Hey guys! Meh buyer @mandirose here. Disclaimer…I’m the buyer of this deal, so I of course am a little biased, but I have been using the watch now for a couple weeks and will happy to answer any questions as honestly as possible if anyone has any
@dagirlgenius current software is as far as you’ll get, the app should be available in google play and apple store for 2 years but there will be no support from olio on these
@mandirose Can you change faces and backgrounds of the watch without the app? At the demo site for the black watch, I am seeing four choices of hands, and four background choices. Can I choose between them without using the app?
@bdb The watch faces are dependent on style:
Gold: Clear sky dial with sunfire yellow accents
Rose: Eclipse astral dial with turquoise accents
Steel: Radiant white markers with ice blue accents
Black: Technical dial with burnished gold accents
@caffeine_dude I don’t have the exact measurements but will try to find them. I will let you know the link watches have 2 extra links included with them but I’m sure that doesn’t help much
@Superllama7 Depends on the settings you choose but realistically, 8-18 hours depending on setting choices. They say 24 hours but I haven’t experienced that long
@mandirose I have read that some of the processing is done on the cloud with this watch. Assuming that the company is no longer supporting that, have you noticed any issues caused by that?
@tinsami1 That’s a great question. I’d say pebble for software and this for looks. A merchandiser in the office has a pebble and helped us test one and I think he would say pebble but he did like this watch a lot. I personally don’t like the look of pebbles so i would say this one, but again I’m biased haha
@mandirose My question would be if you knew of any way to put third party firmware on this. It might be fun to write custom software for if there’s any possibility of ever doing that. Searching hasn’t turned anything up.
If you were selling Pebble Time Steel watches at that price, I’d probably jump at it. I need a spare. When my current one’s watchband broke, it was a pain going back to the old watch.
@mandirose Are you able to take off the face and replace it with another? I’d like to keep the 24K band and I have a rolex face I want to switch with it.
@mandirose Apparently this watch was supposed to have an open API. Is there any chance we might be able to get that for hacking and such? Since there will be no support for this watch in the future.
@caffeine_dude I bought one of these when they first came out. It’s a nice looking watch, and the battery lasts more than a day. I have a big wrist (8+ inches) and put my own strap on it.
@GLaDOS Out of business and acquired by Fitbit are 2 very different things. While Olio was also acquired, the difference is Fitbit makes end user, consumer products and Flex (the company that acquired Olio) primarily makes components and business related products.
@crocetti slight correction, they are listed on ebay for that price. Only 1 up for auction. Granted still a lot of time left, but currently it is at $1.25. Watching it just for curiosity, but I would not suggest buying a bunch trying to make a fortune lol
@kazriko I don’t know of any way to do that BUT if you do buy one and figure it out, we’d love to have you post about it in the forum for our other mehmbers
@mandirose I haven’t worn it in a while, so I put it on this morning. When I got my watch originally, it was almost impossible to get it to Bluetooth with my phone. Now it does it instantly. Which is nice.
@dswift0117@crocetti Selling prices have been hovering around $125. Which would be helpful in determining value if a huge glut of these wasn’t about to hit the market.
@mandirose@WilsonSports@comeatmebro standard spring-loaded pins. I was able to get both the metal & leather bands off with a small flat head screwdriver, since I didn’t have a watch tool kit lying around. Had I actually paid $1395 for one I probably would have been more careful
@GLaDOS Did that, that’s why I’m using the pebble again. But the vibration motor is starting to go out on it too, so a spare would still be handy. The watch band breaking just made me realize how much I use the thing.
@curtw4 Hey Curt. Music should control the music on your phone. As we put in the write up, weather was a feature that wouldn’t work anymore. Same with navigation.
@mandirose I guess I read the write-up with too much optimism. The write-up said “already don’t perform…” but because their youtube video shows it working, I just assumed a newer firmware was required. Both weather and Nav are things it can get straight from the phone, no need for a “cloud” server. So, I guess “staged demo” of those functions?
Probably something to hang onto in case anybody ever writes functioning firmware for it.
@mandirose I didn’t see an answer on the full manual. The watch is beautiful and does some stuff, but I feel like it’s hit and miss and would love to know officially at least how the different features are supposed to work.
@mandirose I received mine, paired it with my iPhone and charged it to about 30% and wore it for a few hours. It died during that time and I’m unable to get the screen to come back on. I left it charge all night last night and the watch still won’t turn on. I know it’s not actually on because my phone isn’t paired to it anymore. Any ideas on what to do??
@joelmw Again, as we wrote in the write up, the thing the watch does best now is notifications and telling time. No full manual available that we know of but here’s a link to their youtube channel showing how to set up some of the features youtube
@mandirose hey, I’m in need of assistance. I just took my watch out for its first day, and it just turned off, seemingly out of nowhere, early in the morning. I let it charge to full capacity the night before. Is there some sort of reset, button, gesture, something?
@communist It charges, but it gets really hot compared to the official charger. I’m pretty sure that’s why they recommend only their charger. On the plus side, my Galaxy S6 charges nice and cool on the watch’s charger.
@mandirose Mine turned on and seemed to pair okay… but then it turned off and I can’t seem to figure out how to get it back on. It’s also getting really hot from the charger. Is this normal? Is there anything special I have to do?
@Rabernathy hmmm only other advice I would say is to take it off the charger and let the battery run out and try again in about 20 minutes. If that doesn’t work, contact customer service and let them know what’s going on and they’ll be able to help
@mandirose does your Weather screen work? I just have clouds with question marks in them. I thought maybe it would use my iPhone’s weather, but apparently not? (And yeah, I get the part about the company not being in business anymore)
@mjc94ma I’ve found the more I wear mine, the more things I find out about it that I like Just so you know too, if you have notifications about weather (like my accuweather notifies me if there’s going to be a severe storm) those notifications will show up!
@troy@mandirose@WilsonSports@comeatmebro I just changed out the band on mine with a tiny screwdriver. Used the pins from the original band (black steel) and replaced it with this band from Amazon “Beauty7 Black 24mm Brushed Finish Butterfly Clasp”. I really liked the original band, but it was about one link too small and I couldn’t find any way to get one more link. This one isn’t exactly the same color, but it looks nice and matches the style pretty close… but more importantly, it’s about one link size bigger.
@Liquidblue Mine came with 2 links and 2 pins in a small plastic bag in the box the watch came in. Inside one of the little side panels that lift up. Or did you mean it still didn’t fit with those 2 extra links?
@Whitcomb Weather and directions do not work but email should. Do you get notifications on your lock screen for emails already? If not, you have to change your settings on your Iphone. The watch should replicate the settings you have on your phone, I.E. I don’t get facebook alerts so they don’t come up on my watch but I do get text alerts and those do
@DavidChurchRN Nah…I think the new writer doesn’t like or appreciate the history behind the baby arm. LOL In the photo with the vapid female model she could have been photoshopped out and the baby arm substituted. Bingo. Not appropriate use of the appropriate baby arm. (grin).
@sourhead Hmm… who writes these things so I can ping just him/her (and not the octopus; I wasn’t paying attention when someone new was hired apparently) to lodge my “complaint”? LOL
@PlacidPenguin Hmm saw you had pinged me in that thread and I actually had said something to him about baby arms. LOL Maybe @skemmehs hates baby arms. (grin).
Everyone should read that linked Verge article. It’s no wonder this company went belly up: it was all about marketing how fancy it was.
You can’t change the watch face? That’s a feature! Changing the face would mess with the fancy design!
It’s got no fitness tracking? That’s a feature! Nobody uses that stuff, and the extra sensors would mess with the feng shui, or the karma, or something.
@jml326 You’d be surprised. SlickDeals has people posting $3000 watches all the time and creaming themselves over how nice (and cheap!) they are. Why anyone would pay more for a watch than I did for my car I won’t understand, especially since my car also tells time.
@callblackout Can I still let you know in a week? That’s assuming I can’t actually figure out something more than checking the time and using the timer.
I have two. Selling both. The wife and I both like our cheap plastic Android watches. I have the 24K gold for her and the stainless for me. Each worn for a few hours.
Hard to find reviews but the ones I do find are of people complaining that it outright doesn’t work or that many of the features don’t. I’m tempted to try one given how much it is marked down but then I have to remind myself that it is still a $50 smartwatch which isn’t that great of a deal for something that might not work or might work so poorly that I don’t use it.
You all know you made CNN? A headline like “Get an Olio smartwatch for $50” and they linked meh. Those highfalutin, (I spellchecked), executives are gonna be a bit surprised when chair socks come up tomorrow.
I still don’t know which watch to buy. Grrrrrrr. thanks @MWPollard for the sort of help.
@wew I’m wearing the Black Watch face with the Suede band in the photo above and I love that it looks different than other watches I’ve seen out there. Really can’t go wrong on any of these though, as someone who’s seen each and every one in person, there’s no bad choice on these
@wew Yeah, pretty sure they know they’re on CNET considering this line is in the article: “The Meh folks were nice enough to send me one to check out…”
@mandirose my main problem with the watch is that it doesn’t tell time very well. I’ve had it sitting on the charger by my bed for the last few months. Picked it up today to wear it (thanks, Meh! for the reminder) and it said “4:02am, 1/1/2014” or something like that. I launched the app on my phone and it snapped to the correct date/time.
Also, I took it off the charger around 7am, and put it back on the charger at 6pm. Battery level was about 60%
@sgrenald not sure if you have an iPhone (I do) but I find just keeping the app running in the background makes everything run very smoothly. Only uses about 4% of my battery keeping it open in the background so doesn’t effect my cell battery too much.
@mandirose I do have an iPhone. But I’m not normally using my watch. It’s not a big deal to launch the app, though. I just thought it was odd that the (probably) fifty cent quartz timekeeper in the watch didn’t work that well. Kinda wish I’d grabbed the black w bracelet in the morning, but I’ve got a spare strap around somewhere for the leather one. One of the reasons I didn’t get the black one in 2015 was because it was $100 more than the steel one.
Biggest piece of advice I can give…once you finish the getting started instructions, let your watch fully charge before playing around with it. Many watches will start downloading a software update once the watch charges to 60% (some might come already with the latest software). You can check the ABOUT section of your app to see if your watch will need the update (may take a few minutes of charging though for it to say you need it)!
Make sure your watch stays connected to bluetooth while it’s downloading the software update and also make sure the watch stays on the charger while downloading. I highly recommend doing this overnight while you sleep and your watch should be ready to go when you wake up!
@mandirose Update: after the update I took it off the charger at around 8:30 am and at 6pm it was sitting at 61%. It’s now 10:30 pm and I’ve still got 37%. Much better potential after the latest firmware installed.
At this price, no thanks. I picked up a Pebble Time recently and have been extremely impressed, it’s basically everything I want out of a smartwatch (from a $30 refurb no less), with good third-party software support going into the future.
what color? what color? (and what’s with all the different bands? I’ll have to read the copy again.)
while I’m posting, the post office is coming out with a heat sensitive solar eclipse stamp in a few weeks. It’s very nerd cool! I’m pre-ordering today.
@sammydog01 Nutz. I was leaning towards the Rose, just cause I have none. yeah, it’s sort of a mystery what 4pm will bring. Heh. No one can get a hold of me, otherwise I could go into the entrepreneur business at 4pm…all these non-vmp people want watches. Mr. Meh, I don’t know what you had to do to get this deal, and I don’t even know if I’ll snag one, but Kudos, sir.
If anyone can get AJ Cooper, Evan Wilson or Steven Jakobs to release the firmware and/or app source code, I’d be happy to try and create a patch to allow the watch/app to communicate without their server.
Love these watches, really don’t want them to be dead.
@Oneroundrobb From the specs this may look a lot better than the Martian Notifier, but it doesn’t appear to do anything the Notifier doesn’t except run the battery down faster.
@craigthom@Oneroundrobb It does a shitload more than the Notifier, including providing continuing access to full notifications, which is huge for me. They just scroll by and go away on the Notifier, which means that mostly I miss them, unless I train myself to stop whatever else I’m doing to pay immediate attention to my watch–which I just don’t want to do most of the time. Also, the Notifier only shows a small portion of the notification; mostly it’s a reminder that I need to look at my phone. The text on the Olio is complete, readable and–I daresay–beautiful.
In addition, the Olio:
can clear notifications from the phone itself
shows different and colored icons for different types of notifications
can set a reminder based on a notification
has a timer and stop watch
controls music (I’ve used it with iTunes and Spotify so far), including volume
shows the date
scrolls the watch face among different time zones, so I can see with a quick flick, for instance, what time it is in Qatar (people we love and Facetime with live in Qatar, and I’m always forgetting the time difference)
has a few different watch faces with additional information that, again, I haven’t completed sorted out, but they look cool (I think one shows frequency of notifications or something; another might show busyness according to schedule)
has alarms that are completely controlled on the watch
indeed, controls not only the watch, but aspects of the phone from the watch
shows the weather at four different times (I haven’t looked this up or sorted it out yet, but it does work) and at multiple locations
is just prettier to look at, IMO
I’d bet there’s more, but that’s what I’ve discovered so far. I hear rumor that there’s a mic or at least some way to access Siri.
The Martian isn’t worthless. I like it and it’s cheaper. The face isn’t bad. It has a little flashlight, which has actually been practical for me on occasion. In addition to showing that brief notification (which is sometimes enough to be useful), it has a cool feature where you can program different notifications to different pulses, so that it’s easy to tell, for instance, whether I’m getting an important call vs. a stupid nag from a game.
My Olio made it through the day and I’ll plan on just charging it overnight every day (battery life does seem to have improved with the update), but I’ll keep the Martian in my bag for backup.
@Kyser_Soze I have an inexpensive Seiko 5 automatic. It keeps damn good time and doesn’t even have a battery. If I had to charge my watch like my iPhone, my watch would be dead most of the time.
I don’t know wtf to get my son for his 28th BDay. He’s not going to want anything to lug around due to his crazy schedule/moving coming up. I think he would be non-plussed if I made him pancakes.
physical-mad-bead
Hey Mehmbers! Just wanted to create a sort of “crowd sourcing” troubleshooting/FAQ post. I’d be more than happy to try to answer any questions if people have any once they receive their watches. I’ve set up about 20 of these at this point so I might be able to help and figure others in the community will probably be able to help assist as well because you’re all so awesome Below is a link to Olio Devices youtube channel. You can find setup videos here if needed.
@mandirose Hi, I just got my watch today and plugged it in and synced it to my phone. After about 3 hours (had maybe 50% charge) the watch shut off and I haven’t been able to get the screen to come back on… any idea on this?
@mandirose I watched the YouTube videos and tried everything. The watch refuses to connect with my iPhone 7 plus and it does not even power up unless placed on the dock! Its been on the dock for more than a day so I know its a 1000% charged. I also noticed that the watch gets noticeably “warm” when on the charger. Can you help?
@mandirose Correct. It turned on once before, I used it for the afternoon and it turned off, and now I cannot get it back on. Even on the charger. My Iphone (which it was paired to before this happened) doesn’t show it on/connected anymore. That makes me believe it isn’t related to the brightness issue I’ve read about on here. The watch seems “dead”
@mandirose Actually, after letting it sit back in the box for 2 days, I tried plugging it back in. It is charging now apparently, the screen came on… not really sure what happened. Going to let it do a full charge before messing it with it. I will let you know if I cannot get it to work after it.
@Flick I’m happy to hear it. Check the about section to make sure the update starts. I have a feeling if you can get it to update you’ll be good to go but if not let us know and we will get it worked out for you!
@mandirose Hi, I wanted to post a picture of the issue I am having with the Olio Model One, but could not find the option on this forumn. After sufficient charge the device boots to a frozen screen with lines showing up at the bottom. The device does not get past this, and I ran through any troubleshooting tips I could find, but nothing works. Any advice?
@maiera01 this is definitely a new one i’ve never seen. If you contact customer service, they’ll be able to assist you @thumperchick will you watch out for this one?
@mandirose Thanks, I figured was not easy fix since I get no response from it. I read that Olio released a Firmware that bricked a bunch of their devices before they quickly released a patch for it, I have a feeling I received one of them.
@maiera01 Write in and ask for me, if you already wrote in, reply to our last message and let us know that we tried to troubleshoot, but weren’t able to get it working. thanks!
@Thumperchick@mandirose I get the same screen as above. Watch has been on the charger for 4+ hours. Phone sees device when do a bluetooth scan but watch never goes beyond the above screen.
@HCETEHT HI THETECH, YOU HAVE A REAL LEET USER NAME.
IF YOU SPENT MUCH TIME READING THIS FORUM YOU WOULD PERHAPS SUSS OUT THE FACT THAT THE COMPANY IS GONE, THE SERVERS ARE GONE, AND UNLESS YOU CAN SET UP SOME SORT OF HOME SERVER TO FOOL THE WATCH AS SOME HAVE DONE IN THE PAST WITH THEIR LEET GAMES, YOU ARE SIL.
THAT STANDS FOR “SHIT OUT OF LUCK” SIR. I WISH I HAD BETTER NEWS, BUT THETECH CAN SUSS IT OUT, RIGHT?
When people bought this watch, the servers were still active to a certain extent. I mean, as @mandirose pointed out, certain features were unavailable, but the servers were still live.
From what I could tell though, at some point in the summer (probably nearer to the end), the servers were taken offline when the company was sold.
So unfortunately, the watch can’t be setup anymore.
Poor @mandirose, she’s gonna get bombarded by all these lost souls looking for tech support. She didn’t do nothing but try to do her best job as a mediocre employee and buyer…
Apparently, the internets are finding this HUGE thread chock full of AWESOME tech support and now people are going to ping her. Happy Holidays Mandi!
Mine just came in, black/metal band. Very nice looking watch. Fits me perfectly as is.
I was quickly and easily able to set up the pairing to my Galaxy S8. Plugged in watch right next to my phone. Phone started up and told me to open app on my phone, which I did. I clicked proceed on my watch…didn’t do anything so then I clicked proceed on my phone and the next screen came up to pair to my particular watch. It quickly went to the final screen to pick a few different options for the watch. Watch is now charging; they must come with very little charge because it started at 3%.
Edit: When you’ve successfully paired your watch, the screen on the phone App has a menu button on the top left. If you click that and then click “services” it will give you a bunch of options about the different notifications and services it does i.e., calling, texts, financial etc. If you click one, a new screen comes up and shows you the swiping options and what they do.
I think that may help people with the different gestures you can do on the watch.
I’m still interested in buying a 24k gold Olio from someone, if they’re unhappy and looking to sell. Thanks!!
@nickads glad to hear it’s going smoothly! Make sure to go to the about section of your app to see if the software is up to date. If it’s not, it should start downloading once it gets to 60% charged. Enjoy!
@adrostad If you can give me a few days, I’ll get back to you. I may sell this if I can get a 24k gold one. If I can’t, I’ll gladly send you the 2 links, no charge.
@adrostad I was specifically waiting for today, to see if my girl was going to get me the gold one for father’s day. I had a suspicion she would as I’ve been talking about it all week. Anyways, I will be selling my black olio if you’d like to buy it at cost plus shipping. Sorry I couldn’t give you the links for free!
@svasquezsr@juice999 Just in case anyone else shows up here, I am also unable to sign into the once-working app. I think it’s dead at this point unless some coder/hacker sets up a rogue login server.
Anyone have a few watches they’d like to donate to an intrepid hacker? “Here’s one up front. You got three more coming if you can get it working!”
…and the $450 to $650 price tag that many paid for this device may soon become a huge issue. Most luxury watches costing this much work for years, if not decades. This apparently won’t be the case with the Olio Model One… and that’s hugely disappointing.
I’d just like to point out—for the sake of comedy—that I can’t even set the time on the watch I’m currently wearing. Yes; it’s currently two hours off.
@joelmw
First off — my Martian is working great, also!
Second — maybe mine hasn’t worked since iOS updates, but I just wore mine today after having it sit around for some time. It paired to my phone just fine, but in order to actually ‘connect’ it I had to launch the app—which I was signed out of. Now I’m totally unable to sign in, which means I am totally unable to even connect to the watch.
@tydalforce Don’t sell yourself short think of it as #collector’s items as @El_Oel said they may someday be valuable- if not to someone else maybe just for you since you held onto it this long.
@jrm_cr_fl Hi, still looking for the Olio? I have the all steel version that I picked up last week. I paid the $60 + $5 for shipping. Add $5 to ship it to you for a total of $70. Let me know.
For years I could not (and still cannot) justify a smart watch. There was this guide that helped confused people like me determine if a smart watch was for them. It pretty much surmised that only if you were a gadget freak and needed the latest tech would a smart watch me worth it. Well, for $65, a nice classy watch with smart watch features didn’t seem like a big gamble. So, black steel on black, on its way next week. Sorry to those that wanted that model too. Of all the colors available, that looked the nicest to me. Already have gold and stainless analog watches. Even a rise gold one too. I do wear analog watches regularly, now I look forward to a black stainless smart watch on my wrist soon.
@colbysolomon The best available seems to be that quick-start guide in the right-hand compartment of the box. I’m going to wait another week and cool off before trying again on what initially appears to be just about the worst human interface implementation EVER (swipe from edge and swipe from center having completely different and incompatible meanings).
@curtw4 Think of it like 4 buttons on the main screen at the 12/3/6/9 o’clock positions. Only you have to touch and swipe instead of just touch to activate each. Each of those buttons takes you to different modes (settings/future stuff/music/past stuff). Exiting each mode is by doing the opposite button swipe (indicated in each mode with an arrow).
Scrolling between items in each mode is by touching the center and swiping in the direction to scroll. Some items have data that you can scroll up and down.
As mentioned the microphone is by resting you finger on the screen for a few seconds.
I got the black with dark brown leather strap. I wore it for one day to church. It is a beautiful watch for the price! I may only wear it on Sundays though as I don’t need the smart phone stuff. I may sell it or gift it to someone who can use all the features every day.
So I got my Olio watch from Meh today! I eagerly ran upstairs with the box and opened it to find… another box? Whereas the outer box had my name and address (obviously), the second inner box has the name of a woman that I don’t know, with the shipping address of a fulfillment warehouse in California that apparently ships stuff for tech. companies. Oooooo-K! Not sure what’s going on here but- HEY! My new watch is here!
I open this second box to find… yet another box! Box #3 is at least a matte black affair that says Olio on the top in glossy, embossed black text. I must be getting close, right? I open that box to find—you guessed it—box #4! Guess what’s in this one! Box fiv- nah, I’m shitting you! It was the watch. Five boxes would be just absurd!
Still, who is the woman listed on the 2nd box and do I have her watch? Is this going to turn into some wacky, albeit violent, Tarantino-esque adventure when she comes looking for the tool that inadvertently received her watch? And at a substantial discount? What have you gotten me into here, Meh? Has anyone else experienced this dark turn of events?
@stunbunny Never fear! When the company went under, all their distributers had to send the boxes back to the main warehouse. These boxes, while they may have had that label on them, contain new watches
I got the black face / black metal band. So far so good. For those of you having issues I’d be interested in picking up another one. Either the silver or gold variety.
My watch is working as well as it should and after a few days I realize that I don’t really need a smartwatch. If anyone wants to give me what i paid for it, it’s yours.
I have a black/black metal Olio watch paired with an iPhone 6s. I’ve been using mine for a few days now. It took a while to get the software updated, but it finally updated. I’ve been getting ~15hrs use out of the watch, and still have 15-20% left when I put it on the charger at night. I’ve been able to control music (play/pause/volume/tracks), read notifications, and operate the alarm/stopwatch/timer. I did notice the weather was working yesterday, but not today. I’m still trying to get used to the gesture sensitivity and which setting may be right for me. Very nice build quality and feel! I was able to easily remove one link, and it fits like a charm. For $60, I’m very happy with my purchase. I may still try a Huawei watch or an Apple Watch at a later point, but for right now this one is great.
Happy customer here. Galaxy S6 and Stainless steel Olio model. The software update fixed my major battery issue and others. Getting really good battery life now after fiddling with brightness (auto or low), do not disturb sometimes and gesture sensitivity (low) settings. Music, all notifications (calendar, email, SMS and other app notifications on my phone) and getting some weather summaries in the “Later” section although the watch face weather summary does not work. Not sure where the weather is coming from. Still looking for an additional charger. Looks really good, $60 was a bargain.
