The display isn’t the only area Pebble has been keeping an eye on. Some early users reported that buttons popped off due to an improperly assembled internal retaining clip. Migicovsky said the company has received only about 30 reports, and manufacturing changes have already been implemented to reduce the likelihood of this happening in future production runs.
Battery life has also been a pain point for a small number of owners. While the Pebble Time 2 is designed to a week or more on a charge, some users reported getting fewer than three days. After examining returned watches, Pebble found several different causes rather than a single common defect. In response, it has tightened power-consumption checks during manufacturing, and anyone experiencing unusually poor battery life is encouraged to submit a bug report through the Pebble app.
One thing we appreciated during our conversation with Migicovsky was that Pebble wasn’t trying to pretend these issues don’t exist. Instead, he acknowledged that building hardware is an imperfect process, especially for a smaller company where much of the assembly is still done by hand. Mistakes can happen, but the focus is on reducing those mistakes and taking care of customers when they do occur.
After seeing multiple cracked-screen reports surface over the past week, this is probably the response many Pebble owners were hoping for. No one expects a smartwatch to crack during normal use, but it’s reassuring to know that Pebble is backing affected customers rather than leaving them to deal with the problem on their own.
Thank you for being part of our community. Read our Comment Policy before posting.
