More on the Pebble Time Timeline

Follow UpPebble Time with Michael

I’ve talked about the Pebble Time Timeline in the past, but it’s such a key feature of the Pebble Time that I’ve decided to devote an entire article to discussing it in more detail. What I find most exciting about the Timeline is the fact that it’s still very much in its infancy and I’m sure that we are going to see even more apps in the future that will be using it in creative ways.

Accessing the Timeline

As I’ve mentioned before in other articles here on Pebble Time with Michael, the Timeline is accessed from the watch face screen by pressing the Top and Bottom buttons on the right side of the watch. Pressing the Down button (the bottom right button) shows you future Timeline items, while pressing the Up button (the top right button) shows you Timeline items in your immediate past. When displaying either past or future items, pressing the Top and Bottom buttons changes the currently selected items and scrolls the screen up and down, as needed. Pressing the Select button (the middle right button) expands the the amount of information displayed for the currently selected Timeline item. The precise information that is then displayed varies depending on the type of Timeline item.

Standard Timeline Contents

You Pebble Time’s Timeline will be automatically populated each day with a sunrise and sunset entry. Each shows the time this event will occur that day, along with the current forecast high and low temperatures. Selecting either of these entries will display the current weather forecast, which is automatically updated regularly throughout each day.

Calendar Entries

The next most commonly appearing entries in the Timeline are calendar entries that will be automatically synced with your phone. The calendar, or calendars, that are synced with the Pebble Time are specified in the Pebble Time application on your phone. The  selected calendar(s) are indicated in the “Apps/Timeline – Calendar” settings. I happen to have four calendars currently syncing with my Pebble Time. Three of them are Google calendars: my standard Google calendar, Holidays in the United States, and Birthdays. The fourth calendar I’ve enabled for syncing is the local Android calendar on my phone.

I actually use my phone’s calendar to contain miscellaneous repeating items that I don’t want to appear on my Google calendar. The Google calendar is the one I check for upcoming appointments and important events – checking it from my phone, tablet, iPod, or computer. I don’t want it cluttered with items that aren’t truly appointments or upcoming important events. Yet, I regularly have miscellaneous items that are tied to specific times of day. These are really time-based reminders that I would like to have appear in my Pebble Time Timeline and have vibrating notifications associated with them. I enter such items in my phone’s calendar.

For example, I usually spend time at my local library on Saturday mornings. During my time there I’ll read, but I’ll also doing writing there as well, including articles that appear in here in Pebble Time with Michael. So I’ve got a recurring event in my Android calendar that is set for 8:05 AM every Saturday. It has a a reminder specified to go off at that time that says “Pack Computer”. So every Saturday morning at that time my Pebble Time will vibrate and display a Pack Computer notification, reminding me to put my laptop into my messenger bag and place them in my car.

This guarantees that when I arrive at the library I’ll have everything I’ll need to have a productive writing session. One way or the other, whether it’s noticing this Timeline entry when I review the day’s upcoming events on Saturday morning, or at 8:05 when my watch vibrates, I’m gong to be reminded to take my computer with me. It’s an important reminder to me, but not one that I want to see on my Google appointment calendar when reviewing an upcoming week. This is why it’s just on my phone’s calendar, and why I sync this calendar with my Pebble Time Timeline.

Timeline Pushing Phone Apps

In addition to the calendar entries that are pushed onto the Pebble Time, there are phone apps that can add entries to the Timeline. They usually require companion apps to be installed on both the phone and the Pebble Time.

Pushline and Enter the Timeline are two such phone apps that allow you to directly make entries into the Timeline.

Pushline is somewhat unique in that the companion app that it uses on the phone is actually the Pebble Time phone app. Entries are made into the settings section dealing with the Pushline app to specify the information that will be entered into the Timeline.

Enter the Timeline (Android-only) actually has an independent phone app which offers lots of options regarding the appearance of the Timeline entries you specify. You can even specify background and foreground colors with it.

Both of these apps can be very handy for creating custom Timeline entries that contain precisely what the user desires. However, I must state one giant caveat applicable to both of these apps – they both have proven to be quite unreliable for me. Sometimes they work just fine, other times the Timeline entries I’ve created never appear on my Pebble Time. Hopefully, you will have better success with them, but I would suggest extensive testing before you come to rely upon them.

Another Android-only method of getting Pebble Time Timeline entries created from a phone is the MyTimeline Tasker Plugin. I have already written an extensive two-part review of this software here, so I won’t go into any more detail. However, if you are willing to make the investment in learning how the use Tasker this software has proven to be a completely reliable and extraordinarily powerful tool for taking maximum advantage of the capabilities of the Timeline. If you haven’t already, I would urge you to read my review of this software.

Watch Apps That Directly Post to the Timeline

Some Pebble Time apps also have the ability to make entries in the Timeline. Probably the most well known of these is the ESPN app. However, they are many, many other apps available in the Pebble App store that also post information into the Timeline. Some of the better known ones include Morpheuz (a sleep tracker), Swarm (a Foursquare app), Battery+ (makes Timeline entries of when you next need to charge your Pebble Time), FitCat (fitness tracker), and Travel (a TripIt application). You can check each of these out by clicking on the above links.

I have personally found ESPN to be one of my favorite Pebble Time apps. If I were still regularly traveling on business I’m sure that I would also find Travel to be extremely useful to me.

The Future of  the Timeline?

What do I see in the future for new ways to use the Timeline? Well, what can be done with it is only limited by the imagination of application developers.

I predict that we will see lots more of the type of location-based alerts and reminders that I’ve discussed in the MyTimeline Tasker Plugin article I wrote, but implemented in a far easier to use manner and with even more powerful functions. How about an app that would notify you of available discounts and/or coupons available to you based on your current location? Wouldn’t that be handy!

I predict that we will see more integration between task managers and the Timeline to automate such things as payment reminders. How about apps that provide weather alerts into the timeline based of predictions of snow, rain, extreme heat, etc? It would also be great to see Timeline entries for the season premieres of TV shows I particularly like. How about automatic reminders to take prescribed medicines?

I think that currently we are only just scratching the surface of the capabilities that can be provided by the Pebble Time Timeline. What do you think? Why not let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

1 thought on “More on the Pebble Time Timeline”

  1. I created a topic based timeline app called ‘The Day Today’. It embiggens your timeline with fun and useful daily facts. I think the timeline definitely has lots of untapped potential.

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