For those of you who can’t get this watch to work all I can say is you either are clueless or you are using it with an iPhone which is a really crappy idea. I have a Pixel Android and it works perfectly. Everything works in fact! Weather, phone, music messages – from TWO email accounts, text, etc.etc. The only thing I don’t seem to be able to change the face of the clock to something other than the one analog or one digital.
The iPhone really sucks for non-Apple watches. I’ve tried a Pebble in the past and same thing. Got it to work with Android but it was glitchy with the iPhone.
One problem DID arise early on – the day after I set it up it downloaded and updated the firmware and stopped working. I thought I had a piece of junk on my hands because I couldn’t even get a clock face on the screen. I had to uninstall the app and then re-install it and was able to connect perfectly to the watch.
Let’s hope Fitbit keeps the app up. I don’t care if it’s ever updated or not as it’s working fine now.
@arfdawg interesting to hear. I have had issues with the olio with my iphone - it periodically loses one of the two required bluetooth pairings, which means that the phone ringer alert dies. FWIW martian notifier works well.
@yeppers What have you been trying? Do you have access to a firmware image (something like olio-firmware.zip based on the Android apk)? I’ve been trying to do the same, and without that, I’m out of ideas except for cracking the case on mine (which I really want to put off for as long as possible).
@CaptainBilly I was looking at just cutting the activation out of the app, but due to a lack of round tuits, I haven’t made as much progress as I would like.
@sandrokv@yeppers I think the employees of the company signed a do-not disclose on the details of the watch (especially the technical details that could be used to program it and make it work). I’ve sent a message to every former Olio Devices employee I could find, including their lawyers. The only response I got was back in May, I sent AJ a message on Linkedin. I got a reply nine days later saying that the watches themselves run Android and I would have to rewrite the app to make them work. I replied the same day, asking him for the source code so I could do that, and to this day (three months later) have not got a reply to that.
I’ve kind of put reprogramming these watches on hold. As I haven’t found any debug ports (I was hoping for UART or JTAG) on the Olio motherboard or a copy of the olio-firmware.zip file, the process for determing the Bluetooth protocol (to use with a third-party app) is as follows:
Desolder the Crucial-brand flash chip from the Olio motherboard.
Dump it.
Find in the filesystem what executables are responsible for handling Bluetooth commands.
Reverse engineer them to find the Bluetooth protocol.
Using this knowledge, create your own app.
If you’re good with Java, you could also use a Java decompiler with the Android Olio Assist app and reverse engineer that to figure out the Bluetooth protocol. There might also be Swift decompilers that could be used with the iOS app.
Even if you do make your own app to configure the watch, without a copy of the firmware file (olio-firmware.zip) you will not be able to flash your own operating system (Android Wear, for example) onto it. I have seen a reference to a firmware update Bluetooth command in my attempts to reverse engineer the Android app; I assume that this just sends an arbitrary file to the watch, but without olio-firmware.zip to use as a template for creating your own firmware update file you will not be able to use that Bluetooth command. Thus, the only way to flash your own operating system onto one of these watches over Bluetooth is to dump the flash of a watch (whether it be the one you actually want to program or a spare) and reverse engineer the executable that handles firmware updates to figure out what it is expecting.
If anyone wants to help but only knows how to reverse engineer iOS apps (Swift) and not Java Android apps, I have a friend that installed the Olio Assist app on their iPhone before it was removed from the app store; I could probably rip the IPA file from their device if so.
I’m not done trying (I have 25 Olio watches and I’d rather not just forget about them), I’m just taking a break for a while. I started this comment to reply to someone else’s and later turned it into an opportunity to document my progress in case anyone else wants to resume where I left off.
EDIT: Just saw the olio-firmware.zip that @Sompom posted. That’s fantastic, I’m reversing it this very second.
@CaptainBilly I’m excited to hear what you find out! Fixing the app to, at a minimum, allow login might be easy. Without even decompiling it, you can unzip the .apk and see that it is using an open-source HTTP/REST library… I did not get as far as trying this, but it should be possible to take that library, rewrite every call to reply with “sure thing, whatever boss, you’re logged in I guess” (without any actual network traffic being sent), then drop in the “fixed” version of the library
@Sompom Yep, I got it! Thanks a lot, that file will really help. Sorry I didn’t see it earlier.
For someone that knows Swift or Java (if they want to use an iPhone or Android phone, respectively), it would probably be rather easy to do what you said. I know neither (I use C and Python whenever I can), so I’m instead going to focus on porting Android Wear or Google’s Wear OS. Those two OS’s as well as Olio’s own OS all use a Linux kernel, so doing so should be rather easy. From there, you can use the apps written for Android Wear or Wear OS, whatever you choose. (Android Wear probably only has official support for Android, whereas I know for sure that Wear OS officially supports both iOS and Android.)
Android Wear probably only has official support for Android, whereas I know for sure that Wear OS officially supports both iOS and Android.
Android Wear supports both. Google pretty much hinted that they rebranded to Wear OS because not many people knew that Android Wear would work with iOS, due to it sounding like it only worked with Android.
The rebrand was supposed to change that false idea.
Of course, just because it’s compatible with iOS, doesn’t mean that all features are supported, or work the same way.
So, as I’ve determined from the firmware update file that @Sompom found, when the watch asks the app for a firmware update, it is expecting a zip file that it will extract to /data/media/0/olio/firmware_updates_apply on its flash, then /data/media/0/olio/firmware_updates_apply/update.sh (so update.sh in the root of the zip) is executed as root (you’ll know what this means if you’ve ever used Linux, the operating system that runs on the Olio). This script then takes care of copying the other files in the firmware update to their appropriate places in the filesystem on the watch’s flash. Like I said earlier, this script runs as root, so it isn’t limited to installing official Olio firmware updates but rather HAS COMPLETE CONTROL OVER THE WATCH. (This is incredibly promising in respect to installing Android Wear/Google Wear OS on an Olio.)
Now I just need to find a way to simulate an Olio Assist app trying to update a paired watch from my computer. If you have any experience with Android or Bluetooth development at all and would like to help with this last step, please leave a comment.
Specifically, what I need for that last step:
I’m looking for a way to send an arbitrary file from a RFCOMM shell on my Linux computer (it is unrelated that both my computer and the Olio Watch run Linux, Linux is just my personal preference as well as a good choice for embedded devices like a smart watch) in a way that the paired Olio Watch (which, when paired with my computer, appears as a phone which makes sense considering that it is running Android) will think it is receiving a routine firmware update file. Here’s a link to the decompiled Java source code of the Android Olio Assist app, which includes the code for downloading an update file from oliodevices.com and sending that to a paired Olio. Also, I think that update script I mentioned, ‘runme_android_template.sh’, might not be Olio-specific but rather something common among all Android devices, so if anyone knows anything about that let me know.
@CaptainBilly So I’ve been banging on the official app - just decompiling it doesn’t make it actually buildable, but I have a version that builds now. I don’t think it actually works, but that’s another story.
Anyway, AsteroidOS seems like a good next step if Android Wear or whatever doesn’t work.
@CaptainBilly@yeppers honestly, I’m surprised that nobody has managed an asteroidOS port yet. I appreciate any efforts, though. I don’t have the knowhow to contribute but I’m down to dig my watch out of the garage to be a Guinea pig.
@CaptainBilly@Oneroundrobb@yeppers. It’s great seeing someone still giving this a go! I’d agree that with the Olio’s age, asteroidos is probably much more realistic at this point. I took my Olio apart some time ago, just to take a look. I’m almost ready to try and find it again. Keep fighting the good fight. It was a shame to see this great looking watch turn into a paperweight.
@Pacers I’m a computer guru that likes to look nice. I was super excited when I heard the concept of a smart watch, but I was disappointed when a few years had passed after the release of the Apple Watch (the first mainstream smart watch) and there were still no good looking smart watches on the market (I want to walk around wearing a watch, not a small iPhone strapped to my wrist). Then I found this watch a few months ago, bought 25 of them (not joking, it was an eBay auction), and I was instantly committed to doing whatever it took to make it work again.
Anyway, enough of that. As to the Olio’s technical specs and their capabilities (which are currently unknown as Olio Devices never said anything at all about the device’s technical details), I’ll post those when I finish my Bluetooth firmware update server, the last component I need to get code execution. The watches actually already runs Android (don’t know the exact version, yet, but it is one of the older builds that used Dalvik). It uses the standard Android boot animation service to display the Olio logo at bootup, and the UI is an Android APK application running on Dalvik. I had actually been planning on porting Asteroid OS to my watches (well, the Asteroid GUI on top of my Linux distro of choice Debian), I’ve been saying Android Wear because that’s what I thought more people would have heard of. (The processes for porting them are mostly the same; if you can port one you can port the other. I’ll probably release files for both).
When you took your watch apart, did you happen to get a look at the components under the metal antenna shield on the back? (You might not even know what I’m talking about, that is on the back of the motherboard, which is kind of tricky to get out.) If so, could you post the letters on the chips? (A picture would be best if you have a camera that can read the tiny letters.) As part of my mission to understand the manufacturing agreements of Olio Devices (which, like the technical aspects of their watch, is completely undocumented), I would like to get an idea of how much variation occurred between batches. (I’m trying to figure out everything about Olio, business practices and all.)
Olio Devices could have at the very least kept their server up or released an update to the app so that it didn’t require authentication. It’s wrong to just let them turn into paper weights like that. Olio Devices was sold to Flextronics, and I think that in the process all of the former employees had to sign a no disclosure agreement about everything. (Seriously, everything.) I’ve contacted every employee whose information I could find. The only response I got was from AJ Cooper, who said I would have to rewrite the app to make it not ask for authentication. Only a few hours later I replied asking for the source code so I could do that and to this day have not gotten a reply. I even contacted the CEO of Flex on Linkedin and never heard from him, either. No, the former employees don’t have a magic way to make the watches work again (I’m actually probably closer to being able to do so that Steven Jacobs or AJ Cooper), and they probably aren’t going to make one without pay (even if they didn’t sign a NDA), but at the very least they could provide hardware hackers like me with the source code required to make the Asteroid/Wear porting process significantly shorter. Those times are in the past though, now that I have that olio-firmware.zip file I need I should have instructions on porting an OS in the next few weeks.
@Oneroundrobb The hard part is getting code execution on the watch’s Linux system, with it having absolutely no documentation. Now I know the trick: if it receives a zip file that it thinks is a firmware update, it will execute a file called ‘update.sh’ from the zip file as root (Linux term for user with every privilege ever). Now, I just need to read through the decompiled source code from the app and figure out how to send a firmware update file over Bluetooth. Once I do that, porting Asteroid will be a breeze for me.
@yeppers While I am going to release a file for both Android Wear and Asteroid OS, I had actually been planning to port Asteroid OS to my own watches all along (I had just been saying Android Wear since I thought more people here have probably heard of it).
So you’ve modified the decompiled sources so that the app builds but it doesn’t work with the Olio? Did you cut the server authentication?
Even if your app doesn’t work with the watch, could you give me the changes you’ve made? If you have a web server, I can download them off those, or you can email them to elderjake@tuxism.faith.
@CaptainBilly I’ll see if I can find it when I get home tonight. (That’s code for “check to see if my wife threw it away” >.>) If I have it I’ll post some pictures.
@CaptainBilly I don’t have anything handy that’s small enough to snip off the shield. It’s soldered onto the board in 6 places. Prying will definitely break the board before the shield releases. Here are a few pictures of what i’ve got.
@Pacers Did you notice the pin that outputs 30 volts?
Not joking; there is a pin on the motherboard that somehow outputs (when the watch is on) 30 volts. It fried the USB/serial converter I was using to try to find factory debug ports (fortunately not my whole computer). I have no idea where that voltage comes from.
@CaptainBilly Ha! No I sure didn’t. Once I saw it wasn’t going to be as easy as a stripped USB wire connection (like my wear24) I said “screw it” and put it in a box. But if you get this thing working, I’ll probably have to source another one
@michaelahess How else are people going to monetize their transformational disruptive innovations? Mandatory structural external dependencies for everday functions are really the only way to do that.
You’re talking about destroying the basis of our whole rent/license-everything economy with your nutty and quaint concepts of backwards 20th century “ownership”. And hampering the gubment’s right to surveillance of the lib’ruls and turrists. Murica!!!
@mandirose Could you clarify one question - how much does this watch do without the app? I’m thinking forward a few months - the server has been taken down, and the app has been pulled from itunes and google play.
If you take one of these watches from its box, charge it, and put it one your wrist, what functionality does it have?
@mandirose Thank you. So, my understanding is that if the servers are not maintained, then this device will no longer function, even as ‘just’ an awesome looking watch.
So, in the case that the servers are not supported past two years, then we will get two years of a nice looking watch, and then it will be one more thing to stick in my museum of great tech that no longer works.
@bdb As long as you download the app before it was theoretically pulled from the app store, it should at the very least work as a watch in that instance
@mandirose So what can it actually do other than tell time? Does the weather work? Push notifications for emails/texts/phone calls? Can I make my fancy little golf app work with it?
@Satchmo it’s best at notifications for texts, emails and phone calls. It also has been able to show me notifications for pretty much anything that my iphone notifications show. Social media, slack, weather alerts, even has worked for uber alerts, like that my driver was arriving. And telling time of course.
@mandirose And I’m assuming Meh’s fantastic warranty is going to stand behind this purchase if I can’t bang it against the table hard enough for it to work right?
$50 that can be spent on worthwhile item or charity. Otherwise it $50 bucks into the #Crap Museum. There is a reason Olio failed … watch never worked!!
As a watch collector, that’s a beautiful watch. I’m so sorry I missed it. That was the best thing meh ever sold. So what if the os will be out of date in a year or two. It’s a beautiful watch. It was cheap enough.
@Flick Try putting the watch face near a bright light. You can use a flashlight or your phone flash. On some watches the brightness function was calibrated incorrectly. Shining a bright light on it should make the face readable so you can correct.
@Forgetmestick56 tried that, not working either. I’ve had it charging for about 2 hours now and can’t get the screen to light back up now. Like I said the bottom seems to be warm from charging. My olio assist app says it isn’t connected anymore either
@hatryk Can’t imagine how frustrating that must be! Double check to make sure the plastic protector is off the charging puck and the back of the phone (I missed the one on the back of the phone!!!). Open the Olio app and go to my watch and click on “unpair” and go to phone and delete/select “forget device” and try to repair from Olio app. Go through pairing steps again and try the light trick again - hopefully something will appear on the face. If nothing, I am straight-up out of ideas, my friend. Good luck!
@Forgetmestick56 I originally didn’t see the plastic on back of the watch but I took it off and I still have no screen appearing when I put it on the puck. Super pissed off
@hatryk I have the black stanless steel model. It arrived with 3% battery life. It had enough of a charge to pair with my phone but it died soon after and will not charge. I removed the protective plastic film and tried to charge it yesterday and today with no luck. I have contacted the customer service team. I expect to receive a response on Monday.
@hatryk I was able to get the watch to work after placing it in bright sunlight for a few minutes. Apparently this reset the brightness setting??
Check out the post from (@mandirose) with this info
@hatryk Mine is not charging at all. I have tried various combos of charging. I tried the sun thing too. I did contact customer service. I purchased the gold/brown leather band
@evenrute if it’s a brightness issue the watch should be working. I don’t even get any tactic feedback if I push the screen. Wasn’t home today to check the sunlight fix but I’m not hopeful. Also no email from customer service yet. Going on 2 days.
@mandirose I am also having the same problem. I bought the black on black version, and I am getting no charge at all. I left it on the charger for four hours it was warm to the touch, I tried the flashlight/sun trick and nothing. I downloaded the app, and the app does not find the watch at all to sync. So what do I do now?
Very small band on the stainless band model. My wrists are not massive, but I need the extra links.
Kinda regretting the purchase. Looks nice, at least.
@drewesque I just added the two links to mine and I had to bang on it a little harder than I was comfortable with… Just align the extra pin from the pack with a pin in the band and knock it out, then pull it out the other side with needle nose. Don’t forget the sleeve in the receiving link. I also would like one more link, mines just a bit snug…
Anyone get “Rules” working? I’m using Android, I have set up Rules, but there appears to be no way to set up the “At Work” / “At Home” / “In a Meeting” etc times… So the rules never seem to be enabled. I have home and work addresses setup, and I have location permissions allowed. When I press “Show Live Rules Only” none of them are ever “Live”. Also, I get about 12 hours of battery, and weather is meh.
@pml0904 The weather works when it wants to… usually not. I’ve tried adding and removing time zones, restarting… no clue. Sometimes it has data, sometimes not. As far as “Rules”, I’ve even set my “sleeping” times to 24 hours a day, and that still doesn’t do anything when I create a rule that applies while sleeping
@mlcga I know this doesn’t help as far as rules, but you can always swipe down and go to the do not disturb button and that will turn off notifications manually until you turn it back
Has anyone figured out how to get the watch to summon Google Assistant/Siri? Twice I have accidentally gotten to the “I’m listening” screen but I don’t know how I got there.
@ws1967@a I’ve been unable to get Siri to work; long press is doing nothing for me. And did I read somewhere that there’s a mic built in? I could be hallucinating; I do that sometimes.
I’d be willing to deal with meh battery life with a second charger at work. Has anyone tested a 3rd party / Apple / other watch chargers to see if it works? Don’t see any Olio branded chargers for sale on Ebay or elsewhere
Soooo many issues and questions with this watch here. Glad I didn’t buy one, it sounds like a pain in the ass. (My Apple watch seems to be well worth the extra cost.)
Hey Guys, just wanted to repost towards the bottom some feedback from one of our lovely members who needed a bigger band. His comments towards the top so in case you missed it…
"I just changed out the band on mine with a tiny screwdriver. Used the pins from the original band (black steel) and replaced it with this band from Amazon “Beauty7 Black 24mm Brushed Finish Butterfly Clasp”. I really liked the original band, but it was about one link too small and I couldn’t find any way to get one more link. This one isn’t exactly the same color, but it looks nice and matches the style pretty close… but more importantly, it’s about one link size bigger.
My weather seems to be working at night. I have no idea why it only works at night. Software is 1.10.220. Battery is still only lasting like 10-12 hours but everything seems to be great. Just wish battery lasted. Software says it has the latest version.
Now that I’m fairly certain that I’m going to keep the watch and not give it away… I’ve got two full sized Black Anodized links up for grabs. Just reply to this comment… first come first served.
What can I say, I’ve got baby sized wrists (I’m keeping one full size and one smaller sized link just in case my wrist swells up.)
I don’t know what’s the best way to get in touch to get your address without posting my email address to the world or your personal information.
I will send one or both of them out US Postal gratis.
Maybe @mandirose can help out? Maybe operate the great Meh! Olio extra link / band exchange in addition to being the unofficial Meh! Tech Support for Olio?
@Whitcomb Yes. And BTW, switching the screen brightness to “auto” helps save on the battery. Mine lasts about as long as my cell phone – maybe a little less before I need to charge.
@arfdawg Thanks, I’ve done that and also found the weather API working (occasionally) via Accuweather and changing the settings in Accuweather to “small circle”
BBF’s List of Things to Do/Obtain to Maximize Olio Model One Runtime Without Turning Off Bluetooth.
Get a low current USB AC adapter, preferably 500mA, but definitely less than 1000mA/1A to plug the Olio inductive charger into.
When you get up in the morning, don’t immediately take the watch off the charger and wear it. Take it off the charger and then put it on the charger again for at least a few minutes to top off the charge.
For the last week or so, I’ve been getting 15hr or greater run times from my Olio Model 1 with bluetooth on, and at least a dozen or so notifications a day.
Long explanations follow:
Get a low current USB AC adapter preferable 500mA or less - this will prevent you from heating up the watch and cook the battery, but will take 3 hours or more to charge the watch. This is counterintuitive to EVERYTHING I’ve been doing for the last few years. I’ve been purchasing, at a minimum 2A chargers because my USB phones/tablets just won’t charge quickly enough without HIGH current chargers. Since the Olio Model One’s charge circuitry/software if so effed up, it will cook the battery if hooked up to a high current USB power supply. I had to look through all my old cell phone accessories to find a super old piece of crap samsung microUSB charger that supplied 700mA that I didn’t even use before tossing it into my “extra” electronics bin. Probably connecting it to your computers USB ports will also provide a nice low current charge as well. My watch only gets slightly warm when charging with the lower current USB power adapter.
When you get up in the morning, don’t take the watch off the charge base and wear it immediately. Take it off the charge base and then put it back on the charger, then wash your face, get dressed, eat breakfast, or whatever before taking it off the charger again to top off the charge. This is because like all the inductive Qi charging devices I have, once the Olio has reached full charge, it WILL NOT start charging again until the device is removed from the inductive charging puck… I’ve had my smartphone drain down to 0% after 1.5 days because of this “feature” when on a Qi charging pad… this doesn’t happen when I have it plugged into a wired charging system.
Now that my experiment with full day operation of the watch is over, I intend to carry the disc charger with me to work and charge it in the middle of the day to further reduce wear and tear on the battery. The less deep you discharge batteries, the longer they last.
Or if you’re a compulsive shopper with hoarding tendencies, you’ll have bought more than one Olio from Meh!, so you’ll have at least two charge pucks so you can keep one at work and one at home.
You can further increase run time by turning off bluetooth when you don’t need it, like at night when it’s charging… but I don’t like to do that because I forget to turn it back on.
I just finally got mine working. My first one died after the firmware update. Meh was kind enough to help me out. I then had to change the band, because it wasn’t long enough. (If you need to do the same, look for a 24 mm extra long band.)
I’ve turned off most of the extraneous services. I don’t want my wrist buzzing every 30 seconds. It’s a lovely watch, and I can control my music and podcast speaker volume. I wish there were more face designs; I’ll always be amazed that my $10 Anker doorbell than this supposedly-$600 watch.
This purchase is why I love Meh. For $50 and a little patience, this was completely worth it.
Battery going out while still showing charge may be connection issue. Mine went out and I took it to Batteries Plus and once they removed the back and touched the battery it came back to life. I’ve had to do it 3 times so I ordered my own t-3 torx screwdriver. Good luck
I just pinged the CEO via [LinkedIn][1]. Perhaps a few more personal notes his way may yield a solution.
I searched my email (“olio”) for a sayonara message and nothing came up. No medium post that I can find either…
I didn’t notice myself they were no longer in business until I just bought a new phone, as the watch had been working as expected up until 3 days ago (11/2/17).
Please toss my name in the bucket for any resolutions anyone comes across. I too would be willing to pony up some money to get a server back up and running so we can login and use the watch again. I personally love(d) the watch. It did everything I wanted it to do - tell time, keep my phone in my pocket, and receive “nice watch” compliments.
[1]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenkjacobs/
I did some digging today… about Olio … as of March 2017 … Olio was sold off to Flextronics International … Whereas three principles Steve Jacobs CEO - Evan Wilson Director of Engineer - John Paul Primeau Business Development … were still at the company… Steve and Even were part of a group of three that founded the company… the third person AJ Cooper was the Head of Hardware Architecture and went to work at Flextronics in Jan of 2017 … I wonder if AJ is up to re-inventing the Olio brand thru Flextronics… but if everyone would send AJ requests… I bet he would be the one that would listen … the other three key players show no new employment… probably because they made a little on the buy-out as well as walked away with however much from the 10million seed they received in 2015…
@tc95 Steve Jacobs is a Product Manager at Google, via LinkedIn… AJ is on LinkedIn as well, I just don’t have their premium service to contact him. Thanks for the diggin and infos!
@tc95 I just emailed Steve Jacobs. I HOPE he responds. Also sent invites to connect with AJ and Evan.
I’ll send both messages; so should EVERYBODY ELSE who can’t turn on their phones.
I sincerely hope that if they get inundated with our inmails, at least they’ll refer us to somebody who’s was in charge of the server before and they’ll turn on their server even just for 1 hour for us to connect.
@tc95 UPDATE - I sent a message to Steven Jacobs… never got a response… sent a message to AJ Cooper… got a I apologize but there is nothing that can be done … message back… Let me know what you find out…
I sent AJ Cooper a LinkedIn Invite with a note. Here’s his response.
“I’m sorry and disappointed to hear that has happened. As long as you haven’t unpaired your watch, it will continue working. If you unpair the watch, then it has no way to know if it is owned by the registered user and locks itself out. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to change that.”
