Make Your Own Smartwatch

Today we will be setting up a smart watch and synchronizing it with our phone via Bluetooth Low Energy. Before starting, the proper drivers must be installed to detect the COM ports. These drivers must be installed before downloading any codes from the codebender plugin. The drivers needed can be found here.

Parts Used:

• TinyDuino Processor(Lithium Support): link
• TinyScreen OLED TinyShield: link
• Lithium Ion Polymer Battery: link
• TinyShield USB: link
• TinyShield NRF 8001 BLE: link
• TinyScreen Smart Watch Kit: link

The first thing we must do is download the files for the android application here. On the righthand side you will see download zip, this is the button you want to click. Connect your phone to your computer and make sure it is being seen as a media device and place the file in a folder on your phone. You can also download the .apk file directly to your phone from the link provided or If you have an external memory card you can copy the apk file from github and paste it in the Documents folder on your phone. Now that we have successfully put the file on your phone, we can now install the app.

On your phone, you need to go to the settings and check the Unknown sources box. This will allow apps to be installed that are not from the Google play store. Next, go to MyFiles->AllFiles->Device Storage->Documents>Apk. Tap the app-debug.apk and you will be prompted to install the app asking for Bluetooth and notification permissions.

Build up and connect your TinyDuino to your computer and upload one of the following sketches onto it.

Android Devices:

iOS Devices:

For iOS devices, go to settings,Bluetooth, and make sure Bluetooth has been turned on. You should see BLEWatch appear if you programmed your smart watch correctly. All that is left to do is to select BLEWatch and pair the devices.

On your phone, open the app you just installed and scan for your watch. Tap BLE Watch and then hit the connect button in the top right corner and there you have it! Just press one of the buttons on the side of the screen to get the watch out of sleep mode and press any of the buttons while it is awake to clear the notification on the screen. The watch enclosure was made by Jason Bannister of Mechanimal.