On April 22 2021, InfiniTime and Pine64 announced the release of InfiniTime 1.0 and the availability of PineTime smartwatches as enthusiast grade end-user product. This page aims to guide you with your first step with your new PineTime.
You might have already seen these words by reading the announcement, release notes, or the wiki guide and, you may find them misleading if you're not familiar with the project.
Basically, a firmware is just a software running on the embedded hardware of a device, the PineTime in this case. InfiniTime is based on 3 distinct firmwares:
- InfiniTime itself, this is the application firmware running on the PineTime. This is the main firmware which provides most of the functionalities you'll use on a daily basis : bluetooth low-energy (BLE) connectivity, applications, watchfaces,...
- The bootloader is responsible for safely applying updates of the application firmware, reverting them in case of issues and load the recovery firmware when requested.
- The recovery firmware is a specific application firmware than can be loaded by the bootloader on user request. This firmware can be useful in case of serious issue, when the main application firmware cannot perform an OTA update correctly. Currently, this recovery firmware is based on InfiniTime 0.14.1.
OTA and DFU refer to the update of the firmware over BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). OTA means Over The Air, this is a functionality that allows the user to update the firmware how their device using a wireless communication like BLE. When we talk about DFU (Digital Firmware Update), we refer to the file format and protocol used to send the update of the firmware to the watch over-the-air. InfiniTime implement the (legacy) DFU protocol from Nordic Semiconductor (NRF).
Since September 2020, all PineTimes (devkits or sealed) are flashed using the first iteration of the bootloader and InfiniTime 0.7.1. There was no recovery firmware at that time.
The bootloader only runs when the watch starts (from an empty battery, for example) or after a reset (after a succesful OTA or a manual reset - long push on the button).
You can recognize this first iteration of the bootloader with it greenish PINETIME logo.
You can check the version of InfiniTime by opening the app SystemInfo. For version < 1.0:
And for version >= 1.0 :
PineTime shipped from June 2020 (to be confirmed) will be flashed with the new version of the bootloader, the recovery firmware and InfiniTime 1.0.
The bootloader is easily recognizable with it white pine cone that is progressively drawn in green. It also displays its own version on the bottom (1.0.0 as of now).
To update your PineTime, you can use one of the compatible companion applications. Here are the main ones:
- Amazfish (Desktop Linux, mobile Linux, SailfishOS, runs on the PinebookPro and the Pinephone)
- Gadgetbridge (Android)
- Siglo (Linux, GTK based)
- NRFConnect (closed source, Android & iOS).
See this page for more info about the OTA procedure using Gadgetbrige and NRFCOnnect.
If your PineTime is currently running InfiniTime 0.7.1 and the old bootloader, we strongly recommend you update them to more recent version (Bootloader 1.0.0 and InfiniTime 1.0.0 as of now). We also recommend you install the recovery firmware once the bootloader is up-do-date.
Using the companion app of your choice, you'll need to apply the OTA procedure for these 3 firmwares in this sequence (failing to follow this specific order might temporarily or permanently brick your device):
- Flash the latest version of InfiniTime. The file to upload is named pinetime-mcuboot-app-dfu-x.y.z.zip. Here is the link to InfiniTime 1.0.
- Update the bootloader by applying the OTA procedure with the file named reloader-mcuboot.zip from the repo of the bootloader.
- Install the recovery firmware by applying the OTA procedure with the file named pinetime-mcuboot-recovery-loader-dfu-0.14.1.zip from the version 0.14.1 of InfiniTime.
You'll find more info about this process in this wiki page. You can also see the procedure in video here and here (from Amazfish)
If you are already running the new "1.0.0" bootloader, all you have to do is update your version of InfiniTime when it'll be available. We'll write specific instructions when (if) we release a new version of the bootloader.
The bootloader requires a (manual) validation of the firmware. If the watch reset with an updated firmware that was not validated, the bootloader will consider it as non-functionning and will revert to the previous version of the firmware. This is a safety feature to prevent bricking your device with a faulty firmware.
You can validate your updated firmware on InfiniTime >= 1.0 by following this simple procedure:
- From the watchface, swipe right to display the Quick Actions menu
- Open the Settings app by tapping the gear icon on the bottom right
- Swipe down and tap on the entry named Firmware
- This app shows the version that is currently running. If it's not validated yet, it displays 2 buttons:
- Validate to validate your firmware
- Reset to reset the watch and revert to the previously running version of the firmware
By default, InfiniTime starts on the digital watchface. It'll probably display the epoch time (1 Jan 1970, 00:00). The time will be automatically synchronized once you connect on of the companion app to your PineTime using BLE connectivity. InfiniTime does not provide any way to manually set the time for now.
- Swipe down to display the notification panel. Notification sent by your companion app will be displayed in this panel.
- Swipe up to display the application menus. Apps (stopwatch, music, step, games,...) can be started from this menu.
- Swipe right to display the Quick Actions menu. This menu allows you to
- Set the brightness of the display
- Start the flashlight app
- Enable/disable vibrations on notifications (Do Not Disturb mode)
- Enter the settings menu
- Settings
- Display timeout
- Wake up event (Tap, wrist rotation)
- Time format (12/24H)
- Default watchface (digital / analog)
- Battery info
- Firmware validation
- About (system info, firmware version,...)
Most of the time, the bootloader just runs without your intervention (update and load the firmware).
However, you can enable 2 functionalities using the push button:
- Push the button until the pine cone is drawn in blue to force the rollback of the previous version of the firmware, even if you've already validated the updated one
- Push the button until the pine cone is drawn in red to load the recovery firmware. This recovery firmware only provides BLE connectivity and OTA functionality.
More info about the bootloader in its project page.