Hey I just got an Olio but the app doesn’t accept my email! So the watch is stuck on the reset screen until I can create an account. I keep trying different emails and the app says, host server not found?! Has anyone had this problem? Does anyone know how to help me out
@f00l@HanyTawfik Yeah, it seems that way. That said, there are slim chances that the software can be resurrected by some fancy-pants investor with time and/or money to burn.
So, as I’ve determined from the firmware update file that @Sompom found, when the watch asks the app for a firmware update, it is expecting a zip file that it will extract to /data/media/0/olio/firmware_updates_apply on its flash, then /data/media/0/olio/firmware_updates_apply/update.sh (so update.sh in the root of the zip) is executed as root (you’ll know what this means if you’ve ever used Linux, the operating system that runs on the Olio). This script then takes care of copying the other files in the firmware update to their appropriate places in the filesystem on the watch’s flash. Like I said earlier, this script runs as root, so it isn’t limited to installing official Olio firmware updates but rather HAS COMPLETE CONTROL OVER THE WATCH. (This is incredibly promising in respect to installing Android Wear/Google Wear OS on an Olio.)
Now I just need to find a way to simulate an Olio Assist app trying to update a paired watch from my computer. If you have any experience with Android or Bluetooth development at all and would like to help with this last step, please leave a comment.
Specifically, what I need for that last step:
I’m looking for a way to send an arbitrary file from a RFCOMM shell on my Linux computer (it is unrelated that both my computer and the Olio Watch run Linux, Linux is just my personal preference as well as a good choice for embedded devices like a smart watch) in a way that the paired Olio Watch (which, when paired with my computer, appears as a phone which makes sense considering that it is running Android) will think it is receiving a routine firmware update file. Here’s a link to the decompiled Java source code of the Android Olio Assist app, which includes the code for downloading an update file from oliodevices.com and sending that to a paired Olio. Also, I think that update script I mentioned, ‘runme_android_template.sh’, might not be Olio-specific but rather something common among all Android devices, so if anyone knows anything about that let me know.
smells fishy - if it came with certificate, even knowing it means nothing from a company belly up, I’d be up for a bid. Shame, watches are a good market with fickle buyers (and I would like to be a buyer).
I get a lot of nice compliments on the House of Marley watch I got here a while ago. Those wood accents are something people apparently don’t see every day.
I could probably find use for a gold watch since I have gold accoutrements I wear with my suit to weddings and what not. Maybe if these are still selling in the morning…
Did you get an auto? I got the fluid auto. Gains about two minutes over two weeks of daily wear. Only one comment, though. Doesnt matter, i still love it.
Wouldn’t it just be easier to buy an Android Wear watch at this price range?
While you wouldn’t be able to get a Gen 2 watch (to take advantage of NFC, WiFi, Wear 2.0, etc…), you could still get the LG G Watch, Moto 360 (1st Gen), possibly the G Watch R, etc…
@PlacidPenguin No doubt it would be, but I would be more interested in these watches if I could guarantee that they’ll have functioning software a year from now.
@PlacidPenguin@communist I actually have a Moto 360, which is perfectly functional but pretty casual. I’d be interested in a “dressier” Android watch at this price point. I’ve been looking around for some kind of Wear equivalent of LineageOS that I could slap on these devices, but I haven’t come up with anything. It could also potentially be a fun project device, but it doesn’t look like these are very open to tinkering. Oh well.
Kinda ironic that that’s cheaper than what I saw I could sell my LG G Watch for. (It just sits there unused. Although just for fun, I put it next to my Huawei Watch on my wrist.)
@kruzen you should be able to wear it on your wrist and simultaneously carry a windows phone on your person without causing a disruption in time and space. Beyond that, I don’t believe there is any.
I only have 2 watches with different brands. Since I am not really into fashion, what’s important for me is just to know what time is it already regardless of its specs. Also, if its really durable then its worth the price.
@mandirose It’s fantastic at telling time for the roughly 8 hours it’s on before the battery dies. And when the face doesn’t mysteriously turn off for 24 hours at a time without any possible way to wake it up
@dwileyjr344 if you just want to use it as just a watch, I suggest turning off bluetooth entirely. This greatly increases the battery life, especially if you have the setting on auto or low. Should get you through the day on these settings
@mandirose I am likely going to do that if the watch ever turns on again. It has been updating for the last 19 hours. The app on the phone still says 80% which is where it was when I went to bed last night. The watch did not turn on when I woke up this morning and remains in its sad state. I have left it under a bright light for 20 minutes and tried shining my phone’s flashlight on the watch’s light sensor for about 5 minutes with no luck. I think it may have just given up on its desire to live.
@mandirose@dwileyjr344 I’ve got through my day with about 14% remaining. You have to make sure BT is connected and not “searching.” I think the searching really drains the battery. Also keep the light on auto/low and of course make sure you’ve updated the software.
@sourhead Not really? If I’m trying to focus, I turn it to quiet mode. Other than that, I’ve silenced most of the annoying ones down so it’s usually something important. (Someone spending money on my credit card, a text message from a co worker or my wife, or a notification in Slack.) The main two things I use it for is controlling my music on the phone, and as a “keep unlocked” token for my phone. (while it’s connected, my phone doesn’t automatically lock, but if I walk away from my phone and leave it somewhere, it locks automatically.)
@mandirose But…but… that’s today’s meh page and your watch says it’s 11:46 on 6/4/17. It’s only 10:32 EST as I post this! So, this also has a flux capacitor?
@sourhead I’ve got a Martian Notifier from meh (more than one, actually), and I have different vibration patterns for different notifications, so they are pretty easy to ignore after a half second. or check.
I’d have to say I’m intristically, fundamentally, essentially, primarily, inherently and mostly unimpressed with the product. Additionally, you’re pie chart looks a little confusing however it does look like a good word search puzzle. But I do like your wordage, expression, elocution, articulation - or should I say - delivery of your write up on attempting to sell the product.
@WTFsunshine Maybe this is, instead of watches is pie chart of chocolate pie, blackberry pie, cherry pie, peach pie, french silk pie, apple pie…If so then in that case: /buy/blackberry pie, buy/peach pie, buy/cherry pie, buy/french silk pie…
@BeerIsSoAwesome Sorry - was suppose to be intrinsically. Neither spellcheck nor I caught it. @Satchmo Never called Meh a pie chart I was saying their pie chart was confusing to look at. @Kidsandliz I’m with you if it’s that kind of chart…I’ll take apple, pumpkin, chocolate and French silk! @mike808 if you’re referring to angel hair spaghetti pie not my thing. Same goes if you’re referring to the other type of hair pie.
@Kidsandliz First way is when you use angel hair pasta to make what looks like a lattice crust topping. Trying to find a politically correct way to explain the second version but best I can come up with is that it involves a mans (or womans) mouth and a woman’s lower region. Trying to keep it PG.
Thank! Seems like a pretty good deal for a guy that needs a “Dress” watch and is broke. Keep me posted on other deals please at [mod: removed email; post again if you insist, but seems ill-advised]
I’ve got a black/metal band, paid for, that I’d trade for a gold/any band + $$. Or just buy a gold one straight $$. Wish I had heard of meh before last night, would have gladly paid the $5 to be a VMP!! Cool site and glad to have stumbled on it.
@CFL_Kent I’d get you a watch if you wanted one, but we can’t meet up, so that’s out, (someone earlier posted their email and it was deleted.) I have a little ios, and android, but am mostly windows os. My phone is webOS, which was an HP os that could have easily been third place in operating systems if it wasn’t for a bad CEO HP had,(their transducing charging docks were pretty much standard-throw your phone or tablet on a pad, and it charges, no little cables to hook up). Anyway I’m used to breakthrough or obsolete hardwear. Ex Amiga programmer, ex pirate ectera.
(wew. so much typing. I won’t be back for a month.)
@CFL_Kent there’s still one model left. I have the steel one. Later this morning decided I wanted to get a black one with the bracelet, but was too late. Had to settle for a black one with the strap (which I’ll have to replace). Hope it tells time better than my older one…
I got a gold Pebble Time Steel from Woot last month for $65.
I didn’t want the red band it came with, so I swapped it (and the gold band hardware) for a white silicone one from Amazon that looks nice - with a textured white band, you don’t even notice it’s not leather unless you look closely.
And it does not rely on cloud services, only on the Pebble app, which has itself been updated to be cloud-independent. Some watch apps may need cloud services, but that’s up to the specific app.
I almost missed this completely, but got one of the last ones with the suede leather strap. I’ll probably have to spend $20 to get a proper strap, but my curiosity got the best of me.
I sure wish that Meh was using UPS or USPS for shipments. I live 15 minutes from the Meh warehouse, but thanks to the cluster F that is FedEx they always take a full week to make my deliveries. If Meh ever had an option to just swing by and pickup in person for the locals I would prefer that over waiting a week for every order to arrive.
@nickads It seems to be a local issue. FedEx in the DFW area in Texas has outsourced all of its delivery routes to 3rd party contractors. Ever since they made the change we have noticed that they only deliver to residential addresses once per week.
I dont have this issue when packages are shipped FedEx to my office right down the road from my house. If this had been shipped to my business address it would have arrived today.
Looks like I got angry too soon due to FedEx fatigue with other shipments lately. The tracking was updated today the package was forwarded from FedEx to USPS and they are showing that it will arrive tomorrow in my regular mail delivery. That I have no complaints about whatsoever…Much better than waiting on the FedEx driver in our area.
@Ebrake
Let’s hope mine gets updated as well, but generally, FedEx Smartpost has been okay to painfully slow with my previous meh shipments… the last 3 shipments have been 3, 4, and 5 business days from Carrollton, TX to San Diego, CA.
Currently my Fedex status still shows 6 business days for delivery for this one.
![Olio where art thou, oh Olio][1]
[1]:
Anyone able to spare/sell extra links from their Black/Metal band? I added the two extras included, but I’m 2-3 short of mine fitting my wrist. Apparently Olio never sold extras. What you got in the box was it…
Anyone know how to get weather to work? It shows, but with a ? instead of the actual weather. It originally worked, but then I had to re-pair it and it stopped showing the actual weather. Thanks
@RiotDemon but it did work when I initially paired it. I unpaired it and when I paired it again I see the weather in the clock quadrant, but they aren’t showing the actual weather. Guess I need to try again. Thx
@barrysegal weather was one of the features we had said doesn’t work BUT we’ve heard a few people have gotten it to come up. If anyone has any advise or figures out and tricks please post them in the comments!
@mandirose I don’t know how but it starts to show up whenever it feels like it on the quadrants face. However it does show hour by hour weather? I have no clue how it works.
wondering since it worked on the old version of software until it automatically updated and then stopped working if maybe there is an issue with the new version of software?
I guess that patience is a virtue since the weather just started working again. If it shows up but without the actual weather, be patient and hopefully it will start to work.
@barrysegal After seeing your post, I tried again. I do not know if all of these are required, but with this configuration, I now have the Weather complication working:
@curtw4 I had all four panels of weather working for my main location, but just noticed that now I have one little weather icon and temperature showing in each of two different time zones. That’s all I know for now. It seems like it might be something as simple as it starts by gathering information for the current time. The zones on mine are somewhat disparate, and the little quarter that’s active (not just a question mark) seems to coincide with whatever is the current time in the zone.
Also, I was getting weather without the Apple app even installed. (I know this because when I searched for weather, one of the returns was current local conditions; when I selected it, I was told that the app wasn’t installed.)
Anyone who receives the Rose Gold Band and wants to sell their links, I am a buyer - should have bought 2 watches then I would have all the links I could wish for…
I’m trying to figure out how to get TWO watches to sync. My old one connects fine, but there doesn’t seem to be anything in the app that lets me connect the new one to my phone (yes, I’ve got the bluetooth connection going)
I’ve had a full day to play with this and I have to say, for what it is and what it cost its a snazzy watch. Looks good and everyone I’ve shown has been rather impressed by the look.
However battery life is absolutely awful. I have everything on auto right now and turned off all notifications as those were driving me mad. So today on a fresh charge the battery was down to 10% after 8 hours of just normal ‘look at watch for the time’ use. That’s pretty bad. Hoping it somehow gets better…
Other than that it’s quite nice. Charges quickish, design is nice. Just hope battery isn’t always going to suck.
@Shampoohorn === Check “About” section in the app on your phone. If it does not say “You have the latest software version” you need to get the watch to update. The battery life is awesome with the latest software. Do this overnight: make sure the phone is linked via bluetooth to your phone. Put the watch on its charger, plug your phone into its charger and check in the morning. It takes about 6 hours to do the update and it will not start until the watch is at a 61% charge.
@Shampoohorn +++ Like curtw4 said above - be sure the watch rebooted. Best to try and reboot to be sure. Go to settings on watch (swipe down from top) and swipe left to right to get to “restart” and restart (“reboot”). Hopefully this will get you battery issues resolved. Let us know how it goes!
While I know I’ve rebooted it before my test run I decided to do it again right at the start of use today. At 100% charge at 9am. I have hardly used the watch outside of checking the time, which was not anything I would consider even moderate use.
It’s 3:10pm now. I have 17% battery. I’ll update once it’s fully empty.
@mandirose said “If Bluetooth is “searching” it can drain the battery life.”
Yeah, this was my big problem in the first 24 hours. Phone thought it was connected, but watch still searching. Had to wipe watch to factory settings and delete app on the phone to get it to work. And as a result, the watch now appears twice in my phone’s bluetooth listing, but hey, they’re talking.
@curtw4 I completely forgot to mention that! On my i-phone it shows up twice on bluetooth as well but there has to be come reason because if both of them aren’t connected it doesn’t work correctly
@mandirose The update finally completed to 1.10.220, and now I have a new watchface (white on blue - I think it’s the one that’s supposed to go with the stainless steel model). Not a problem as I like this face. Now we’ll see if the battery life improves to a usable range.
@JimMeh4 Hey Jim, so I’d actually recommend swiping up and restarting the watch if you’re seeing that face right after the update (restart, not reset to a different device). But that DOES mean it updated correctly. Make sure you’re at 100% battery and either change the brightness to medium or auto and I think you’ll see better battery life!
@bjlewis2 if you swipe down from the top, the various settings choices appear. Once there, scroll left or right (using the “swipe from center” gesture) to the Reset option. It is distinctly different from Restart.
@MntlWard put in on the charger for about 5 minutes and then try pairing it while it’s off the charger. If it pairs then put it on the charger right afterwards and let it charge and update.
@mandirose I am in the same boat, I cannot get my watch to pair with any of my phones, has anyone had success pairing with Samsung S5, Samsung S7 or Nexus 4 ? The watch powers up in the Proceed screen, and the app nor the bluetooth scanner can find the phone… I am guessing my watch’s bluetooth receiver/transmitter is dead… Any advise is greatly appreciated. Phone is pretty well charged, a couple of hours on the charger
@vkaku because I don’t have an android I don’t know as much about any tips and tricks, maybe someone else can assist on this one. I know trying it while it was off the charger worked on a couple I tried. Best I can offer is this video for pairing but maybe another member can offer some assistance! Android pairing
@vkaku I have an S7 and mine paired right away… Timing is important. Turn Bluetooth on the phone off and on again. Make sure no other devices are connected, on and in range, or trying to connect. Swipe down on the face of the watch and check Bluetooth settings. Try rebooting both.
@Liquidblue After trying for the past 3 days to pair, and it’s only worked once in a day, only in a bluetooth quiet environment, where it paired up. 1st time, worked for a short time, 2nd time, worked all day, phone discharged, went to charge it and bluetooth got disconnected, and this morning, got it to connect by removing the app, power cycling by wiping the cache clean, reinstalling the app, power cycling, disconnect bluetooth and reconnnect multiple times and it finally saw the phone. Kept the phone on charger, and after 4 hrs, my original phone version of 1.1.76 got the latest 1.10.220 ! What an ordeal, the watch is muuuch more stable now. Many thanks to all for their notes and help. Advice to those who can’t pair, keep trying, I think it takes alot of persistence, but does pay off. All my notifications are working. It’s just a novelty - nice to have something on my wrist that not many people have, the build quality is A1, software, well, ok at the price point.
@vkaku Thank you SO much for your write up. I know some people are discouraged and I wish I could jump through the computer screen to help them! I understand the frustration but if people are patient and can get it worked out I believe they will enjoy the watch at the end of it.
I have been trying for two days to get this gorgeous watch to pair to my iPhone. No luck. I tried on the charger. I have now tried off the charger. Nada.
The watch shows the “Open Phone App Olio Model One XX:ZZ” message but the watch never shows up in my Bluetooth pairing window. I’ve rebooted the phone. I’ve let the watch run battery down and recharge. I’m legitimately out of ideas at this point.
@monty323 Delete the iPhone app, and start over, following the steps precisely as outlined in the youtube video that @mandirose linked to. (I.e., don’t go straight to the iPhone settings, go through the app, etc.). I thought I was doing something wrong when this resulted in the watch appearing twice in my Bluetooth connections, but apparently this is normal.
@monty323 I’ve had issues. It’s a little fickle. You have to be able to see it in the Iphone bt settings (but not connect to it). Then go to the app and connect through there. I’ve also had to connect first and then immediately go to the app. In any case, make sure you are completely disconnected before reconnecting.
Same issue here. I watched the YouTube videos and tried everything. The watch refuses to connect with my iPhone 7 plus and it does not even power up unless placed on the dock! Its been on the dock for more than a day so I know its a 1000% charged. I also noticed that the watch gets noticeably “warm” when on the charger.
@RPJ It actually doesn’t start “charging” fully until it’s connected to your phone. Did you try taking it off the charger and then pressing proceed and trying to connect it while it’s off the charger?
@mandirose I don’t think that’s accurate. It does start charging once placed on the dock. UNLESS its connected miraculously even though it says not connected on both devices. I have tried it 50 different ways with no luck. My apologies but its gotta be simpler than this. Anyway, I’m not happy. Product does not work in a reliable fashion – atleast mine does not. Also the device is getting really warm - - not a good sign overall. Return and refund por favor!
@RPJ So we got your watch back today and this was a weird one so wanted to post in case anyone else is having this problem. Watch just needed to be reset. Charged it for about 5 min, swiped up and went to the reset watch screen, hit confirm and then it went to the Welcome/Proceed screen.
Went through the app to get to bluetooth settings on my Iphone 6s…Watch wasn’t showing up in bluetooth but went back to the app and the proceed/next button in the app showed up. Hit next and the watch magically paired right away. Checked bluetooth screen again and there it was connected. Currently updating the watch now and app version is 1.3.124, might have been a bug with this app setting but watch seems to be working perfectly after this fix if anyone is having the same issue!
@mandirose Thanks for the update. Too much going on right out of the box. It should have been easier with the instructions and interface. Anyway not worth more headaches … awaiting my refund. Thanks again for being super helpful.
In contrast to some others’ experiences, I’ve had no problem pairing. Quite the contrary, my Olio and iPhone want to double pair.
The watch wasn’t showing new notifications and said it was “searching” in the BT screen. I went to BT on my phone and saw it in there twice–and both items were “connected.” I simply “forgot” one of the connections and the watch showed “connected” and started responding immediately.
Someone more clever and/or ambitious, please make a joke about the double pairing. I’m thinking hermaphroditic worms or some shit like that, but I’m too damned lazy to follow through.
I swear that I had a completely different analog display immediately after I upgraded software on the watch. I did a reset (still showing latest version) and I’m back to the original. Anyone have any thoughts or a similar experience at least? Other than changing between analog and digital (and swapping out the inner bits where the date is), is there a way to adjust the appearance? Maybe I just hallucinated.
@joelmw So I’ve now set up probably 15-20 of these watches and know exactly what you’re talking about, goes to that face for like a minute. I have no idea why or how to get it to stay on that face but if anyone figures it out let us know!
@mandirose Thank you. I seem to always run into these weird little things that others don’t. It’s good to know I’m not going crazy (or at least that this isn’t a manifestation thereof).
If I’m remembering correctly, the vanishing watch face looks like one I’ve seen in their videos. It’s more elegant than what I’m going to call the default. Mine actually stayed with that face for a while and it only disappeared after I did the restart. I haven’t seen it since. And, again, I don’t think I saw it before the update.
NICE looking Black, Black Metal band! I have charge all weekend. I put watch on this morning at 8:00, now it is 5:00 and the battery is dead. Just been wearing and working, nothing special. Have not really noticed I have it on. Do not believe it is going to work out when the battery will last less then a day.
@Silverado90 do you know if your watch updated? Sounds like it might not have yet. Check the about section on your app and see if it says you have the latest software
@Silverado90 looking through the watch features, I made the decision to bail on the BT connection to my phone. I don’t need it. Once I turned off the BT, I had about 70% battery left after wearing it all day. I am more interested in wearing it as watch instead of a smart watch. At $60, the features will not work the way I would want anyway, so I disabled BT and get more than all day battery life.
If you’re thinking of buying one don’t… it’s a POS that’s why the company went belly up…
Bluetooth connection is unreliable and will disconnect anytime, the UI to re-enable the bluetooth on the watch is terribly flawed… in order to display back to watch face from bluetooth settings, you have to swipe it up and doing so will touch the bluetooth settings back to disable/off which is really idiotic design. It uses a passive update on the latest firmware which I’m terribly waiting for days (didn’t happen… it supposed to fix the bugs)
Battery life is just half a day (or barely) and you end up with a watch that can’t even show time. This watch is an ultimate failure, it looks nice but that’s it… call it a dumb watch…
@arthurmeh Hey there, I would love to try to help you here. Definitely sounds like it needs the update and if we can get that to load there is hope yet! First off, the watch has to be connected to your phone and on the charger and charged up to at least 60% for the upload to start. You’ll see in the about section of your app the arrow turn yellow if the upload has begun. Then, in order for it to continue and work properly it MUST stay on the charger and be connected via bluetooth in order for the update to continue downloading. Once it’s downloaded and your watch will reboot and the new software will load. I highly recommend trying to do this at night before bed. Once you’ve made sure the watch is connected to your phone and the download has started, just keep the watch on the charger near your phone and it should download the update
@mandirose - I’ve been doing that for 4 nights now and here’s what’s so goofy about the way it charges, once it reaches 100% the charging stopped and will let the watch discharge instead of maintaining the charge. So instead of expecting 100% charge in the morning, you’ll only get maybe 60% or less depending on how long the charging stop. Such a crappy programming, I know the update contains the fix but it’s been several days now that it’s not updating… I’m a software developer so I know what a crap programming is…
@arthurmeh I wonder if it’s becoming disconnected from the bluetooth connection to your phone at some point. So in your about section is it ever showing the download is working?
@mandirose - the bluetooth is connecting because it will show a different message and in the mywatch section it shows the battery % and the bluetooth icon in blue… if it’s disconnecting and reconnecting I don’t know since I left it at my desk for the update to happen. Currently the message is “New software update version 1.10.220 is available.” and both phone and watch is charged 100% connected on power and wifi… when will it update?
@arthurmeh Did you try restarting the watch? I’m wondering if maybe it’s already downloaded and needs to be rebooted to update? Normally it starts downloading as soon as the watch gets to 60% charged
@mandirose - did all I know I can, restarted, re-
paired,re-installed,re-initialized… still getting that "new software update version… " message… not updating… and of course bluetooth is always connected because the message says “The watch must charge up to 60% before the download starts”. (it’s 100%) The message is different if the bluetooth connection is lost… frustrating…
@Rabernathy Check out the video in the post above hope this helps. Make sure you keep the watch on the charger once its paired and an update should start downloading once the watch gets to 60% charged. The update should fix this bug
I am going to try to update the watch tonight, but I am so far HIGHLY disappointed. The battery lasted less than 8 hours today on my first wear. The bluetooth connection is highly unstable. Using the watch sucks… it is extremely unresponsive and I have to repeat my gesture multiple times before it registers that I’m trying to swipe up, down, left or right. The face with the time doesn’t stay on and it takes a lot of wrist wriggling and/or finger mashes to get it to display the time. The only notifications I have gotten it to work with is a few emails… texts aren’t showing up on it. So, yeah $50 for a watch that doesn’t want to tell you what time it is and that runs out of battery…and that you have to charge every night for these luxuries is a complete waste of money. I know Meh warned us to some degree, but it is WAY worse than advertised. Don’t look at this as a nice watch that just isn’t so smart for $50. Think of this as a $50 piece of trash that will only tell time if you shake it, and for only 8 hours per day. I think it may end up in my trashcan and I’ll be taking a long hiatus from Meh.com for this.
@dwileyjr344 It’s really vital to the watches performance to download the update. The watch MUST be connected to the phone and on the charger and charged to 60% for it to start downloading. This fixes so many of the issues you listed above. If you want to use the watch just as a watch and don’t care about the notifications, try turning off the bluetooth connection altogether, this will prolong battery life tremendously but I can’t express how important the update is to the watches performance.
Has anyone had success in getting their watch to work after it went to a black screen? I left on a trip the day after I got it, so I wasn’t able to upgrade the firmware, but it was working fine for two days until today. I thought I had plenty of battery left when the screen shut off but didn’t really think much of it. Now it won’t turn on when on the charger and it won’t pair with my phone. I tried shining the light on it and that didn’t work. Is there any way to do a hard reset? I’m thinking about letting it sit for a couple days and see if the battery fully discharges.
@mrongey that’s the best way to do it. Let the battery run completely out and try it on the charger in 24 hours. If it connects, make sure to let the firmware update in entirety before wearing, it should help alleviate any big issues. Let me know if you have any questions about how to get the firmware to update and I’ll be happy to help
@mrongey I had the same issue with it going out with still lots of battery life left. I took it to “Batteries Plus” and once they removed the back from the watch it power back up. I’ve had to do this twice since the original black out. Seems to be a flaw in the battery connection. t-3 torx screwdriver will open the 4 screws in back of the watch. Good luck
@mandirose “Let me know if you have any questions about how to get the firmware to update”
I had a question, how do I get the firmware to update?
(Admittedly, the answer is probably “wait more than an hour to allow it to sync and check” but I am not great with patience, I want a button I can click/tap that says “Update Now”.)
@mediocrebot It took me 4 hours to sync the watch to my iphone. After installing and uninstalling still having trouble with the watch. Its not syncing correctly. Emails not connecting as well as the weather. Beautiful watch, garbage software. What are my options? Just bad luck with this watch?
@djnasty313 weather was a feature we said in the write up would not work. Do your email notifications come up on your phone as soon as they come through? For example, I have my mail notifications set to fetch so my email only shows up on the watch when I open the mail app on my phone. The notification settings on your watch are the same as on your phone so if you have notifications turned off on your phone. As we wrote in the write up, the watches aren’t perfect which is why they were so heavily discounted. If you want to just use it as a watch, I suggest turning off bluetooth and that will greatly increase the battery life for simple usage of the watch face feature.
@mandirose thank you for your reply. I tried to give the watch another go. Turned it on and it wasn’t connected. Been trying an hour to pair the watch and it’s not been successful. The craftmanship of the watch is stunning but worthless if I can’t even get it to work properly.
I have spent 3 days trying to pair watch ! This is crap. I know it was only 60. But it should have been 60. Less. Not happy! Will not purchase from Meh again. Thanks !
@forthe48 Mine shows 1.7.54 for the app and 1.1.76 for the watch. I have an update available but the first time it didn’t take. Trying again. I’ll reply with the updated version if I can get it.
@forthe48 I had a scare during the update process. It rebooted a couple of times and at one point seemed to be stuck on the boot screen. Eventually it came back up and now the watch is on version 1.10.220 and the app says it has the latest software version. Hope this helps.
@forthe48 make sure the watch is connected to the battery and that it doesn’t get disconnected from bluetooth. The watches tend to be really testy on the older software so it takes a little work but once it does download it’s a much smoother experience. The pins are spring loaded to change the bands, I bought a cheepo watch repair kit on amazon to change the band. @troy do you know what that tool is called?
I think my phone needed to be connected to Wi-Fi, because even with the watch at 100% and connected to the charger it didn’t want to start downloading.
As soon as I got home and got connected to Wi-Fi it showed the update was available.
It’s downloading now and I’m sure it’ll be updated soon.
@mandirose Thanks! I think it’s called a spring compressor tool, but it turns out as long as you’re careful about it you can use a dull knife to get the spring compressed enough to pop the band back out.
The app says it’s the latest version, but I’ve seen others listed with a higher software version. Does this have anything to do with the style of watch? I do not have an option to upgrade.
Battery goes from 7am to around 5 before it dies. I was hoping there was a software upgrade to extend battery life. Don’t get any emails but most of other features are working.
Any help on if there is software upgrade and how to do it if watch says it has the latest version already.
@Smokey20 That should be the newest software version. Try changing your settings to see if your battery life improves. Changing the brightness to low or auto helps. Do you get push notifications on your phone for emails? The watch mimics the settings on your phone so if you have notifications off for email on your phone it should shadow whatever your phone does
@Smokey20 interesting, if I hear of a fix I’ll make sure to respond to you with it. Out of curiosity, do you have an android or iPhone? Also, no emails show up whatsoever in the earlier screen?
I have an iPhone. No emails at all. I do get text alerts and schedules show up. I have several accounts including yahoo, google and outlook exchange emails
@Smokey20 on your iPhone, check settings -> notifications -> mail -> and then make sure your email accounts are set up to show in Notification Center.
If you don’t want to do it universally you can use the VIP settings and add contacts for the email addresses you want notifications from, and save them as favorites.
If you’ve already done that, I’ve got no suggestions as I receive VIP email notifications on my Olio.
Okay I would love it if someone would explain it to me, because I am very curious. So I have the watch, and somehow it is still connected to my phone and controlling my music and receiving notifications immediately, without Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. For reference, I have the LG v20
After some dorking around, i have the watch paired and upgraded to the latest version.
Problem: it doesn’t usually alert me to incoming phone calls. I’ve tested with a dozen calls and it usually doesn’t work. I think the times it has worked have been soon after app reinstalls and/or reboots of the phone or watch.
Meanwhile, it always alerts me that the call was missed. Even when it didn’t alert that the same call was inbound, seconds earlier.
Phone is iphone 6, latest OS patch installed.
Bluetooth on watch says “connected.”
Hmm, Bluetooth on phone showed two discrete “olio model one 22:35” entries. One of them connected, the other not.
When I toggled bluetooth on phone, it connected to the second Olio and the phone calls started coming in.
@danpritts for some reason on some iphones it shows up twice in bluetooth. I’ve found that both need to say connected for all functions to work correctly. No idea why though
Anyone having issues like this? Mine seems to randomly swap between notifications and other apps randomly without any input from me. Yesterday it managed to enable the alarm by itself. Took me a while to figure out why my wrist was vibrating like crazy. I did let it go through its updates before wearing it.
@Lightborne If you haven’t tried yet. Try restarting the watch and if that doesn’t work try resetting the watch and unpairing in the app and repairing it from the proceed screen. Hope this helps!
@mandirose This did help somewhat. Still wigs out occasionally. Also, today after having it on charge for most of the day, the screen refuses to turn on. My phone is still paired to it, and still shows that it’s connected in the app, but nothing I do seems to wake it up.
Anyone found any links to a forum or group regarding this watch? The best information I have found is from this site, but I would think there are others that have been using this device much longer.
@ktnemec There’s a facebook group called “I own an Olio” which has a number of us that were early adopters and also a part of Olio’s beta program. Join up and feel free to ask any questions.
I had my watch on the charger last night and when I woke up this morning it is totally dead. Tried the light trick but that doesn’t work. Going to try leave it a few days to see if it wakes up with a new charge. Any other suggestions to try?
@arnoldbe - it probably got discharged overnight. There’s an issue with the charging if you still have the 1.1.48 firmware version. Once it goes to 100% it will stop charging the watch until you remove the charger and put it back again (software bug) It doesn’t maintain the 100% charge.
I really like the watch but it will be returned back, mine is still not updating for several days which will actually fix that issue. The weather portion worked one day, it’s nice to see temperature and rain/cloud conditions but it wasn’t accurate, it showed rain and temp at 80, it was sunny and 86… so not sure where it’s getting the information…
Hi, I purchased my watch from meh.com, on the first day I charged it and the watch got incredibly hot, too hot to be worn. The charge lasted approximately two to three hours, all the while not actively using it, it did however disconnect from my smartphone several times even though they were never further than 10 feet apart from each other. I tried charging it again the next day and now the screen won’t even turn on. The response from meh.com was to come here and ask for advice. What can I do to get the watch working again?
@popkanzia did you get the new software update for it? You need to connect it to your phone through the Olio app. It will take a while but helps a ton with connectivity and stability.
Yeah, I’m having the same issue too. First day I got it, charged it, and it turned on fine. I installed the app on my phone and synced the watch to it. I wanted to let it charge to 100% before trying it on, so I let it sit for about two hours. As it continued charging, I noticed the battery life would hover around ~70% - it wouldn’t increase charging for some reason.
Eventually at some point, the screen on my phone turned black - it was still backlit, but it wouldn’t function and wasn’t responding to the app. I figured I’d let it run out of battery and try charging it again the next day, but ever since then, the screen doesn’t light up anymore and does nothing when I charge it. It basically seems broken at this point.
I’ve waited a period of about a day to two days to let it discharge before trying to charge it again, but it’s still not working. At this point, I’m going to try letting it discharge for a full week before charging it again, and if it doesn’t work after that, I’m going to ask for an exchange or refund from meh. It’s a shame too, because I really like the aesthetics of the watch - it looks really nice. I don’t want my money back, I just want a working product.
@qberting be patient. It takes some messing around to get it to work. You can contact customer service and they may be able to swap out as well. The watch does take a long time to update. You can check the status in the app on the progress. Be sure to restart the watch after it updates.
@popkanzia I’ve recently had a similar experience. I wasn’t charging, but just wearing my watch, sitting at my desk at work. It had a decent charge on it and wasn’t near the point where it would be discharged, but the screen just went black and it stopped responding completely. Disconnected itself from bluetooth and wouldn’t do anything.
Tried charging it full, but nothing happened, so I left it for a few days, trying off and on to put it on charge to see if it would power up. I had decided that if the screen didn’t come on in 30 seconds that it still had juice and was just misbehaving so I’d take it off power again and leave it to sit and discharge more. After about 3 full days of checking it like that, it’s finally come back to life after putting it on a charger.
That’s not a fun experience. I thought it was dead forever. Hopefully it stays alive this time. On a tangent thought… I think I will only put it on low-current chargers now, after reading other comments about it getting hot. Maybe I’ll find an old crap USB charger that puts out like 600 milliamps and use that exclusively to charge it.
Looking through the watch features, I made the decision to bail on the BT connection to my phone. I don’t need it, I get plenty notifications on my phone. Once I turned off the BT, I had about 70% battery left after wearing it all day. I am more interested in wearing it as watch instead of a smart watch. At $60, the features will not work the way I would want anyway, so I disabled BT and get more than all day battery life. I did notice that the watch ‘lost’ about 20 minutes slowly over 3 days the first time I turned off the BT so I just re-synced to my phone and it updated. So far, it hasn’t lost any time and it has been 2 days. Go figure.
Anyone know if it’s possible to disable the music controls on the watch? I accidentally hit “play” last night and phone started blaring and woke up my wife.
Well, after about a week this is what I feel about the Olio watch.
Pros:
Well made for a smartwatch (note I only have long term first hand experience with Android Wear smartwatches.) Everything feels solid.
The watch face is nice and reserved and not flashy.
The watch although quite large and thick, does not get caught on my shirt sleeves like my LG G Watch and various smart bands do.
Got it for Timex prices on Meh!
Cons:
Pretty crappy as a smartwatch.
1a) No other watch faces (more than “Digital” or “Analog” would have been nice.)
1b) Touchscreen is fidgety, will often not register swipes or misinterpret them as a full “edge” swipe rather than “mid” swipes.
1c) text is too small when reading emails and text messages on the watch
1d) Charging circuitry/software sucks donkey balls: it runs too hot with a high current USB power source, hot enough to cook the battery enough to reduce cycle life
1e) Software on watch is incomplete (expected that, but still had to mention it.)
Pretty crappy as a watch because watch face only displays for less than 3 seconds before turning off. It’s too short for me… this time needs to be adjustable.
Overall Conclusion for Olio Model One: Form over Function
I’d be pissed off if I had paid $500 for the watch. I’d be livid if I had paid >$1000 for a Gold one. For $70 or less, it’s a great buy if one can get it last “all day” (>15hrs for me) with bluetooth turned on connected to one’s phone… if one has to use it with with bluetooth turned off to get enough battery life, then I’d rather get a Wenger Chronograph from ebay (refurb or new) for around $100. Or this one, BIN, for $67. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wenger-Silver-Dial-Brown-Leather-Strap-Mens-Watch-79131-/272534833340
AFter a lot of work, I got the update downloaded to the watch, but the watch is now just stuck on the Olio logo screen. I tried draining the battery and recharging, but it’s not doing anything. I can’t even reconnect it to the phone. Thoughts?
OK, I’ve been playing around with this thing for a week now. Uninstalled/reinstalled the app countless times. Wiped caches, un-paired/re-paired, let it completely discharge, tried my wife’s phone. The watch “connects” but only when the face is on. A few seconds after it dims the connection is lost. I haven’t even seen anything about an update, though I’m sure that’s directly related to it’s lack of a lasting connection.
I really want to like this watch. Anyone find something that’s worked for them that isn’t already posted here?
Cancel that. Decided to give it one more go using an old phone i had stuck in a drawer. Installed the app, it connected and immediately started downloading the update. Surprisingly it only took 20-30 minutes to finish. Restarted the watch. Unpaired with the old phone, re-paired with my current, and until now, completely uncooperative phone. It’s been a couple hours now of steady connection.
3rd time’s the charm.
@yankees07 That’s too bad. Mine quit working suddenly, but I had success leaving it to discharge for several days until it was dead and then putting it back on the charger. Try a different charger? Different amperage?
ha! I’m having trouble downloading the software. I’m not on Apple based software.Like someone said, I really wanna love this thing. I just wanna tell the time.
ya, can someone give me a hand? I can’t find the software and have been looking a few hours. it won’t show up on my itunes.
thanks, and sorry for being a pain
and man is this watch hot! looks and temperature wise.
So mine took the updated firmware and hasn’t worked since. All I get is the Olio screen in perpetuity. It doesn’t make itself available to pair via Bluetooth. Is there a way to reset the watch back to factory settings? Should I be contacting meh support at this point?
@wishlish try letting it drain over 24 hours and then try putting it back on the battery. You can also try deleting the app and redownloading it as I’ve heard from some people that’s helped
@wishlish I’d try the steps I mention anyway. But it’s true, iPhone doesn’t like to work with non apple products. I’ve grown to hate Apple. Android is so much more functional these days
@arfdawg See, I disagree, because I had Android phones for years and grew to loathe them. My iPhone 6s is my favorite mobile device ever. But to each his own.
I had tried the steps above before posting. I’m trying them again. But honestly, I think the firmware update borked the watch. I was able to get the watch into pairing mode before, and can’t now. It just shows the Olio logo over and over. I’m letting it drain again and will retry Friday, but after that, I’m going to invoke Meh’s warranty, if possible.
Even though we disagree on the Android/iPhone argument, thanks for helping.
@wishlish I had the exact same prob after the firmware update. All I got for hours was the Olio logo. I was desperate. But uninstalling the app and then re-installing it worked like a charm. The watch is perfect now. I’ve had an iPhone 3, 4s, 5 and 6s. My Pixel blows them all away. There is no comparison. Fast as lightning and all the apps just work correctly all the time. Never could get a Pebble to pair with Apple and even the Apple watch is glitchy with the 6s. Good luck with your attempts.
I got this as a gift for my son. He was into it, but got frustrated with the random resets, the battery drain. I’ve been trying to weed through the thread to find fixes, but, damn y’all love to bitch. Please post links to actually helpful info.
@kathologist Hey there! Do you know if he was able to update the firmware on the watch? He can check by going to the ABOUT section on the app and seeing what version it says 1.10.220, that means it has been updated. If it doesn’t, it should say there is an update available. The watch and phone need to be connected and the watch needs to be on the battery and charged up to 60% to start downloading the update. It takes several hours to finish and the watch and phone have to be connected the entire time so I suggest doing it over night. If it HAS been updated, have him try changing the brightness setting to either low or auto, that really helps to extend battery life significantly. Let me know if you have any other questions. Make sure to hit reply to this post so I get the notification and I’ll answer back as soon as I can!
@mandirose Oops, forgot to reply sooner.
Thank you for taking the time to share all that.
Heading
He did all that he could (spent time looking up shit and following your input), but alas, it kept randomly resetting. It got him interested in getting another dumb “smartwatch” though…
@mandirose I’m on SW version 1.3.124 and core and UI versions 1.3.123. Never saw anything about updating firmware. Is there a way to get it updated anymore given the status of the company?
EDIT: I just noticed in the app under “about” it says the download is paused at 70%…not sure how to get it to complete the download?
@tatertots712 hey there! In order to complete the download you just need to make sure the watch stays connected to your phone via bluetooth and that the watch stays on the charger the entire time it’s updating. If you take it off the charger it pauses the download. The connection can be spotty on the old UI versions so you do need to keep your phone close to the watch and babysit it a little. I promise it’s worth it though! The watch works much better with the update.
@mandirose That’s good to hear! Even on the version I’m running now, the watch is pretty cool. Only problem I have been having is it occasionally disconnects from bluetooth and what I have found works best is to turn the BT off on the watch for like 30 seconds to make sure it fully disconnects from my phone then turn it back on and usually connects within a few seconds. I will try messing with it more at home this evening, but I know for sure last night that it was on the charger overnight with my phone charging right next to it. I will provide an update once I can experiment more.
@mandirose Took about 2 hours, but I finally got the update installed and watch re-paired. Are there any notable features added with this update? I saw a comment up above about getting the microphone to work, but I have had no such luck.
@tatertots712 definitely glad to hear you got it working! The most notable by far is battery life (make sure to put it on auto or low for best battery life) and just a lot of overall bug fixes and a smoother experience.
@donaldsquires If meh support can’t replace it (presumably they’ll refund it), drop me a line to this username at gmail if you want my stainless/black leather watch. Firmware updated, gets a day (possibly more) on a charge.
Its been two full days (after a full 24 hrs just trying to get the damn thing set up) and I’m finally ready to give my review.
First of all I’ll start off by saying that the update took this watch from a literally worthless hunk of steel, LEDs, and (unreasonably hot) lithiom swill to an actually somewhat usable device. Its not even worth owning this thing if you don’t successfully update it.
That being said, its still pretty unfathomably terrible. Especially when you consider that these con artists used to charge $800+ for it. Doesn’t take a savant to understand why this company went belly up. Use the watch for 5 min and you will wish you could sit down with the ex-CEO for a few min just to pick his/her brain. Baffling.
Anyhow, onto the good stuff.
The only way to pair this thing with an iphone is to download the app then close the app. Turn BT on your phone off. Click pair to new device on watch and reset it, or just pop on charger if its your first time opening it to start the pairing process. Open BT on phone. Click proceed on watch. Click watch on your BT list on phone (it might be listed on your BT list twice, yet another unexplainable quirk). Click the notification at top of screen to return to app. Go through pairing process on app. Finally you will be paired.
To update: the only way to update this thing without spending 4 days waiting for it to happen on its own is to babysit it. Set it on the charger and plug your phone in also. This is gonna take a while. A six pack and a full season of gilmore girls is my recommendation. God bless hulu. Anyhow, wait for watch to get up there, say 80% or so. Now open the app on your phone and it will start automatic update. Your phone has to be within 18 inches of the watch cuz this thing is just that buggy. Now check your phone every 15 min or so. Try to keep the phone out of lock screen as much as possible. It tends to pause the update when your phone goes into lock screen sometimes. Now do this for about 6-8 hrs, waking your phone up ever 15-30 min. The update percentage will initially go up in 4% increments. Eventually at like 60% it will start going up in 10% increments.
Eventually the watch will reboot and it will go to the eternal olio logo screen. This is when you have to delete the stupid app from your phone and redownload it. The watch will eventually get past the olio screen. Then go through the tedious pairing process all over again.
Morale of the story…I’ve worked for software companies my whole professional life and this is a complete fumble. Anyone who releases software this terrible and charges consumers north of a grand for it should expect to file chapter 7. No surprise there. Its a shame bc the actual watch housing, band, etc is actually pretty nice looking. But as they say, some people just can’t hang.
Not pissed I spent $40 on this thing. But definitely not feeling like I walked away with a great deal by any stretch of the imagination.
Hope my little how-to helps some frustrated purchasers out. Needless to say its the last unsupported device from a bankrupt company I will ever spend money on. Thanks meh, you bastards. Love you though, kinda. Not really.
@iwilsker I just took a gamble and ordered one of these as an “Amazon Warehouse Deal” for $8.09. It is scheduled for delivery on Tuesday August 1. I will try it and post the results here.
@asherwitt The MOTO 360 Wireless Charger mentioned above arrived today. It fits OLIO 1 watch perfectly and IT WORKS! The watch is charging on it. The Olio logo is to the left on the charger as mentioned above. I plugged the included USB cable into a 1 amp charger, and the watch is charging just fine! I have touched the watch every few minutes, and it is not hot.
@iwilsker UPDATE: Using the Itian branded MOTO 360 charger available on Amazon for $9.99, https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VNZAW6I my Olio watch charged to 100% reasonably quickly using the included USB cable connected to the 1 amp port on a conventional USB charger. The watch did not over heat (was only slightly warm).
I have not yet left the watch on the charger overnight to see what happens, but according to reviews of the charger (when used with a Moto 360 watch), it cannot overcharge the watch, but will drop to a trickle once he watch is fully charged. A Moto 360 can safely be left on the charger overnight.
On Amazon, the manufacturer states that this charger is only intended to work on a Moto 360 smartwatch.
There is a tiny LED on the bottom front of the charger which is on only while charging.
Considering the mediocre battery life of this watch, I will be ordering another one of these chargers for my desk at work to keep the watch charged during the work day. The charger that just arrived will be on my night stand, and the original “silver dollar” charger that came with the Olio watch will stay on my computer table. I may even purchase a third charger to keep in my suitcase when I travel. For about $10 each, it is worth it to keep my watch charged.
I get no sound out of it, the microphone works, but no sound.
When I changed the brightness to Auto this morning. The screen went black and now I can’t see anything. It still pairs with the app, but the watch is functionally useless. Did I get a dud?
@jpparker88 this happened to me too. I just kept messing with the watch and the app till it popped back on for some reason. Maybe throw it on the charger to wake it up? Or some people claimed the flashlight trick worked. I didn’t have to do that.
@jpparker88 1. The watch doesn’t have any sound. It just controls the music on your device. 2. Worst case let it die and then in 24 hours put it back on the charger. I found that when I open my app up and keep it on in the background, then I don’t have that problem. Just my experience though.
I’ve been fiddling with this watch for a month. It gives me time and date, text notifications, phone call notification. A couple times I’ve seen some weather info on the weather screen. Occasional weather info in the “Later” list.
It is running with a Galaxy S6… SW version, core version, UI version are all 1.10.220. Kernel is 3.10.0-g2ae2f33. VM version is 2.0.0.
What are right versions of software? Is there a clear list anywhere?
I’d love to have anything else work. Any ideas out there? A post or blog that someone has found? In all my reading here, I haven’t found any other ways to make other things work.
Anyone who wants one, I think I’m going to be rid of mine. I like it a lot, it is really nice looking. The disconnection/reconnection issue i’m having with the iphone is more hassle than it is worth to me. Black leather band, stainless watch.
I like the band, so assuming I can get the band off, I would sell the watch only for $25. Or you can have the whole thing for $50. this username at gmail.
I just got a replacement one, and it charged, but then had trouble charging afterwards. I was able to get it to charge again by setting it in the charger, but offset upwards. (Just posting it in case anyone else was trying to do it.)
It’s on version 1.3.126. I saw 1.10.2210 mentioned above, is that what I should be upgrading to? Is there a way to make it update other than to stare at it for a long time?
Also, I can’t seem to figure out any way to switch to 24-hour/military time. Is there a way to do that?
@LexPendragon the watch must stayed on the charger and be connected to the phone on Bluetooth. Once it charges over 60% the download will start. You might notice the battery go down during the update, it might seem like the watch isn’t charging. That’s normal. Takes several hours to update. I recommend doing it overnight while you sleep
@LexPendragon so when you go to The about section while the watch is connected to the charger and to Bluetooth, does it say an update available? Does it have a percentage downloaded?
This was all I got when I went to the about screen. I’m recharging it at the moment after wearing it for the day, but I had it on the charger overnight, on Bluetooth, with the app open (and visible) on my phone overnight.
@LexPendragon Mine shows the same thing and the same version. Are you sure this isn’t the latest?
I’d say that the watch works pretty well on this version.
@Delons This is my second time, (the first one died after a day) and it had updated, and worked better. I didn’t catch the number, but 1.10.220 is listed a bunch above us.
@LexPendragon Last thing I can think of is based upon things others have mentioned…is your phone connected to wifi? I’ve heard from multiple people that can help.
@mandirose It’s not just him. I’m having the exact same problem. I’ve tried re-downloading the app, wifi on and off, repairing, charging to 100% multiple times. No update button for me either. I am also on 1.3.126.
So here’s my experience with it after the first 2 days.
The battery is well, terrible…ish. I’m not really sure. It doesn’t seem to be consistent. My guess is that it will last about 4-5 hours, although depending on use I’ve seen it get to 30% after just 2 hours.
Functionality is pretty good. It works well for notifications, checking the time, and calendar. I have not been able to get the weather working.
Music playing works for skipping songs. I’ve only gotten pause and volume to work once. The name of the song only updates when a different page is brought up and then returned to the music page.
My biggest problem is getting the display to turn on. Half the time it wont respond to the flick of my wrist (and tapping the display doesn’t turn it on) and the other half of the time it stays on too much. That’s the most annoying part of the watch.
@Delons A lot of what you are describing I see with the version you and I have, but it got better once I got the update; better battery life, better waking, and it even let me use Google Assistant. (That’s why I am so impatient for it.)
@Delons - even if you do not update… change the brightness to medium… & turn on the gesture controls … this will increase the battery life by 60% … I have two of these… the update is crucial… make sure and do it… but with the earlier software I was able to get 10 to 15 hours by changing the brightness…
@mandirose Hey, my phone says the update is downloaded and will be applied after watch reboots, but when my watch restarts, it still says software version “1.3.126” and that “1.10.220” will be applied after watch reboots. Can’t seem to get it to actually apply. Any thoughts?
@mandirose I wondered if the download got corrupted or something. Do you know if there’s a way to reset it to factory defaults so that I can retry a fresh download?
@bjlewis2@Mandirose@Delons
I think I am seeing a trend:
I suspect that iPhone users get version 1.10.220 while Android users only go up to 1.3.126. Has anyone seen anything to refute this hypothesis?
If that’s what’s happening, I think I may try to find a friend with an iPhone, sync my watch to their phone, let it upgrade, then try to sync it back to my Android phone.
I have v.1.3.124 and am trying to update. It shows 1.10.220 downloaded and will be applied after reboot. I push restart on watch face and ‘confirm’…watch shuts down…when it comes back app on phone still shows 1.3.124 and acts ready to download again…so it keeps going in circles…what am I missing here? If someone can please post step-by-step how to download and update these…
I only bought this Olio as a back-up in case my Apple watch ever died. Which it did, over the weekend. Discovered quickly that while I can adjust/cope with the UI issues, this thing is just too damn heavy for daily use.
Anyone interested in a very lightly-used (like one day’s worth of wear) black body/black metal band model? Extension links are still in the bag. No reasonable offer will be refused.
Oh, and I also bought one of those Motorola chargers, so it will come with bonus charging hardware.
Ok so I just got one of these Olio watches. I downloaded to app, signed in and paired with my phone. I was having trouble getting the weather to populate. So I tried rebooting the watch… nothing. so I thought I’d uninstall the app reboot and start over… now I’m getting a “There was a network error performing login”. So I tried “signing up” with a new email address and I get the same message… “There was a network error performing Sign up”. What can I do to fix this?
@svasquezsr I’ve got the same issue. Mine was working for the past 2 years until this past weekend. I’m still searching everywhere as what to do with this damn thing now.
@svasquezsr What are the odds? You and this “other” poster @juice999 just joining up to post the same very specific problem? Good luck to “both” of you.
@therealjrn I’m wanting to know if there’s any way I can hack into this thing and make it do what I want. I’m seriously not the same person as I replied to. Lol
@djslack And the company is long gone isn’t it? And these watches weren’t so popular to have a vibrant user community to find anybody who might have modded or “hacked” their watch. Shit.
Good Luck you “two” on finding the cure for your oddly specific problem for these watches you did not buy from mediocre, inc.
@therealjrn I actually took a gamble on this POS company during the second batch on July 30th 2015 and didn’t receive it until mid Dec. Problems after problems. Had to send it back because it wouldn’t turn on. They replaced it free of charge 1 yr later. It’s been working “ok” for the past year. Now it’s fucking garbage! Anyone wanna buy it? Can’t do anything with it without the app and a registered account with them. Hell, I have a registered account but can’t do shit with it since their servers always time out when I try to log in.
If you want a watch that’s stuck on “searching” let me know. I’ll box it up and send it your way.
Well, I tried other “smart watch” apps and none seem to work. Looks like it’s a lost cause at this point… If anyone finds anything out, PLEASE let us know…
Didn’t you just get it? Why not return it to whence it came? If it’s an eBay purchase, PayPal might intervene for you even if the seller claims to “not accept returns”
You bought a defective, non-working product.
/giphy Aint Nobody Got Time For That
@therealjrn eh, no links, it’s clearly an effort to sell crap. BUYER BEWARE - aka: buying things from strangers is risky under the best of circumstances. Buying from this person is riskier.
“I’m sorry and disappointed to hear that has happened. As long as you haven’t unpaired your watch, it will continue working. If you unpair the watch, then it has no way to know if it is owned by the registered user and locks itself out. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to change that.”
My Olio Smartwatch died last Monday evening, age 6 months.
It was fully charged on the “silver dollar” charger in the morning. Did not over heat. Silver dollar induction device connected to a 500ma charger as had been recommended here in the threads to avoid over heating.
Has worked great since received, but at dinner looked at the watch and it was dark, as in off. Would not respond to life. Checked bluetooth connection with watch, which was live, but unresponsive.
Put it back on charger, and nothing happened; no welcome screen that usually appears if battery is dead, nothing! Watch is dead.
I realize that Meh gets its bargains from closeouts and bankruptcies, but I am 1 for 4 with smartwatches from Meh. My Meta watch became unresponsive and eventually died a premature death; this Olio smart watch died in less than 6 months. I am back wearing the only smart watch that is still working of the four that I purchased from Meh, an all black Martian Notifier.
Actually I purchased 2 of the Martian Notifiers, and one had a dead watch battery out of the box, but the other is still running great and on my wrist now.
If you’re watch is dead and you have a black model Olio I’d be open to grabbing your links for the bracelet because it does not fit me but still operates just fine on my end save the weather operation
So in an effort to troubleshoot the watch I just reset it and now when I try to set it up again the Olio App on my iPhone just says “Unable to connect to Olio Server” in the last setup step when you connect the app to the watch. Can’t get past it and there definitely IS an internet connection. Does that mean the server is gone and the watch can never ever be set up again?
@Undulat Any way some geek can find a way to disable server check so we can still use watch with app? Is Olio community sizable enough to pull this off?
@TechnicGeek that’s what I’m hoping for. Even more, that some kind of community effort to reverse engineer the watch communication and write a 3. Party phone app for the watch will happen. Am not holding my breath of course. But it’s a beautiful watch
Hey I just got an Olio but the app doesn’t accept my email! So the watch is stuck on the reset screen until I can create an account. I keep trying different emails and the app says, host server not found?! Has anyone had this problem? Does anyone know how to help me out
I got an Olio last year, have been so crazy busy that I haven’t had time to work with it until now. Was smart enough to download Olio Assist (269 KB) when it was still available on the iTunes/Apple Store. Still using my iPhone 4s and tried it with my friend’s newer Android phone…in both cases I got an error message: “There was a network error performing SignUp.” Am I SOL, or are there other options?
@therealjrn 1. I’m using a crappy camera. 2. They’re the same watch, I just wanted to show that it was an Olio whereas you can’t really see that in the first picture and the option to edit it had gone away.
I don’t have one, so I can’t tell what the software is based off of. I’m merely stating that that kind of dialog can be seen starting with Marshmallow.
The thing which is throwing me off though is the color template, which was removed in Kit Kat, when Android transitioned from holo blue to white.
It’s not running Android, or, at least, not Android Wear/Wear OS (not that a 3 year old watch would have been upgraded to Wear OS anyways).
From what I can tell, it’s more of a homebrew OS, though clearly it’s taking cues from Android.
Also, I should point out that considering Marshmallow was not released until the later part of 2015, and the watch was announced in July of the same year, though it wasn’t released for a while afterwards, it wouldn’t have been running a port of Marshmallow in all likelihood anyways.
Though I don’t know their firmware update history anyways.
Installed in on my Pixel for fun, and I was a bit dismayed that it raised my screen’s brightness, and I had to adjust it back manually.
Anyways, assuming that the file was not created by Sompom, it targets API 22, so for the watch to ask for permissions manually, is a bit odd, since granular permission control was not until API 23.
@PlacidPenguin@therealjrn The watch itself runs a down-scaled version of Android, and that is very likely what the .apk’s in the zip are for. I just got a hold of that firmware file, and I think that will be enough for me to write a computer program to flash a third party OS (Android Wear, for example) over the watch’s Bluetooth connection.
@CaptainBilly I had a copy stashed on my phone – I have put it here: http://sompom.net/sompom/olio-firmware.zip
That link is likely to die before too much longer because I need to do a reinstall of that server, so it would be useful if you or someone else hosted it somewhere else.
gaClientID is 7eba041c-47e6-41dd-94a1-b1948cd6acd7
If there is some other file you’re interested in, I can send it to you… I don’t really want to publicly post the entire contents of that folder for fear of leaking personal information!
@Sompom Entirely understandable. I was asking because I saw a reference to some alternative firmware image file in the decompiled code, but I don’t see that in the tree.
@Sompom What happens when you try to use the Olio Assist app? I’ve only ever actually seen the ‘A server with the specified hostname could not be found.’ error message that everyone is getting when the user is trying to sign in (including me, I didn’t get involved in this project until this past May), but it may not apply to people like you that signed in when the server was still up.
@CaptainBilly Sorry for the slight delay. I had to dig my watch out of storage!
Before I started messing with it, I was able to open the app and see everything as normal: configure smart notification rules, view battery life, etc.
At some point while I was last messing with it (I currently have a slightly modified version of the error message screen which has a different error message haha) I was able to restore the data to the app after deleting it / reinstalling the app and I was able to connect to my watch and everything behaved as normal.
Unfortunately, on trying today I am not able to get past the pairing that (I assume) everyone is stuck on. Or maybe not: I do have my account logged in still, so I’m past that first screen.
I suppose this is relevant information, though, that the app still basically works once it is logged in, and is why I was suggesting minorly hacking the login/auth process might be enough to get it working. Now that I have realized my watch is busted I might take another look!
@Sompom Very interesting, I’ll test that when I get a chance. Keep working on tuning that up, and if whoever’s operating it now stops renewing oliodevices.com, I’ll register it and host your program there. In the meantime, I’ll keep working on my PC Bluetooth client (I’ve been using Python, too); don’t get too excited, though, nothing that works yet.
@Sompom If you’re interested in playing with firmware updates: write a shell script named update.sh with the shebang
#!/system/busybox/sh
Make it do something so that you would know if it runs, say rebooting (path to reboot command on the Olio is the same as any other Android device: /system/bin/reboot, I don’t if the $PATH env contains /system/bin so you probably should specify the whole path) after sleeping for so many seconds. Give the script exec permissions, then put it in the root of a zip archive named olio-firmware.zip
Take the MD5 sum of your olio-firmware.zip file and put that in the “firmwareHash” string in your firmware array, then put your olio-firmware.zip on a web server and put the link to that in the firmwareUrl string. Change the “version” string to a number with a lot of decimal points that’s higher than whatever your watch is currently running (the last version they released is 1.10.220, so try, say, “1.10.520”). The “name” string is probably always “olio-firmware.zip”.
That “version” string is the first thing that jumps out at me as to why the app crashes; it’s probably expecting a number and some dots but instead gets a word.
@CaptainBilly The watch reboots after downloading the custom .zip containing only that update.sh. How is the progress on custom firmware?
Do you have a better way to deploy for development? (JTAG, etc.?) Having a one-shot script where if you mess up there’s no going back probably won’t cut it…
@CaptainBilly Actually, it looks like the reboot-only update.sh has put my watch into a bootloop. I guess it just keeps running the new update.sh. Not recommended!
I just looked at update_2.sh, and notice that it actually deletes a files named update.sh. So apparently Olio runs update.sh on every boot!
@CaptainBilly Just to be clear, if you download the Fakolio server and want to try this, notice at the end of the olio-firmware.zip’s update.sh (after echo "$0: Done, now rebooting") it does a switcharoo with a file named update_2.sh and update.sh to put update_2.sh where update.sh used to be, then update_2.sh is responsible for deleting itself. If you want to give this a try, be sure to save those two pieces!
@Sompom I’m so sorry, I meant to mention to have the script delete itself. Did you ever get it out of the reboot loop? If not, I can trade your bricked watch for one of my working watches.
On the other hand, that’s fantastic news that you got a custom firmware update running!
@Sompom I took one of my watches apart, but no, I never found any sort of debug port. Again, I’m really sorry about that. Without a UART or JTAG port, the only way to fix a bricked watch is to use a hot air reworker to unsolder the flash/RAM combo chip; connect it to a programmer; then solder it back to the watch.
That firmware update seems the only way to get any sort of technical access.
I’ll start looking into Bluetooth packet sniffing as a way of understanding the Bluetooth protocol. While you and I can do it, most of the people here probably don’t want to setup their own servers to get back their watch’s functionality; so I’m still hoping to write that PC client.
@CaptainBilly No need to feel bad: From my point of view, there is no difference between this week and last week. My watch was already not working and put in a box!
My only annoyance, actually, is I’m not sure that I didn’t get the mock server working – I actually got my watch re-activated by restoring my Android backup of the Olio Assist app, so everything looked like normal for me. After I set it up to deploy the (official) olio-firmware.zip, the picture of the watch in the app changed! Previously, (without restoring a backup) I was seeing no picture, so now that I was seeing one suggests that it might have been working.
So, if you (or someone else) wants to set up the mock server, I would be interested to know whether it actually works to re-activate the app. Very possibly the thing that was crashing the app before was not receiving the URL to the firmware update then trying to make an invalid REST call. I was not able to test any of these theories, so I am left hanging!
@CaptainBilly With regard to swapping watches: Again, I am not terribly bothered. This turned out to be a fun and interesting weekend for me, and that’s enough. I was thinking about getting a different watch anyway (unfortunately, as you’ve said, there’s not much that can stand up to the Olio for looks!). The Olio with custom firmware would be interesting to me, but at the moment I am not strongly interested in actually developing for that.
So, if you want to do the swap because you want one more hacker to have one even understanding that I’m not likely to pursue it much further, then I accept your offer
@Sompom You’re right, your server probably won’t be the final means for flashing custom firmware but I’ve definitely found use in it.
I wonder how much more functionality it would need to be equivalent to the original server. Like I said, I’ll grab oliodevices.com if it ever expires, and there might be some people that prefer the Olio’s original UI as opposed to Asteroid or Android Wear.
Your watch might be bricked now, but you’re still the first person in the world that has never worked for Olio Devices to get arbitrary code execution on an Olio watch. That’s something to be proud of.
This causes the watch to change from it’s ‘Open Phone App’ screen to it’s
Connected
Next, use the Olio Assist app to set up your personal assistant.
screen.
Here’s my code so far (it’s just an example Python Bluetooth program with variables changed to match the Olio): olio-configurator.py
I’ll update that link as my code progresses.
I really wish I had the ability to help you guys out. I had to buy a new phone and lost my watch along with the transition. I really miss my Olio and would love to have it come back to life someday.
Fun fact: if you run that python code to make the watch switch to it’s ‘Connected’ screen, then from there let its battery die; it will act like it was configured (except that it wasn’t, the most obvious aspect of this being the incorrect date and time) and let you access all of the operating system features.
I was able to pause/play VLC and control my computer’s volume with the music interface of the Olio UI. As some of you may have noticed, the Olio has a HID Bluetooth service, and this is what it uses to control music from the music interface, turning the volume down from there is the same as pressing the ‘volume down’ key on a Bluetooth keyboard.
@CaptainBilly You made top network question on StackOverflow!
FWIW, you may need to collect more information before contacting Flex. https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/97958-44 says that Olio is an “operating subsidiary”, which suggests they retain legal responsibilities. Goodness knows where that information came from, though…
@Sompom You saw that, did you? I just joined the Open Source SO site 15 hours ago and my rep is already 122.
I sent a message to Flex on the connect tab of their site a few hours ago, haven’t heard back yet. If I don’t hear from them within the next few weeks, I’ll mail them a physical letter so they know I’m serious. I’m hoping that there will be at least one package on the Olio licensed under the GPL version 3.0, then they will have to comply with the ‘Installation Information’ clause of the GPL v3 and give me whatever code they have for sending firmware over Bluetooth (despite that probably not being GPL).
On their LinkedIn pages, Steve Jacobs, AJ Cooper, Evan Wilson, and Mattis Fjällström all list working at Flex immediately after working at Olio Devices. I think Flex used Olio as the basis of their ‘Wearable Technology Group’. They probably know that they don’t have any reason to lock up the Olio source code, but it doesn’t make fiscal sense to them to have their lawyers verify that, so they just keep it secret (despite all the people such as those here that would benefit from it).
@Sompom You wrote in your fakolio repo (very helpful, by the way) that you weren’t sure why Olio Devices wanted the watch’s MAC address. It would seem that the watch itself has no idea what color/material and band it has, so the app looks up the watch’s MAC address and the API server would tell it, the app then uses this to set the face displayed by the watch and the watch image it displays in the Olio Assist settings. I realized this when my black watch had a blue watch face like the silver watches.
I wrote a C program that allows shells to be accessed over simple Bluetooth RFCOMM connections, I’m going to try sending it in a firmware update later tonight. I think that once I get code exec on one watch, I’ll be able to get the libc addresses I need to write BlueBorne exploit code that will work with the Olio’s, this would then be usable on a computer without the need for setting up any servers. If you’re able to exploit it quick enough, you might be able to use my BlueBorne code to fix your watch.
@Sompom Of course, there probably is some marketing data that they got from knowing who bought what, too. They might have kept track of the MAC addresses of the watches they gave to certain retailers, and used that to verify sale claims, for example.
@Sompom This process seems rather roundabout but it makes sense: it allowed Olio Devices (or their manufacturers, more accurately) to manufacture motherboards without caring about what color watch they were going in; they just had to briefly boot up every watch when it was done with the manufacturing process (which they probably already did for testing) and record the MAC address it displayed and its color.
@CaptainBilly I am about to move apartments and I am trying to minimze the amount of stuff I have to move. Do you want me to mail you my watch? No strings attached. I don’t need it back, I just can’t bring myself to throw it away! If so, email me at the address on the commits of my github repo
I had a stupid reset of the model one I was using well. The server doesn’t seem to be running at the moment. Does anybody know how to connect it to iphone? also does anyone know how to update the firmware? T.T
So unfortunate! Live this watch. Got a new phone and now can’t connect and old phone is wiped. Watch does not work. I’m trying to connect with AJ Cooper, Steven Jacobs and Evan Wilson. We will see if they accept my linkedIn invite.
@jakeeastman1 There’s no hope in trying to contact them. They sold Olio Devices, and in doing so everyone involved signed a no-disclosure agreement regarding absolutely every aspect of the company. Even if they didn’t, they don’t actually have a way to make the watches work short of writing new code (which they probably won’t do unless you pay them). Instead, just follow this forum. I’m working on a program that will let Olio Watch owners install their own smart watch operating system of choice (Android Wear, Google Wear OS, Asteroid OS, etc.) on their nonfunctional watches.
I know we’ve been bugging the founders on LinkedIn with no luck, but I just came across an old email announcing a new Customer (thats us!) Experience lead, Christina Hall. I’m wondering if we reach out to her if she may have any promising info (or code!). I’ll try LI and provide an update.
I am thrilled to announce the addition of Cristina Hall to lead the Olio Customer Experience team. She joins us after completing her MBA at Harvard Business School and has a background that includes customer experience research and advisory, fashion, and technology. Cristina has a unique passion for user-centered design and premium customer care, and shares Olio’s relentless commitment to quality and excellence in everything that she does.
@CaptainBilly Through LinkedIn. I’m sure there is a chance, but I chalked it up as no response just like the other attempts at contacting people through LI.
If anyone is reading this who has access to the Olio’s Linux kernel source code, or any other Olio-related source code for that matter, or schematics, etc. but is worried about the legal consequences of disclosing it, please send it to me anonymously by emailing me at jake@olio.watch, or uploading it to https://www.hypotheticalquestionthursday.com/dropbox.php
I won’t attempt to derive your identity from your IP (which is very hard to do), but if you don’t trust me, feel free to use Tor.
What is more important, honoring your NDA or honoring all the people who spent real money on their Olios?
@CaptainBilly Still looking for the Olio Assist IPA - I do have a copy - still syncs with my Olio and works with iOS 11 - just need to extract it from my 7
@CaptainBilly I just wanted to ask about your progress on this project. I’m pretty much a noob at programming but am curious about how you’re approaching this problem.
@jz3ba This actually falls a lot into the ‘sysadmin’ category, so even if you don’t have experience with programming you might still understand.
I can get complete control (root code execution) over the software of any Olio over Bluetooth via the firmware update mechanism of the Olio Assist app, whose functionality I can restore with @Sompom’s custom server: https://github.com/sredman/fakolio
Right now, I’m trying to test new low-level, system critical code, the kernel. (If the kernel doesn’t work, nothing does.) Typically, the kernel has to be permanently written to the system memory to be loaded. Generally, though, whenever you write something to the bootloader area of a computer’s (such as the Olio) memory, it will be ran every time the computer boots until something comes along and replaces (overwrites) it.* This means that if I were to test a kernel the normal way (by writing it to the memory and letting the bootloader load it) and the kernel doesn’t work the first time (which is really likely my first time creating (compiling) a kernel, something minor like the Bluetooth not working resulting in me not being able to talk to it); the watch I used would never work again.**
This is somewhat true with a typical PC, but if you overwrite the kernel on a normal computer with one that doesn’t work (I’ve done this a few times, I’m one of those hardcore Linux users that compiles my own kernels), you just have to boot a bootable CD or USB drive and fix it (or if you can’t do that for whatever reason, take the hard drive out, plug it into a working computer, and fix it with that). The Olio doesn’t have anything like a USB port or CD drive that can be used for loading recovery boot media**, and the hard drive in my PC analogy, the flash (the memory as I’ve been calling it) is soldered on top of the CPU (and I have neither the equipment nor the skill to remove it).
There is a way to run kernels even if they weren’t loaded via a bootloader (as noted above, a bootloader can only load kernels from the flash), that is via kexec. kexec is a function that replaces a running kernel with a new one, without rebooting the system and therefore without getting the bootloader involved. The kernel that kexec loads doesn’t have to come from the dangerous bootloader region of the flash. I could send the Olio a kernel and one-time instructions to run it; then, if the kernel doesn’t work, I just have to let the battery die. The next time the watch turns on, as I didn’t touch any of the bootloader memory, it would boot the working kernel it was running before. If the kernel does work, great, tell it to write itself to the flash! (‘Working’ includes being able to talk to it over Bluetooth, so it would only commit itself to the flash with explicit instruction to do so from me.)
The catch is that the kernel that is being replaced via kexec has to have code for kexec. None of the official Olio kernels have kexec support (the significance of this being that until I compile my own kernels and see them work only the kernels released by Olio Devices are guaranteed to work on Olio watches). They do, however, have support for loadable kernel modules (LKM), small pieces of kernel code (but not whole kernels) that can be introduced after boot. Currently, I am working on introducing the missing kexec code via an LKM. An LKM has the same potential of crashing a computer as a whole kernel, but I don’t have to permanently insert them into the kernel or anything like that; I can just send a one-time command to insert my LKM, and if it crashes the Olio system, I just need to let the battery die and turn it back on.
This isn’t always true (a computer might try to run code supplied over the network if the code in the boot section of its memory doesn’t work, for example), but for the Olios, it is.
** There may (or may not) be a UART/serial port on the Olio’s motherboard. On devices that have them (they’re typically found on embedded devices like routers or IP cameras), UART ports are frequently used during the manufacture or repair process; they can essentially be used as a recovery CD or USB drive. The only contacts on the Olio’s motherboard that could be UART ports are 1.8 volts, but all of my UART adapters are either 3.3 or 5 volts. I ordered a 1.8 volt UART adapter on eBay, but it’s shipping out of China so it won’t be here for a few weeks. I’ll only use it if it arrives before I get my kexec module working (using a serial port to access the bootloader would be much easier, though, so if kexec isn’t working I’ll switch to the serial converter as soon as it gets here).
@tc95 Once I get a custom kernel compiled and know that it works, I still need to actually port an OS (the user space part), but that won’t be very hard (definitely not compared to what I’m doing now).
You could look through this list of former Olio Devices employees, find the contact information (maybe check GitHub and LinkedIn) of those listed as software engineers or developers (don’t post any contact info here if you find it, we don’t want them to get spammed), and ask nicely (making legal demands hasn’t worked for me) for any changes that they made to the code of the programs that run on the Olio, such as U-Boot and the Linux kernel (I need the custom Linux code the most).
They never released any of this Olio-specific custom code. The GNU GPL version 2.0, the copyright license under which Linux is licensed, dictates if you use a GPL-licensed program in your product that you have to release the corresponding source code, including any changes you made to it, if any. (If you didn’t make any changes to the code then a simple acknowledgment is enough, but Olio Devices didn’t even do that.)
The GPL says that you have to make this code available or provide it at request within three years of the last distribution of your product. According to that, Olio Devices, despite being defunct, is still legally obliged to provide the code (the last time Olios were officially ‘distributed’ was when they sold their fourth batch in late 2016/early 2017, so we’re still within that three year window). I pointed this out to Olio Device’s acquirer Flex, Ltd. in an email, but they never replied. I don’t have a huge legal team to go sue them, so our best bet is to nicely request it from former employees.
They seemed to have continually revised their code up to the time they released their last firmware update on November 30 2016, so if you get code from someone (such as someone that was fired early on), it is definitely better than nothing, but not necessarily the latest. They seem to, just like the mainstream Linux developers, have used the git program to keep track of their changes. In the version section of the Olios settings menu, there is a kernel listing which always shows 3.10.0-g… The characters after the ‘g’ are the first seven characters of the latest git ‘commit’ (revision) ID that was present when the Linux kernel was compiled from its source code. In all of the Olio kernel versions that I have seen, none of the commit IDs were present in the Linux 3.10.0 repository commit history, meaning that they were custom commits that the Olio devs made. The latest firmware lists having kernel version 3.10.0-g2ae2f33, so the Linux kernel source tree with the latest custom Olio Devices code will have a commit with an ID starting with 2ae2f33.
Also, do not believe them if they give you a simple acknowledgment that they used Linux but claim that they did not write their own custom code. No public Linux code has strings like ‘olio,mic_enable’, or ‘%s OLIO wrong number of args (%d, expected 1) for power request.’, or ‘CONFIG_OLIO_H1_PRODUCTION’.
Maybe you could make up a sad story to make them feel sympathetic (empathetic?) for you. Say that everything in your life is going wrong and you just want to be able to play Mario on your watch.
Once upon a time there was a domain called internal.oliodevices.com, which sounds like it could possibly be a repository where they hosted this magical custom code, but whatever was there is now gone. I didn’t read about that domain anywhere, I was guessing various oliodevices.com subdomains. Surely enough, it resolved to an Amazon Web Services IP, but that IP doesn’t have any services at it. It wasn’t ever saved on archive.org. A SSL records website showed that it had a self-signed certificate when it was operating.
Wow, this turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be.
@tc95 I took an Olio apart but I didn’t find any manufacturer markings. Here are some pictures of the watch’s insides (those are pictures from the FCC testing, not my own, but the boards in that watch and my watch are identical). If you did find the manufacturer and they were willing to disclose anything to us (most companies won’t just disclose their customers’ information to random people that ask for it unless there is some law saying that they have to, like the GNU GPL, but no one cares about that), that would definitely be some helpful insight but they probably wouldn’t have any source code. The source code was compiled to binary files (which is what I already have and what the factories had) by Olio Devices’ employees, as hinted by ‘ewilson90@EW-LT’ in the version strings on the kernels (Linux kernel version strings contain various information besides the actual version number such as the system name and user on that system that compiled the kernel and the time and date that it was compiled) from early Olio firmware; Evan Wilson was the ‘Director of Software Engineering’ according to the page I linked (EW-LT probably stands for Evan Wilson**-Lapt**op).
In later kernels the compiled by string changed to ‘olio@olio-build-server’, olio-build-server could possibly be an Amazon Web Services (AWS) server. These are reasons that backup that theory, they’re not that important to read (the point is just that it’s more than likely that olio-build-server is an AWS server).
It is very difficult to compile a Linux kernel if you don’t use Linux. Olio Devices was never a big company, and as such their employees probably used their own personal computers (as opposed to HR buying everyone their own work laptops with Linux). There were probably multiple software developers that didn’t use Linux. Olio Devices could have gotten a Linux AWS server that their employees could remotely connect to and use to compile the code that could only be compiled on Linux.
If everyone was using the same files on this server everyone would always have the latest code; they wouldn’t have to send every revision to each other (but then again, they did use git, which makes this easier). This is supported by the high revision number in the version string. In the Linux kernel version string, along with the other stuff like the time at compile, the username of the user that ran the compiler, or the actual release (what everyone thinks of when they hear a version number, the 3.10.0-g… on the Olio or 4.19.1 on the laptop I’m using to type this) is the revision number. When you compile a Linux kernel, a file named ‘.version’ is created in the source tree (the directory containing all the source code, see https://github.com/torvalds/linux for the vanilla Linux kernel source tree without the custom Olio code if you’re interested in what that looks like) containing the number 1. Later, when compiling is done and the final kernel image is being linked together, the contents of this file is put into the version string. Every time you compile a kernel after that, the number in this file increases by one before it is put into the version string. Between builds, the source tree is usually cleaned, ‘make clean’ or ‘make mrproper’ for a more thorough clean. ‘make clean’ does not delete the .version file but ‘make mrproper’ does. I have seen the ewilson90@EW-LT version string on two Olios. On one, the revision number was 228, meaning that 227 kernels were compiled before that one in the same source tree without it being fully cleaned. On the other, the revision number was 233 (this was probably a continuation of the 228). On the latest kernel with the olio@olio-build-server username, the revision number is 72. (At some point, the source tree was fully cleaned, they started over (unlikely), they manually deleted the .version file (unlikely, based on the other work practices I have observed from them), or it was copied between computers with git (git doesn’t ‘track’ ‘generated’ files, such as .version file); but that’s not the point.) These 72 kernels weren’t necessarily all compiled by the same person, but could’ve been compiled by multiple people with access to olio-build-server. Then again, they could have predicted these reverse engineering efforts and manually put some random number in the .version file to confuse us, but that seems far fetched.
olio-build-server has ‘server’ in the name.
They were already a big AWS customer, with all of their (other) servers being hosted by Amazon. It probably wouldn’t be too hard for them to get another AWS server.
…so if anyone would have it, it would be Amazon. They may have deleted that server when Olio went out of business; then again, they might not have; Flex appears to be maintaining Olio’s infrastructure: they keep renewing oliodevices.com (it was renewed on July 26 of this year, July 26 2013 being when it was initially registered), oliodevices.com uses Amazon’s nameserver (which they don’t let you use for free), oliodevices.com still points to an AWS server which is on but doesn’t have any services running, internal.oliodevices.com points to an AWS IP, but it doesn’t respond to any pings or any other traffic (they surely would have given that IP to another server unless someone was actively paying for it). (My point in saying all that is that if those servers are still up and weren’t deleted maybe olio-build-server wasn’t either.) That internal.oliodevices.com server could be the olio-build-server server.
But Amazon probably wouldn’t be willing to disclose their customers’ information, either. We might be able to get something out of them if we tell them that one of their customers violated the GPL, big companies like that typically want to stay out of legal trouble as much as possible, but that probably wouldn’t work.
So maybe you could look into the AWS terms of use or their privacy policy to see under what kind of terms Amazon would be willing to disclose one of their AWS customer’s servers to us.
@tc95 According to this article, the Olios were manufactured by Flex (then Flextronics), the same company that acquired Olio Devices and who refuses to give us the source code.
So the manufacturer route (if you’re still interested in that, even though you posted that eight months ago) probably won’t work.
CaptainBilly, I don’t, but I’ve got anbox set up and can deconstruct the android APK if there’s something in there that’s consistent across Android and IOS that you’d find useful! Really appreciate what you’re doing.
If you guys are able to overcome the current status of these watches, you’d be legendary! I’ve been quietly sitting on my watch, hoping for the day to come. I will scour the web and find you that ipa!
@CaptainBilly The battery life on the Olio was pretty bad. Asteroid seems like a lighter more battery friendly os build on paper, but who knows how it would actually fare. Still that’s my vote: Asteroid OS.
@CaptainBilly Just another voice say that if one or the other of these is more compatible with you charging money, I’d be happy to get this watch supported via a (reasonable) subscription model.
@curtw4 That’s kind of tempting, but no, I’m not going to charge money for anything I come up with (with regards to the Olio, I’m saying this so that 20 years from now some lawyer doesn’t come along and say that everything I make has to be free).
@curtw4 Maybe lawyer fees if I have to sue someone to get the source code that Olio was legally obligated to provide, but that’s probably just a little too much for your definition of ‘reasonable’.
Does anyone here know anything about the Olio model number convention?
When I was trying to deduce how much custom code is in the Olio’s kernel, I was just looking for the string ‘olio’, but I’ve now seen that ‘H1’ also means code custom to the Olio, H1 as in H1B-SKU-…
i have no idea now to do anything that you are trying to do, but appreciate your work.
i love this beautiful boat anchor watch, found this online. the xda forum is very good at jailbraking almost anything. just a suggestion, perhaps someone there has some ideas how to repurpose this beautiful watch.
someone last year was asking how to load other software on this watch because the olio server was shutting down soon.
Here’s another expression of interest. I bought one of these beauties a few weeks ago…
I can also help a bit with coding or electronics hacking. Having worked on the first team to successfully emulate the 3DO gaming console, I’m used to working against incredible odds on abandoned tech.
@euratus Well, it pretty much depends on whether we can get Olio Devices’ former employees to disclose the source code that they were legally obligated to disclose. (But they’re out of business now so it legally doesn’t really matter if they disclose anymore.) I gave up on that, but if someone else can get their modified Linux kernel sources (Evan Wilson and
Mattis Fjällström worked with it most) and send it to me, I should be able to get another OS running like I had been trying. Give it a shot if you want, look them up on Linkedin (or elsewhere) and send them a message.
@CaptainBilly@euratus@la832 has someone tried to reach out to former Olio folks?
Did someone buy the remains/assets of Olio btw? If so, would the legal requirement to disclose the source code carry over? If someone bought the IP then I assume it would carry over.
A lot of people would probably be interested in this. Keep us updated anyone out there. My watch is still good unpaired but it isn’t a smart watch anymore.
@CaptainBilly@Shalifi
Mine doesn’t. I only take it out of the box a few times a year just to see if it still works, and the time is always way off until I sync it to the phone (unless it’s an atomic watch too). I don’t think there’s a way to set the time manually.
/image wwvh
Yes, a little over a year ago (maybe 2 now) someone found one of the Founders on Linkedin and reached out to him. It doesn’t seem like he was thrilled with being contacted (DB), no help was provided or offered from him. Looks like that is a dead end.
@abus500 Would you be willing to talk to the Software Freedom Conservancy about your transaction with them? They might be able to get me the code I need to fix the Olios, but first they think it would be helpful to get some information from someone who bought their Olio directly from Olio Devices. If you would be willing to talk to them, give me your email address and I’ll forward it on to them. Also, if you don’t want everyone on this forum to see your email address, just ‘Whisper’ it to me (the link to the right of Reply).
Do any of you guys have the latest 1.7 firmware? I just got mine running using the Fakolio program. Also, @captainbilly did you ever port AsteroidOS to the Olio?
@CaptainBilly Thanks for the firmware update. My watch was on 1.3. Now it’s on 1.10. I am a software engineer myself. Mostly database and application. I know linux pretty well, but I’m not a Kernel hacker. Is there anything I can do to help?
VB.Net is probably my strongest. Second is Perl, HTML, SQL, Javascript. I know a little C++, and Java, but I wouldn’t say I’m an expert. I started programming in Basic on TI-994A. Been writing in Basic-like languages ever since. My C++, and Java experience was in college. Never really did anything with it.
It looks strangly like an Upside-Down Olio… could they have a line to the factory and maybe a person to re-program the old watches…??
I had my wife spend a day in Shenzen looking for a factory that knew what an Olio was… they just would not help… did some digging… found a number to an Alibaba person… whom would not answer me directly… so I forgot about it… until today when I saw that watch…
@tc95 Sorry, I didn’t see this until now. They probably don’t have any connection to Olio; the flat notch on the top or bottom of the screen is the result of a fairly common (and cheap) way of connecting the screen to the motherboard.
@CaptainBilly I live in Walnut Creek. I’m willing to lend out my two Olios for any help/development to get the watches working again on hacked Olio OS or AsteroidOS
Mine works fine. And still works on my now old phone. Which I can use to set the time properly. But there’s no way to sync it to a new phone unless someone finds a way to hack the firmware or something.
@CaptainBilly He used to watch and reply on the FB group, then went silent. He claimed there was nothing they could do since they sold the whole thing to another company. I did not reach out directly to him though.
@esebuenjona Yes, that can be used to restore enough functionality to the Olio Assist app to get the Olio past the setup screen and set the time on it.
@CaptainBilly@euratus Hi, I do have Olio Assist App installed on my non-rooted Android phone. Is there ANY way you could help to get my phone back up and running? (the github link provides no clear directions, at least for me) Would appreciate this a lot!
@CaptainBilly@euratus Billy did say being rooted wasn’t necessary.
Btw, the end of that Github link says we have to “restore the app’s data partition from a backup where the watch was previously working”. Do you or anybody else have that backup?
Hey I habe one of these if anybody wants to Buy it and Hack it let me know… Its REAL GOLD and I can’t get the damn thing to work in 2021 because why would I… If a company manufactures a $1800 watch and goes BellyUp - THEY SHOULD RELEASE THE GD FIRMWARE SO WE CAN CONTINUE TO USE THE GD THING. Im actually thinking of Suing… Its really ticking me off. Ive been looking for ANYONE who can Hack this thing or HELP Me hack it for YEARS now. GOoGLE Android needs to create an ANDROID Backwards Compatibility Layer for these PERSISTENTLY and usually unnecessarily updated and Over Bloated phones so that we can use software built for 2008-2018 Android Devices. And OLIO SHOULD have at LEAST left the damn Server on or sold it to be maintained by another entity… Like IDK Samsung or Moto… The worst kind of STUPID AHOLE BUISNESS practices went on with this watch. Everything past 2008 Sucks. MEH.
Hey guys! Meh buyer @mandirose here. Disclaimer…I’m the buyer of this deal, so I of course am a little biased, but I have been using the watch now for a couple weeks and will happy to answer any questions as honestly as possible if anyone has any
@mandirose does it charge via standard wireless qi like the moto 360?
@mandirose Any idea how long there will be software support for the watch?
@dagirlgenius current software is as far as you’ll get, the app should be available in google play and apple store for 2 years but there will be no support from olio on these
@communist “To charge your Olio Watch, use only the charging cable and wireless charger provided to you by Olio.” Comes with one charger in the box
@mandirose
How big of a wrist will it fit?
@mandirose Can you change faces and backgrounds of the watch without the app? At the demo site for the black watch, I am seeing four choices of hands, and four background choices. Can I choose between them without using the app?
@bdb The watch faces are dependent on style:
Gold: Clear sky dial with sunfire yellow accents
Rose: Eclipse astral dial with turquoise accents
Steel: Radiant white markers with ice blue accents
Black: Technical dial with burnished gold accents
@troy
TROY!!!
@mandirose Battery life, please?
@caffeine_dude I don’t have the exact measurements but will try to find them. I will let you know the link watches have 2 extra links included with them but I’m sure that doesn’t help much
@mandirose …please mention that there are two on eBay for $250.00 and $450.00!
@mandirose Life between charges?
@mandirose This or Pebble?
@Superllama7 Depends on the settings you choose but realistically, 8-18 hours depending on setting choices. They say 24 hours but I haven’t experienced that long
@mandirose I have read that some of the processing is done on the cloud with this watch. Assuming that the company is no longer supporting that, have you noticed any issues caused by that?
@tinsami1 That’s a great question. I’d say pebble for software and this for looks. A merchandiser in the office has a pebble and helped us test one and I think he would say pebble but he did like this watch a lot. I personally don’t like the look of pebbles so i would say this one, but again I’m biased haha
@ruouttaurmind see reply above
@mandirose Oh damn. As little as 8 hrs is a deal killer. Even a full 18 hrs would leave me dead in the water on many days.
@tinsami1 Pebble, everyday. Great battery life, low weight, and supported.
@pburkej I have not noticed any issues.
@ruouttaurmind It’s a lot about how you keep your settings but I want to be as honest as possible
@mandirose
I appreciate that. It woulda been a pissa to dole 70 bucks and wind up with a smart watch that wouldn’t make it through my day.
@PlacidPenguin PLACIDPENGUIN!!!
@mandirose My question would be if you knew of any way to put third party firmware on this. It might be fun to write custom software for if there’s any possibility of ever doing that. Searching hasn’t turned anything up.
If you were selling Pebble Time Steel watches at that price, I’d probably jump at it. I need a spare. When my current one’s watchband broke, it was a pain going back to the old watch.
@mandirose Are you able to take off the face and replace it with another? I’d like to keep the 24K band and I have a rolex face I want to switch with it.
@mandirose Apparently this watch was supposed to have an open API. Is there any chance we might be able to get that for hacking and such? Since there will be no support for this watch in the future.
@mandirose can the band be swapped for any others? Say 22 mm bands?
@rlesueur Supported how? Pebble went out of business.
@kazriko Why not just get a watch band for your Pebble?
@caffeine_dude I bought one of these when they first came out. It’s a nice looking watch, and the battery lasts more than a day. I have a big wrist (8+ inches) and put my own strap on it.
@GLaDOS Out of business and acquired by Fitbit are 2 very different things. While Olio was also acquired, the difference is Fitbit makes end user, consumer products and Flex (the company that acquired Olio) primarily makes components and business related products.
@crocetti slight correction, they are listed on ebay for that price. Only 1 up for auction. Granted still a lot of time left, but currently it is at $1.25. Watching it just for curiosity, but I would not suggest buying a bunch trying to make a fortune lol
@sgrenald Thanks for your input! It’s really nice to have feedback from someone who’s had experience with the watch!
@kazriko I don’t know of any way to do that BUT if you do buy one and figure it out, we’d love to have you post about it in the forum for our other mehmbers
@bobatron Not that I’m aware of
@WilsonSports @comeatmebro Hey @troy , I know you changed took a band off, do you have more info on that process/what type of connection it is
@mandirose Thanks for the charger info. It kinda concerned me that it wasn’t listed as being “in the box” in the description!
@mandirose One of the photos shows the watch being immersed in water…does this mean it is water resistant /waterproof? Can it be worn swimming?
@mandirose I haven’t worn it in a while, so I put it on this morning. When I got my watch originally, it was almost impossible to get it to Bluetooth with my phone. Now it does it instantly. Which is nice.
@chienfou Thanks for catching that! The box specs have been updated.
@comics360 Yes it can be worn swimming
@comics360 50M water-resistant but I wouldn’t recommend the suede one if you plan on swimming in it
@mandirose just don’t shower with it. (General watch advice - not just olio)
@communist it has its own custom charger. I haven’t tried any other induction chargers besides the Apple one. Which won’t work
@dswift0117 @crocetti Selling prices have been hovering around $125. Which would be helpful in determining value if a huge glut of these wasn’t about to hit the market.
@mandirose @WilsonSports @comeatmebro standard spring-loaded pins. I was able to get both the metal & leather bands off with a small flat head screwdriver, since I didn’t have a watch tool kit lying around. Had I actually paid $1395 for one I probably would have been more careful
@mandirose I bet you are high-fiving everyone in North Texas. That’s a good haul for less than a half day.
@Lighter Let’s just say I think today made up for my pineapple mugs yesterday
@mandirose
But… I liked the pineapple mugs.
@troy you can buy a spring bar tool for $10-20 on the internet
@GLaDOS Did that, that’s why I’m using the pebble again. But the vibration motor is starting to go out on it too, so a spare would still be handy. The watch band breaking just made me realize how much I use the thing.
@mandirose pineapple mugs did suck ass.
@dino2269
Says you. They were interesting.
@mandirose I got mine, but can’t find any sign of a full manual ANYWHERE. The quick start guide is no help either. How in the heck do you invoke:
@curtw4 Hey Curt. Music should control the music on your phone. As we put in the write up, weather was a feature that wouldn’t work anymore. Same with navigation.
@mandirose I guess I read the write-up with too much optimism. The write-up said “already don’t perform…” but because their youtube video shows it working, I just assumed a newer firmware was required. Both weather and Nav are things it can get straight from the phone, no need for a “cloud” server. So, I guess “staged demo” of those functions?
Probably something to hang onto in case anybody ever writes functioning firmware for it.
@mandirose I didn’t see an answer on the full manual. The watch is beautiful and does some stuff, but I feel like it’s hit and miss and would love to know officially at least how the different features are supposed to work.
@mandirose I received mine, paired it with my iPhone and charged it to about 30% and wore it for a few hours. It died during that time and I’m unable to get the screen to come back on. I left it charge all night last night and the watch still won’t turn on. I know it’s not actually on because my phone isn’t paired to it anymore. Any ideas on what to do??
@joelmw Again, as we wrote in the write up, the thing the watch does best now is notifications and telling time. No full manual available that we know of but here’s a link to their youtube channel showing how to set up some of the features youtube
@mandirose hey, I’m in need of assistance. I just took my watch out for its first day, and it just turned off, seemingly out of nowhere, early in the morning. I let it charge to full capacity the night before. Is there some sort of reset, button, gesture, something?
@colbysolomon Do you know if the watch updated? Go the the about section and see if it says you have the latest softwear version
@curtw4 Agreed. I could really use a manual. I swiped too quickly on the VIP contacts description. What does (or did) that feature do?
@communist It charges, but it gets really hot compared to the official charger. I’m pretty sure that’s why they recommend only their charger. On the plus side, my Galaxy S6 charges nice and cool on the watch’s charger.
@dalekjoe that’s great to know! Thanks for the tip
@mandirose Mine turned on and seemed to pair okay… but then it turned off and I can’t seem to figure out how to get it back on. It’s also getting really hot from the charger. Is this normal? Is there anything special I have to do?
@bpokorny1 try watching this video tip and see if it helps?
@Rabernathy try watching this video and see if this helps
@mandirose i let it take a really bright led for 10 mins or more and still couldn’t get anything out of it
@Rabernathy hmmm only other advice I would say is to take it off the charger and let the battery run out and try again in about 20 minutes. If that doesn’t work, contact customer service and let them know what’s going on and they’ll be able to help
@mandirose does your Weather screen work? I just have clouds with question marks in them. I thought maybe it would use my iPhone’s weather, but apparently not? (And yeah, I get the part about the company not being in business anymore)
@mjc94ma As we wrote in the write up, weather is a feature that would not work
@mandirose oh, okay. Missed that part. Still a nice looking watch regardless. Thank you.
@mjc94ma I’ve found the more I wear mine, the more things I find out about it that I like
Just so you know too, if you have notifications about weather (like my accuweather notifies me if there’s going to be a severe storm) those notifications will show up!
@troy @mandirose @WilsonSports @comeatmebro I just changed out the band on mine with a tiny screwdriver. Used the pins from the original band (black steel) and replaced it with this band from Amazon “Beauty7 Black 24mm Brushed Finish Butterfly Clasp”. I really liked the original band, but it was about one link too small and I couldn’t find any way to get one more link. This one isn’t exactly the same color, but it looks nice and matches the style pretty close… but more importantly, it’s about one link size bigger.
@Liquidblue Thanks so much for the feedback on this. It will really help some other customers out!
@Liquidblue Mine came with 2 links and 2 pins in a small plastic bag in the box the watch came in. Inside one of the little side panels that lift up. Or did you mean it still didn’t fit with those 2 extra links?
@acowman Fit but was super snug with the two extra links. One more would have been perfect.
@popkanzia
@mandirose hello,
do any of the apps work? I get texts, but that is it. No email, no weather no directions. Apple iPhone 7 plus. Thank you
@Whitcomb Weather and directions do not work but email should. Do you get notifications on your lock screen for emails already? If not, you have to change your settings on your Iphone. The watch should replicate the settings you have on your phone, I.E. I don’t get facebook alerts so they don’t come up on my watch but I do get text alerts and those do
@mandirose Thank you,
Weird, but weather did work 3 days ago. Weather Undergrond or Accuweather. Couldn’t tell which one tho. Thanks again
@mandirose I found the weather API working (occasionally) via Accuweather and changing the settings in Accuweather to “small circle”
@kazriko I have a pebble time steel. From Kick Starter HMU if interested. Cdecker78 at KC dot RR dot Com
@sgrenald I can’t get mine to Bluetooth w my phone. How did u get it to work?
@Whitcomb Where did you find the setting for Accuweather “small circle” ?
@mandirose Any way to find an old version of the app for Android?
@nostrom0 I don’t believe the app is working any longer unfortunately!
Seriously??? This is the one time the baby arm would have been really appropriate!!! WHERE IS THE BABY ARM PHOTO WITH THIS???
@Kidsandliz you’re going to get someone fired over this.
@Kidsandliz it would be appropriate… Which is probably exactly why they didn’t do it lol
@DavidChurchRN Nah…I think the new writer doesn’t like or appreciate the history behind the baby arm. LOL In the photo with the vapid female model she could have been photoshopped out and the baby arm substituted. Bingo. Not appropriate use of the appropriate baby arm. (grin).
@sourhead Hmm… who writes these things so I can ping just him/her (and not the octopus; I wasn’t paying attention when someone new was hired apparently) to lodge my “complaint”? LOL
@Kidsandliz I hope Kyle didn’t smuggle the baby arm out with his coffee mug when he left.
@Kidsandliz
Are you referring to @skemmehs?
@PlacidPenguin No idea as I wasn’t paying enough attention when the new writer was introduced.
@PlacidPenguin Hmm saw you had pinged me in that thread and I actually had said something to him about baby arms. LOL Maybe @skemmehs hates baby arms. (grin).
I love it and will definitely buy a steel one… If you sell it for $15.
@DaveInSoCal i would buy at this price if it came with all the band types.
“oleo” means “margarine” doesn’t it?
@awk Yep. That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the name XD
Everyone should read that linked Verge article. It’s no wonder this company went belly up: it was all about marketing how fancy it was.
You can’t change the watch face? That’s a feature! Changing the face would mess with the fancy design!
It’s got no fitness tracking? That’s a feature! Nobody uses that stuff, and the extra sensors would mess with the feng shui, or the karma, or something.
Well at that price I’m not surprised they went belly up.
@jml326 You’d be surprised. SlickDeals has people posting $3000 watches all the time and creaming themselves over how nice (and cheap!) they are. Why anyone would pay more for a watch than I did for my car I won’t understand, especially since my car also tells time.
@jml326 what do you mean by belly up?
@Konraden IIRC those are actual luxury watches for actual good prices. You know, like the Omega Seamaster that James Bond wears.
@Konraden To be fair, you’d look a little silly wearing a car on your wrist.
@thekenya
OLIO is no longer in business.
Mirror.
@thekenya the company went bankrupt, out of business, no longer functioning, dead, nada, zip zilch. That sort of thing.
@Hexxman007 They’re pining for the fjords.
@jml326 missed the deal but possibly looking to buy off someone if they are having buyers remorse
@callblackout I’ll keep you in mind after I see how big this thing looks on my wrist.
@callblackout i thought you didn’t like the watch?
@callblackout Can I still let you know in a week? That’s assuming I can’t actually figure out something more than checking the time and using the timer.
@callblackout Mine is for sale. It’s not the watch, it’s me.
@jberkemeier what color?
@nickads Steel.
@jberkemeier It’s sold.
I have two. Selling both. The wife and I both like our cheap plastic Android watches. I have the 24K gold for her and the stainless for me. Each worn for a few hours.
@savedme Did you sell the gold one yet?
@greg8920 I still have both. Just sitting in the box)
@savedme how much? and how would you handle the transaction? Paypal?
@greg8920 Paypal would be fine.You can email directly Savedme@gmail.com. Make an offer there please and we’ll move forward.
@savedme sounds good. Emailed you.
@callblackout I have mine for sale. Haven’t even worn it. Color is black steel and A+ condition.
Hard to find reviews but the ones I do find are of people complaining that it outright doesn’t work or that many of the features don’t. I’m tempted to try one given how much it is marked down but then I have to remind myself that it is still a $50 smartwatch which isn’t that great of a deal for something that might not work or might work so poorly that I don’t use it.
You all know you made CNN? A headline like “Get an Olio smartwatch for $50” and they linked meh. Those highfalutin, (I spellchecked), executives are gonna be a bit surprised when chair socks come up tomorrow.
I still don’t know which watch to buy. Grrrrrrr. thanks @MWPollard for the sort of help.
@wew I’m wearing the Black Watch face with the Suede band in the photo above and I love that it looks different than other watches I’ve seen out there. Really can’t go wrong on any of these though, as someone who’s seen each and every one in person, there’s no bad choice on these
@wew @mandirose
CNET, not CNN.
https://www.cnet.com/news/get-an-olio-model-one-smartwatch-for-50
@wew Yeah, pretty sure they know they’re on CNET considering this line is in the article: “The Meh folks were nice enough to send me one to check out…”
@cinoclav dang, they weren’t nice enough to send me one to try out.
I’m ticked I didn’t get a metal band! who do i cry to that cares?
@wew chirp chirp
@wew chirp chirp
@wew
@mandirose my main problem with the watch is that it doesn’t tell time very well. I’ve had it sitting on the charger by my bed for the last few months. Picked it up today to wear it (thanks, Meh! for the reminder) and it said “4:02am, 1/1/2014” or something like that. I launched the app on my phone and it snapped to the correct date/time.
Also, I took it off the charger around 7am, and put it back on the charger at 6pm. Battery level was about 60%
@sgrenald not sure if you have an iPhone (I do) but I find just keeping the app running in the background makes everything run very smoothly. Only uses about 4% of my battery keeping it open in the background so doesn’t effect my cell battery too much.
@mandirose I do have an iPhone. But I’m not normally using my watch. It’s not a big deal to launch the app, though. I just thought it was odd that the (probably) fifty cent quartz timekeeper in the watch didn’t work that well. Kinda wish I’d grabbed the black w bracelet in the morning, but I’ve got a spare strap around somewhere for the leather one. One of the reasons I didn’t get the black one in 2015 was because it was $100 more than the steel one.
Biggest piece of advice I can give…once you finish the getting started instructions, let your watch fully charge before playing around with it. Many watches will start downloading a software update once the watch charges to 60% (some might come already with the latest software). You can check the ABOUT section of your app to see if your watch will need the update (may take a few minutes of charging though for it to say you need it)!
Make sure your watch stays connected to bluetooth while it’s downloading the software update and also make sure the watch stays on the charger while downloading. I highly recommend doing this overnight while you sleep and your watch should be ready to go when you wake up!
@mandirose Is the watch supposed to restart automatically after the (long, slow, painful) download, or does it need to be re-started manually?
@popkanzia
@JimMeh4 Sorry I missed this one! Looks like it rebooted though based on your other comment today
@mandirose Update: after the update I took it off the charger at around 8:30 am and at 6pm it was sitting at 61%. It’s now 10:30 pm and I’ve still got 37%. Much better potential after the latest firmware installed.
@JimMeh4 so glad to hear it!
/giphy fuck it.
/giphy I love golddddd
appetizing-mostly-field
At this price, no thanks. I picked up a Pebble Time recently and have been extremely impressed, it’s basically everything I want out of a smartwatch (from a $30 refurb no less), with good third-party software support going into the future.
@mandirose Congrats on a fascinating deal, even if I’m not in the market for a watch right now.
@dashcloud thank you! This was a fun one, glad the community seems to be enjoying it!
@dashcloud exactly! I get no emails, no appointments, no texts, but the watch just looks nice.
what color? what color? (and what’s with all the different bands? I’ll have to read the copy again.)
while I’m posting, the post office is coming out with a heat sensitive solar eclipse stamp in a few weeks. It’s very nerd cool! I’m pre-ordering today.
@wew I’m pretty sure the gold and rose gold are sold out.
@wew
For those interested: Preorder here.
@sammydog01 Nutz. I was leaning towards the Rose, just cause I have none. yeah, it’s sort of a mystery what 4pm will bring. Heh. No one can get a hold of me, otherwise I could go into the entrepreneur business at 4pm…all these non-vmp people want watches. Mr. Meh, I don’t know what you had to do to get this deal, and I don’t even know if I’ll snag one, but Kudos, sir.
@sammydog01 I could go with the black, but I don’t like the hands. It’s a smartwatch, think I could change them?
If anyone can get AJ Cooper, Evan Wilson or Steven Jakobs to release the firmware and/or app source code, I’d be happy to try and create a patch to allow the watch/app to communicate without their server.
Love these watches, really don’t want them to be dead.
Probably future support for newer versions of the OS will be zero.
@cengland0 Agreed
“Watch” out on this deal
I’d be happy to try one of these out… If I got it in a fuku.
Meh, already have a Martian. I’ll save the $50 and put it toward a much cooler “dumb” watch from tokyoflash some day.
@Oneroundrobb From the specs this may look a lot better than the Martian Notifier, but it doesn’t appear to do anything the Notifier doesn’t except run the battery down faster.
@craigthom @Oneroundrobb It does a shitload more than the Notifier, including providing continuing access to full notifications, which is huge for me. They just scroll by and go away on the Notifier, which means that mostly I miss them, unless I train myself to stop whatever else I’m doing to pay immediate attention to my watch–which I just don’t want to do most of the time. Also, the Notifier only shows a small portion of the notification; mostly it’s a reminder that I need to look at my phone.
The text on the Olio is complete, readable and–I daresay–beautiful.
In addition, the Olio:
I’d bet there’s more, but that’s what I’ve discovered so far. I hear rumor that there’s a mic or at least some way to access Siri.
The Martian isn’t worthless. I like it and it’s cheaper. The face isn’t bad. It has a little flashlight, which has actually been practical for me on occasion. In addition to showing that brief notification (which is sometimes enough to be useful), it has a cool feature where you can program different notifications to different pulses, so that it’s easy to tell, for instance, whether I’m getting an important call vs. a stupid nag from a game.
My Olio made it through the day and I’ll plan on just charging it overnight every day (battery life does seem to have improved with the update), but I’ll keep the Martian in my bag for backup.
I wear a “dumb” watch. I have gone several years without changing the battery. Charging nightly or weekly would be irritating.
@Kyser_Soze I have an inexpensive Seiko 5 automatic. It keeps damn good time and doesn’t even have a battery. If I had to charge my watch like my iPhone, my watch would be dead most of the time.
@Kyser_Soze Assuming you have a “smart” phone, it’s no big deal to charge it right next to the phone. I do it overnight…
I don’t know wtf to get my son for his 28th BDay. He’s not going to want anything to lug around due to his crazy schedule/moving coming up. I think he would be non-plussed if I made him pancakes.
physical-mad-bead
@skemmehs- Great write-up!
Hey Mehmbers! Just wanted to create a sort of “crowd sourcing” troubleshooting/FAQ post. I’d be more than happy to try to answer any questions if people have any once they receive their watches. I’ve set up about 20 of these at this point so I might be able to help and figure others in the community will probably be able to help assist as well because you’re all so awesome
Below is a link to Olio Devices youtube channel. You can find setup videos here if needed.
Olio Devices YouTube Channel
@mandirose Hi, I just got my watch today and plugged it in and synced it to my phone. After about 3 hours (had maybe 50% charge) the watch shut off and I haven’t been able to get the screen to come back on… any idea on this?
@Flick it won’t turn on at all? Even on the charger?
@mandirose I watched the YouTube videos and tried everything. The watch refuses to connect with my iPhone 7 plus and it does not even power up unless placed on the dock! Its been on the dock for more than a day so I know its a 1000% charged. I also noticed that the watch gets noticeably “warm” when on the charger. Can you help?
@mandirose Correct. It turned on once before, I used it for the afternoon and it turned off, and now I cannot get it back on. Even on the charger. My Iphone (which it was paired to before this happened) doesn’t show it on/connected anymore. That makes me believe it isn’t related to the brightness issue I’ve read about on here. The watch seems “dead”
@Flick Sorry to hear it still isn’t working, definitely contact our customer service team and they’ll get you straightened out
@mandirose Actually, after letting it sit back in the box for 2 days, I tried plugging it back in. It is charging now apparently, the screen came on… not really sure what happened. Going to let it do a full charge before messing it with it. I will let you know if I cannot get it to work after it.
@Flick I’m happy to hear it. Check the about section to make sure the update starts. I have a feeling if you can get it to update you’ll be good to go but if not let us know and we will get it worked out for you!
@mandirose
@maiera01 was there a question?
@mandirose Hi, I wanted to post a picture of the issue I am having with the Olio Model One, but could not find the option on this forumn. After sufficient charge the device boots to a frozen screen with lines showing up at the bottom. The device does not get past this, and I ran through any troubleshooting tips I could find, but nothing works. Any advice?
@maiera01 this is definitely a new one i’ve never seen. If you contact customer service, they’ll be able to assist you @thumperchick will you watch out for this one?
@mandirose Thanks, I figured was not easy fix since I get no response from it. I read that Olio released a Firmware that bricked a bunch of their devices before they quickly released a patch for it, I have a feeling I received one of them.
@maiera01 Write in and ask for me, if you already wrote in, reply to our last message and let us know that we tried to troubleshoot, but weren’t able to get it working. thanks!
@maiera01 I’m having the exact same problem.
@maiera01 I’m having this problem also.
@redfenix @delmario - write in to meh.com/support. It’ll go a bit smoother if we have a photo of what the screen is doing. Thanks!
@Thumperchick @mandirose I get the same screen as above. Watch has been on the charger for 4+ hours. Phone sees device when do a bluetooth scan but watch never goes beyond the above screen.
@delmario write in to meh.com/support for this, please.
@mandirose
Has anyone had an issue with getting past the login/sign up screen on the app? Just keep getting an error.
@HCETEHT
https://www.soft32.com/blog/platforms/another-one-bites-dust-long-olio/
(Credit to @Fourhundred57 for finding this.)
@HCETEHT HI THETECH, YOU HAVE A REAL LEET USER NAME.
IF YOU SPENT MUCH TIME READING THIS FORUM YOU WOULD PERHAPS SUSS OUT THE FACT THAT THE COMPANY IS GONE, THE SERVERS ARE GONE, AND UNLESS YOU CAN SET UP SOME SORT OF HOME SERVER TO FOOL THE WATCH AS SOME HAVE DONE IN THE PAST WITH THEIR LEET GAMES, YOU ARE SIL.
THAT STANDS FOR “SHIT OUT OF LUCK” SIR. I WISH I HAD BETTER NEWS, BUT THETECH CAN SUSS IT OUT, RIGHT?
@mflassy you are so much more classy than me.
@therealjrn
I know Olio is gone but obviously all these people who bought these watches in June of this year have gotten the app to work.
@HCETEHT
Hi.
When people bought this watch, the servers were still active to a certain extent. I mean, as @mandirose pointed out, certain features were unavailable, but the servers were still live.
From what I could tell though, at some point in the summer (probably nearer to the end), the servers were taken offline when the company was sold.
So unfortunately, the watch can’t be setup anymore.
@HCETEHT Obviously, you have not read through the posts, dude. It did then, it doesn’t now. sorry.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@mflassy I’ve got to work on my people skillz.
Poor @mandirose, she’s gonna get bombarded by all these lost souls looking for tech support. She didn’t do nothing but try to do her best job as a mediocre employee and buyer…
Apparently, the internets are finding this HUGE thread chock full of AWESOME tech support and now people are going to ping her. Happy Holidays Mandi!
@maiera01 Did you ever solve this problem? Do you still have the watch?
@CaptainBilly no unfortunately never worked, yeah still have it sitting in a drawer somewhere. Shame
Wore it into the pool yesterday. Waterproof check complete!
Mine just came in, black/metal band. Very nice looking watch. Fits me perfectly as is.
I was quickly and easily able to set up the pairing to my Galaxy S8. Plugged in watch right next to my phone. Phone started up and told me to open app on my phone, which I did. I clicked proceed on my watch…didn’t do anything so then I clicked proceed on my phone and the next screen came up to pair to my particular watch. It quickly went to the final screen to pick a few different options for the watch. Watch is now charging; they must come with very little charge because it started at 3%.
Edit: When you’ve successfully paired your watch, the screen on the phone App has a menu button on the top left. If you click that and then click “services” it will give you a bunch of options about the different notifications and services it does i.e., calling, texts, financial etc. If you click one, a new screen comes up and shows you the swiping options and what they do.
I think that may help people with the different gestures you can do on the watch.
I’m still interested in buying a 24k gold Olio from someone, if they’re unhappy and looking to sell. Thanks!!
@nickads glad to hear it’s going smoothly! Make sure to go to the about section of your app to see if the software is up to date. If it’s not, it should start downloading once it gets to 60% charged. Enjoy!
@nickads any chance you want to sell me your extra links? Even with the two added from mine, it’s too small.
@adrostad If you can give me a few days, I’ll get back to you. I may sell this if I can get a 24k gold one. If I can’t, I’ll gladly send you the 2 links, no charge.
@nickads you’re the man.
@nickads has it been a few days? Haha not trying to bepushy . Just looking for clarity.
@adrostad I was specifically waiting for today, to see if my girl was going to get me the gold one for father’s day. I had a suspicion she would as I’ve been talking about it all week. Anyways, I will be selling my black olio if you’d like to buy it at cost plus shipping. Sorry I couldn’t give you the links for free!
I got the wrong watch. Luckily, its the one I originally wanted and it’s much nicer then the one I ordered
@svasquezsr @juice999 Just in case anyone else shows up here, I am also unable to sign into the once-working app. I think it’s dead at this point unless some coder/hacker sets up a rogue login server.
Anyone have a few watches they’d like to donate to an intrepid hacker? “Here’s one up front. You got three more coming if you can get it working!”
Confirmation.
@Fourhundred57
Boy, I’ll say. My condolences @juice999 & @svasquezsr.
I’d just like to point out—for the sake of comedy—that I can’t even set the time on the watch I’m currently wearing. Yes; it’s currently two hours off.
@Fourhundred57 Might just be one hour off next week? OR you could always simply move to the “right” time zone? HTH
@Fourhundred57 I’m not sure all of what you’re saying here, but I haven’t been able to get my watch to work since recent iOS updates. I r sad.
On the plus side, my Martians (one was purchased on purpose and came in a fuko) are chugging along just fine.
@joelmw
First off — my Martian is working great, also!
Second — maybe mine hasn’t worked since iOS updates, but I just wore mine today after having it sit around for some time. It paired to my phone just fine, but in order to actually ‘connect’ it I had to launch the app—which I was signed out of. Now I’m totally unable to sign in, which means I am totally unable to even connect to the watch.
All I was saying is that if anyone capable-and-interested enough really wanted to, they might be able to spoof the Olio server in a manner similar to how I got P.T. installed on my new PS4 after Sony took it down.
Will it blend? If so, it would make a shitty margarita too.
@alacrity It tells you how long you should blend you margarita silly.
@mike808 looks crunchy, too
Yikes! At 47mm it reminds me of a belt buckle from the 70s.
@sourhead Or those calculator watches from way back when.
/image calculator watch
@WTFsunshine I had one of those. Actually, I bet it’s still in a box in the basement somewhere… #nerd
@WTFsunshine The difference is, the calculator watches are now going up in value.
Mehbe in 30 years these will be valuable, as well…
@El_Oel only $15 https://www.amazon.com/Casio-Mens-CA53W-Calculator-Watch/dp/B000GB1R7S
@tydalforce Don’t sell yourself short think of it as #collector’s items as @El_Oel said they may someday be valuable- if not to someone else maybe just for you since you held onto it this long.
missed the deal but possibly looking to buy off someone if they are having buyers remorse
@callblackout
@jrm_cr_fl Hi, still looking for the Olio? I have the all steel version that I picked up last week. I paid the $60 + $5 for shipping. Add $5 to ship it to you for a total of $70. Let me know.
@jrm_cr_fl ಠ_ಠ
/poll did you buy this to resell on ebay?
@username @jrm_cr_fl bought it to try to resell here
For years I could not (and still cannot) justify a smart watch. There was this guide that helped confused people like me determine if a smart watch was for them. It pretty much surmised that only if you were a gadget freak and needed the latest tech would a smart watch me worth it. Well, for $65, a nice classy watch with smart watch features didn’t seem like a big gamble. So, black steel on black, on its way next week. Sorry to those that wanted that model too. Of all the colors available, that looked the nicest to me. Already have gold and stainless analog watches. Even a rise gold one too. I do wear analog watches regularly, now I look forward to a black stainless smart watch on my wrist soon.
Does anyone have a gesture list for this thing? I’m occasionally activating things and not knowing how to do it again, like the “I’m listening” thing
@colbysolomon the actual functions seem simple.
The I’m listening is when holding down for a few seconds.
Inner swipe vs near bezel swipe for different function screens.
I think that’s about it.
@colbysolomon The best available seems to be that quick-start guide in the right-hand compartment of the box. I’m going to wait another week and cool off before trying again on what initially appears to be just about the worst human interface implementation EVER (swipe from edge and swipe from center having completely different and incompatible meanings).
@curtw4 Think of it like 4 buttons on the main screen at the 12/3/6/9 o’clock positions. Only you have to touch and swipe instead of just touch to activate each. Each of those buttons takes you to different modes (settings/future stuff/music/past stuff). Exiting each mode is by doing the opposite button swipe (indicated in each mode with an arrow).
Scrolling between items in each mode is by touching the center and swiping in the direction to scroll. Some items have data that you can scroll up and down.
As mentioned the microphone is by resting you finger on the screen for a few seconds.
That is about all I have figured out so far.
I got the black with dark brown leather strap. I wore it for one day to church. It is a beautiful watch for the price! I may only wear it on Sundays though as I don’t need the smart phone stuff. I may sell it or gift it to someone who can use all the features every day.
So I got my Olio watch from Meh today! I eagerly ran upstairs with the box and opened it to find… another box? Whereas the outer box had my name and address (obviously), the second inner box has the name of a woman that I don’t know, with the shipping address of a fulfillment warehouse in California that apparently ships stuff for tech. companies. Oooooo-K! Not sure what’s going on here but- HEY! My new watch is here!
I open this second box to find… yet another box! Box #3 is at least a matte black affair that says Olio on the top in glossy, embossed black text. I must be getting close, right? I open that box to find—you guessed it—box #4! Guess what’s in this one! Box fiv- nah, I’m shitting you! It was the watch. Five boxes would be just absurd!
Still, who is the woman listed on the 2nd box and do I have her watch? Is this going to turn into some wacky, albeit violent, Tarantino-esque adventure when she comes looking for the tool that inadvertently received her watch? And at a substantial discount? What have you gotten me into here, Meh? Has anyone else experienced this dark turn of events?
@stunbunny Never fear! When the company went under, all their distributers had to send the boxes back to the main warehouse. These boxes, while they may have had that label on them, contain new watches
@mandirose Thank you for the reassurance! I won’t keep looking over my shoulder now.
I got the black face / black metal band. So far so good. For those of you having issues I’d be interested in picking up another one. Either the silver or gold variety.
My watch is working as well as it should and after a few days I realize that I don’t really need a smartwatch. If anyone wants to give me what i paid for it, it’s yours.
@aintez color and band combo?
I have a black/black metal Olio watch paired with an iPhone 6s. I’ve been using mine for a few days now. It took a while to get the software updated, but it finally updated. I’ve been getting ~15hrs use out of the watch, and still have 15-20% left when I put it on the charger at night. I’ve been able to control music (play/pause/volume/tracks), read notifications, and operate the alarm/stopwatch/timer. I did notice the weather was working yesterday, but not today. I’m still trying to get used to the gesture sensitivity and which setting may be right for me. Very nice build quality and feel! I was able to easily remove one link, and it fits like a charm. For $60, I’m very happy with my purchase. I may still try a Huawei watch or an Apple Watch at a later point, but for right now this one is great.
Happy customer here. Galaxy S6 and Stainless steel Olio model. The software update fixed my major battery issue and others. Getting really good battery life now after fiddling with brightness (auto or low), do not disturb sometimes and gesture sensitivity (low) settings. Music, all notifications (calendar, email, SMS and other app notifications on my phone) and getting some weather summaries in the “Later” section although the watch face weather summary does not work. Not sure where the weather is coming from. Still looking for an additional charger. Looks really good, $60 was a bargain.
For those of you who can’t get this watch to work all I can say is you either are clueless or you are using it with an iPhone which is a really crappy idea. I have a Pixel Android and it works perfectly. Everything works in fact! Weather, phone, music messages – from TWO email accounts, text, etc.etc. The only thing I don’t seem to be able to change the face of the clock to something other than the one analog or one digital.
The iPhone really sucks for non-Apple watches. I’ve tried a Pebble in the past and same thing. Got it to work with Android but it was glitchy with the iPhone.
One problem DID arise early on – the day after I set it up it downloaded and updated the firmware and stopped working. I thought I had a piece of junk on my hands because I couldn’t even get a clock face on the screen. I had to uninstall the app and then re-install it and was able to connect perfectly to the watch.
Let’s hope Fitbit keeps the app up. I don’t care if it’s ever updated or not as it’s working fine now.
@arfdawg interesting to hear. I have had issues with the olio with my iphone - it periodically loses one of the two required bluetooth pairings, which means that the phone ringer alert dies. FWIW martian notifier works well.
@danpritts
Is it on the latest firmware?
@PlacidPenguin yes
EVERYBODY who can’t turn on their watches now, go to LinkedIn and send inmails to AJ Cooper, Evan Wilson and Steven Jakobs asking them for a solution.
DON’T say anything negative; just positive things and ask them for help with sincerety.
I reset my watch 3 days ago without knowing their server isn’t on, so here I am… ((((
Please, any hacker?
@esebuenjona I’m sorta trying, but I haven’t made a heap of progress. I’ll post back here if I get anywhere.
@yeppers What have you been trying? Do you have access to a firmware image (something like olio-firmware.zip based on the Android apk)? I’ve been trying to do the same, and without that, I’m out of ideas except for cracking the case on mine (which I really want to put off for as long as possible).
@CaptainBilly I was looking at just cutting the activation out of the app, but due to a lack of round tuits, I haven’t made as much progress as I would like.
@CaptainBilly @yeppers any luck, progress?
@sandrokv @yeppers Not particularly, though there is still a lot I have yet to try.
@CaptainBilly @yeppers thank you both! I hope your efforts become a success.
Any luck with firmware @CaptainBilly
I’ve tried contacted AJ Cooper on facebook several times and Wilson/Jacobs on linkedin but I have simply been ignored… soo frustrating!
@sandrokv @yeppers I think the employees of the company signed a do-not disclose on the details of the watch (especially the technical details that could be used to program it and make it work). I’ve sent a message to every former Olio Devices employee I could find, including their lawyers. The only response I got was back in May, I sent AJ a message on Linkedin. I got a reply nine days later saying that the watches themselves run Android and I would have to rewrite the app to make them work. I replied the same day, asking him for the source code so I could do that, and to this day (three months later) have not got a reply to that.
I’ve kind of put reprogramming these watches on hold. As I haven’t found any debug ports (I was hoping for UART or JTAG) on the Olio motherboard or a copy of the olio-firmware.zip file, the process for determing the Bluetooth protocol (to use with a third-party app) is as follows:
If you’re good with Java, you could also use a Java decompiler with the Android Olio Assist app and reverse engineer that to figure out the Bluetooth protocol. There might also be Swift decompilers that could be used with the iOS app.
Even if you do make your own app to configure the watch, without a copy of the firmware file (olio-firmware.zip) you will not be able to flash your own operating system (Android Wear, for example) onto it. I have seen a reference to a firmware update Bluetooth command in my attempts to reverse engineer the Android app; I assume that this just sends an arbitrary file to the watch, but without olio-firmware.zip to use as a template for creating your own firmware update file you will not be able to use that Bluetooth command. Thus, the only way to flash your own operating system onto one of these watches over Bluetooth is to dump the flash of a watch (whether it be the one you actually want to program or a spare) and reverse engineer the executable that handles firmware updates to figure out what it is expecting.
Here is a link to the APK of the Android app: Olio_Assist-1.7.54.apk.
That app ran through a Java decompiler: Olio_Assist-1.7.54-Decompiled.zip
If anyone wants to help but only knows how to reverse engineer iOS apps (Swift) and not Java Android apps, I have a friend that installed the Olio Assist app on their iPhone before it was removed from the app store; I could probably rip the IPA file from their device if so.
I’m not done trying (I have 25 Olio watches and I’d rather not just forget about them), I’m just taking a break for a while. I started this comment to reply to someone else’s and later turned it into an opportunity to document my progress in case anyone else wants to resume where I left off.
EDIT: Just saw the olio-firmware.zip that @Sompom posted. That’s fantastic, I’m reversing it this very second.
@CaptainBilly I’m excited to hear what you find out! Fixing the app to, at a minimum, allow login might be easy. Without even decompiling it, you can unzip the .apk and see that it is using an open-source HTTP/REST library… I did not get as far as trying this, but it should be possible to take that library, rewrite every call to reply with “sure thing, whatever boss, you’re logged in I guess” (without any actual network traffic being sent), then drop in the “fixed” version of the library
@CaptainBilly By the way, the server I have hosting that file is going down literally tomorrow, so be sure to keep a copy saved yourself!
@Sompom Yep, I got it! Thanks a lot, that file will really help. Sorry I didn’t see it earlier.
For someone that knows Swift or Java (if they want to use an iPhone or Android phone, respectively), it would probably be rather easy to do what you said. I know neither (I use C and Python whenever I can), so I’m instead going to focus on porting Android Wear or Google’s Wear OS. Those two OS’s as well as Olio’s own OS all use a Linux kernel, so doing so should be rather easy. From there, you can use the apps written for Android Wear or Wear OS, whatever you choose. (Android Wear probably only has official support for Android, whereas I know for sure that Wear OS officially supports both iOS and Android.)
@CaptainBilly
Android Wear supports both. Google pretty much hinted that they rebranded to Wear OS because not many people knew that Android Wear would work with iOS, due to it sounding like it only worked with Android.
The rebrand was supposed to change that false idea.
Of course, just because it’s compatible with iOS, doesn’t mean that all features are supported, or work the same way.
Mine still works.
/image it still works
So, as I’ve determined from the firmware update file that @Sompom found, when the watch asks the app for a firmware update, it is expecting a zip file that it will extract to /data/media/0/olio/firmware_updates_apply on its flash, then /data/media/0/olio/firmware_updates_apply/update.sh (so update.sh in the root of the zip) is executed as root (you’ll know what this means if you’ve ever used Linux, the operating system that runs on the Olio). This script then takes care of copying the other files in the firmware update to their appropriate places in the filesystem on the watch’s flash. Like I said earlier, this script runs as root, so it isn’t limited to installing official Olio firmware updates but rather HAS COMPLETE CONTROL OVER THE WATCH. (This is incredibly promising in respect to installing Android Wear/Google Wear OS on an Olio.)
Now I just need to find a way to simulate an Olio Assist app trying to update a paired watch from my computer. If you have any experience with Android or Bluetooth development at all and would like to help with this last step, please leave a comment.
Specifically, what I need for that last step:
I’m looking for a way to send an arbitrary file from a RFCOMM shell on my Linux computer (it is unrelated that both my computer and the Olio Watch run Linux, Linux is just my personal preference as well as a good choice for embedded devices like a smart watch) in a way that the paired Olio Watch (which, when paired with my computer, appears as a phone which makes sense considering that it is running Android) will think it is receiving a routine firmware update file. Here’s a link to the decompiled Java source code of the Android Olio Assist app, which includes the code for downloading an update file from oliodevices.com and sending that to a paired Olio. Also, I think that update script I mentioned, ‘runme_android_template.sh’, might not be Olio-specific but rather something common among all Android devices, so if anyone knows anything about that let me know.
@CaptainBilly So I’ve been banging on the official app - just decompiling it doesn’t make it actually buildable, but I have a version that builds now. I don’t think it actually works, but that’s another story.
Anyway, AsteroidOS seems like a good next step if Android Wear or whatever doesn’t work.
@CaptainBilly @yeppers honestly, I’m surprised that nobody has managed an asteroidOS port yet. I appreciate any efforts, though. I don’t have the knowhow to contribute but I’m down to dig my watch out of the garage to be a Guinea pig.
@CaptainBilly @Oneroundrobb @yeppers. It’s great seeing someone still giving this a go! I’d agree that with the Olio’s age, asteroidos is probably much more realistic at this point. I took my Olio apart some time ago, just to take a look. I’m almost ready to try and find it again. Keep fighting the good fight. It was a shame to see this great looking watch turn into a paperweight.
@Pacers I’m a computer guru that likes to look nice. I was super excited when I heard the concept of a smart watch, but I was disappointed when a few years had passed after the release of the Apple Watch (the first mainstream smart watch) and there were still no good looking smart watches on the market (I want to walk around wearing a watch, not a small iPhone strapped to my wrist). Then I found this watch a few months ago, bought 25 of them (not joking, it was an eBay auction), and I was instantly committed to doing whatever it took to make it work again.
Anyway, enough of that. As to the Olio’s technical specs and their capabilities (which are currently unknown as Olio Devices never said anything at all about the device’s technical details), I’ll post those when I finish my Bluetooth firmware update server, the last component I need to get code execution. The watches actually already runs Android (don’t know the exact version, yet, but it is one of the older builds that used Dalvik). It uses the standard Android boot animation service to display the Olio logo at bootup, and the UI is an Android APK application running on Dalvik. I had actually been planning on porting Asteroid OS to my watches (well, the Asteroid GUI on top of my Linux distro of choice Debian), I’ve been saying Android Wear because that’s what I thought more people would have heard of. (The processes for porting them are mostly the same; if you can port one you can port the other. I’ll probably release files for both).
When you took your watch apart, did you happen to get a look at the components under the metal antenna shield on the back? (You might not even know what I’m talking about, that is on the back of the motherboard, which is kind of tricky to get out.) If so, could you post the letters on the chips? (A picture would be best if you have a camera that can read the tiny letters.) As part of my mission to understand the manufacturing agreements of Olio Devices (which, like the technical aspects of their watch, is completely undocumented), I would like to get an idea of how much variation occurred between batches. (I’m trying to figure out everything about Olio, business practices and all.)
Olio Devices could have at the very least kept their server up or released an update to the app so that it didn’t require authentication. It’s wrong to just let them turn into paper weights like that. Olio Devices was sold to Flextronics, and I think that in the process all of the former employees had to sign a no disclosure agreement about everything. (Seriously, everything.) I’ve contacted every employee whose information I could find. The only response I got was from AJ Cooper, who said I would have to rewrite the app to make it not ask for authentication. Only a few hours later I replied asking for the source code so I could do that and to this day have not gotten a reply. I even contacted the CEO of Flex on Linkedin and never heard from him, either. No, the former employees don’t have a magic way to make the watches work again (I’m actually probably closer to being able to do so that Steven Jacobs or AJ Cooper), and they probably aren’t going to make one without pay (even if they didn’t sign a NDA), but at the very least they could provide hardware hackers like me with the source code required to make the Asteroid/Wear porting process significantly shorter. Those times are in the past though, now that I have that olio-firmware.zip file I need I should have instructions on porting an OS in the next few weeks.
@Oneroundrobb The hard part is getting code execution on the watch’s Linux system, with it having absolutely no documentation. Now I know the trick: if it receives a zip file that it thinks is a firmware update, it will execute a file called ‘update.sh’ from the zip file as root (Linux term for user with every privilege ever). Now, I just need to read through the decompiled source code from the app and figure out how to send a firmware update file over Bluetooth. Once I do that, porting Asteroid will be a breeze for me.
@yeppers While I am going to release a file for both Android Wear and Asteroid OS, I had actually been planning to port Asteroid OS to my own watches all along (I had just been saying Android Wear since I thought more people here have probably heard of it).
So you’ve modified the decompiled sources so that the app builds but it doesn’t work with the Olio? Did you cut the server authentication?
Even if your app doesn’t work with the watch, could you give me the changes you’ve made? If you have a web server, I can download them off those, or you can email them to elderjake@tuxism.faith.
@CaptainBilly I’ll see if I can find it when I get home tonight. (That’s code for “check to see if my wife threw it away” >.>) If I have it I’ll post some pictures.
@Pacers No worries if you can’t find it.
Thanks.
@CaptainBilly I don’t have anything handy that’s small enough to snip off the shield. It’s soldered onto the board in 6 places. Prying will definitely break the board before the shield releases. Here are a few pictures of what i’ve got.
@Pacers Looks pretty much identical to the watch that I took apart.
@Pacers Did you notice the pin that outputs 30 volts?
Not joking; there is a pin on the motherboard that somehow outputs (when the watch is on) 30 volts. It fried the USB/serial converter I was using to try to find factory debug ports (fortunately not my whole computer). I have no idea where that voltage comes from.
@CaptainBilly Ha! No I sure didn’t. Once I saw it wasn’t going to be as easy as a stripped USB wire connection (like my wear24) I said “screw it” and put it in a box. But if you get this thing working, I’ll probably have to source another one
@Pacers @yeppers The Olio has a surprisingly high 8 gigabytes of flash and 4 gigabytes of ram, should be enough for pretty much any watch OS.
@yeppers Could you take a look at the src/com/oliodevices/assist/app/detectors/firmware/FirmwareUpdateHelper.java file? It seems to contain most, if not all the functionality regarding uploading firmware files over Bluetooth (what is what I need to emulate from my computer). I tried to understand it, but that Java is Greek to me.
Bath
@mandirose
Find my shipping info in my VMP profile:)Thanks
The cloud aspect is what kills my desire. Even if you keep the apk more than two years, without the cloud you’re up SC.
@michaelahess How else are people going to monetize their transformational disruptive innovations? Mandatory structural external dependencies for everday functions are really the only way to do that.
You’re talking about destroying the basis of our whole rent/license-everything economy with your nutty and quaint concepts of backwards 20th century “ownership”. And hampering the gubment’s right to surveillance of the lib’ruls and turrists. Murica!!!
Love that pie chart.
Was thinking of getting it but seems like it’d be a bad investment.`
@mandirose Could you clarify one question - how much does this watch do without the app? I’m thinking forward a few months - the server has been taken down, and the app has been pulled from itunes and google play.
If you take one of these watches from its box, charge it, and put it one your wrist, what functionality does it have?
@bdb you do need the app to set it up. The app is supposed to stay up for 2 years but will have no updates
@mandirose Thank you. So, my understanding is that if the servers are not maintained, then this device will no longer function, even as ‘just’ an awesome looking watch.
So, in the case that the servers are not supported past two years, then we will get two years of a nice looking watch, and then it will be one more thing to stick in my museum of great tech that no longer works.
@bdb As long as you download the app before it was theoretically pulled from the app store, it should at the very least work as a watch in that instance
@mandirose Thank you again.
@mandirose So what can it actually do other than tell time? Does the weather work? Push notifications for emails/texts/phone calls? Can I make my fancy little golf app work with it?
@Satchmo it’s best at notifications for texts, emails and phone calls. It also has been able to show me notifications for pretty much anything that my iphone notifications show. Social media, slack, weather alerts, even has worked for uber alerts, like that my driver was arriving. And telling time of course.
@mandirose And I’m assuming Meh’s fantastic warranty is going to stand behind this purchase if I can’t bang it against the table hard enough for it to work right?
@Satchmo https://meh.com/forum/topics/the-meh-warranty-for-what-its-worth--not-much-
@bdb Looks like with server’s pull-down you won’t be able to pair device after restarting or trying to use it for the first time.
@mandirose I guess you were wrong on the server problem since it is used to pair and activate new device?
@bdb @mandirose Anyone have a copy of the android apk they can email me?
I found measurements for the steel model on their web site. 47mm diameter, 12mm depth.
Compare to Martian Notifier: 43mm diameter, 14mm depth (measured).
@danpritts 47mm case; 24mm band width. on the link ones. 47mm case; 22mm band width. on the leather and suede bands
@mandirose for the record, not that anyone probably cares, the black leather band on my steel model is 24mm.
this watch is the watch i buy…
https://ressencewatches.com/watches/type-3
…when i can afford it
@dickie541 anything involving an “horological complicator” sounds like something everyone can use.
@dickie541 $35,000?!
@Oneroundrobb but, but, but, just…just, look at it. Find a video of its movement.
@dickie541 That thing is way too complicated to read and operate.
@GLaDOS Thanks. I dont get to see that often enough. I love that fuvking watch!
$50 that can be spent on worthwhile item or charity. Otherwise it $50 bucks into the #Crap
Museum. There is a reason Olio failed … watch never worked!!
As a watch collector, that’s a beautiful watch. I’m so sorry I missed it. That was the best thing meh ever sold. So what if the os will be out of date in a year or two. It’s a beautiful watch. It was cheap enough.
@wew You’re VMP, right? Check back at 4?
@sammydog01 yeah. I use it so infrequently. yeah, that just occured to me I have something like that!
Now I need to look through the thread and see which one’s people bought. They’re all pretty smart looking.
Congrats on the sellout @mandirose! So when is my coffeemaker coming?
@sammydog01 I was gathering research
@mandirose I’m just kidding- my thirteen dollar “as seen on tv” one suits my needs perfectly and builds up my biceps.
Anyone get their watch and it won’t charge?
@hatryk does it not turn on at all?
@mandirose Same. Mine turned on, for about 3 hours and then seems dead. The back of the watch seems warm when sitting on the charger…
@Flick Try putting the watch face near a bright light. You can use a flashlight or your phone flash. On some watches the brightness function was calibrated incorrectly. Shining a bright light on it should make the face readable so you can correct.
@Forgetmestick56 tried that, not working either. I’ve had it charging for about 2 hours now and can’t get the screen to light back up now. Like I said the bottom seems to be warm from charging. My olio assist app says it isn’t connected anymore either
@Flick I haven’t got anything on my screen ever. Put into on charger. Nothing. Leave it on the puck watch and charger get very hot.
@hatryk Can’t imagine how frustrating that must be! Double check to make sure the plastic protector is off the charging puck and the back of the phone (I missed the one on the back of the phone!!!). Open the Olio app and go to my watch and click on “unpair” and go to phone and delete/select “forget device” and try to repair from Olio app. Go through pairing steps again and try the light trick again - hopefully something will appear on the face. If nothing, I am straight-up out of ideas, my friend. Good luck!
@Forgetmestick56 I originally didn’t see the plastic on back of the watch but I took it off and I still have no screen appearing when I put it on the puck. Super pissed off
@hatryk if it’s not turning on at all contact our customer service team
@mandirose I did. No email back. But wasn’t expecting one until Monday anyways
@hatryk I have the black stanless steel model. It arrived with 3% battery life. It had enough of a charge to pair with my phone but it died soon after and will not charge. I removed the protective plastic film and tried to charge it yesterday and today with no luck. I have contacted the customer service team. I expect to receive a response on Monday.
@smithwk96 fantastic deal we’re getting $600 watch for $50 but it doesn’t work.
@mandirose when should I expect a reply?
@hatryk I checked in with our CS team and you should be receiving a reply shortly. Thanks for your patience
@hatryk I was able to get the watch to work after placing it in bright sunlight for a few minutes. Apparently this reset the brightness setting??
Check out the post from (@mandirose) with this info
@hatryk Mine is not charging at all. I have tried various combos of charging. I tried the sun thing too. I did contact customer service. I purchased the gold/brown leather band
@evenrute if it’s a brightness issue the watch should be working. I don’t even get any tactic feedback if I push the screen. Wasn’t home today to check the sunlight fix but I’m not hopeful. Also no email from customer service yet. Going on 2 days.
@hatryk I have absolutely nothing on the screen. I did also buy the black/black model which is working fine. I got suckered in
@hatryk maybe check your spam? @thumperchick I believe you took care of him based on what I can see
@hatryk I answered your email yesterday
Definitely check your spam folder.
@Thumperchick checked spam. Got nothing. Every piece of tech I have is failing…
@hatryk you should speak nicely to all of your tech. Also, did you get the auto response message from us? Or just, nothing?
@hatryk got the auto response saying u guys were swamped. Nothing other than that.
@hatryk I got the same message but no response from tech. I’ll hang tight
@mandirose I am also having the same problem. I bought the black on black version, and I am getting no charge at all. I left it on the charger for four hours it was warm to the touch, I tried the flashlight/sun trick and nothing. I downloaded the app, and the app does not find the watch at all to sync. So what do I do now?
@TRossi85 Contact customer service and they should be able to help
@TRossi85 @mandirose - We got the message and are on it!
Very small band on the stainless band model. My wrists are not massive, but I need the extra links.
Kinda regretting the purchase. Looks nice, at least.
@drewesque I had the same problem, bought a black ss band on Amazon, fits great now.
Has anyone been able to add the links? I can’t seem to get the pins out and no guide to make sure it’s right.
@Remember_dnL Same issue. I am trying at work without proper tools, though, so I will try again when I get home.
@drewesque I just added the two links to mine and I had to bang on it a little harder than I was comfortable with… Just align the extra pin from the pack with a pin in the band and knock it out, then pull it out the other side with needle nose. Don’t forget the sleeve in the receiving link. I also would like one more link, mines just a bit snug…
@Remember_dnL took to my jeweler. Added links for free with no issue
Man, does this thing get HOT when it’s charging. And I need to replace the leather strap, because it’s too short for my wrist.
But it looks nice, and it’s a fun little toy that’s way cheaper than other smart watches. Wish I could more to customize it, though.
@wishlish I had the same problem when I got mine in late 2015. Panatime has good, inexpensive straps. (and some that aren’t so inexpensive)
Anyone get “Rules” working? I’m using Android, I have set up Rules, but there appears to be no way to set up the “At Work” / “At Home” / “In a Meeting” etc times… So the rules never seem to be enabled. I have home and work addresses setup, and I have location permissions allowed. When I press “Show Live Rules Only” none of them are ever “Live”. Also, I get about 12 hours of battery, and weather is meh.
@mlcga i have the same issue with the Rules in the App. How’d you get the weather to work?
@pml0904 The weather works when it wants to… usually not. I’ve tried adding and removing time zones, restarting… no clue. Sometimes it has data, sometimes not. As far as “Rules”, I’ve even set my “sleeping” times to 24 hours a day, and that still doesn’t do anything when I create a rule that applies while sleeping
@mlcga I know this doesn’t help as far as rules, but you can always swipe down and go to the do not disturb button and that will turn off notifications manually until you turn it back
No luck on rules either. the iPhone tutorial shows the rules set to “Live”. No ability to do that in Android
Has anyone figured out how to get the watch to summon Google Assistant/Siri? Twice I have accidentally gotten to the “I’m listening” screen but I don’t know how I got there.
@a Tap to light up face. Hold down on the watchface for 2-3 seconds. Brings up GA only when phone is unlocked
@ws1967 @a I’ve been unable to get Siri to work; long press is doing nothing for me. And did I read somewhere that there’s a mic built in? I could be hallucinating; I do that sometimes.
I’d be willing to deal with meh battery life with a second charger at work. Has anyone tested a 3rd party / Apple / other watch chargers to see if it works? Don’t see any Olio branded chargers for sale on Ebay or elsewhere
@ws1967 my samsung wireless charger did not work.
Soooo many issues and questions with this watch here. Glad I didn’t buy one, it sounds like a pain in the ass. (My Apple watch seems to be well worth the extra cost.)
@cinoclav So true. You’re not missing ANYTHING! Colossal waste of time and effort.
Hey Guys, just wanted to repost towards the bottom some feedback from one of our lovely members who needed a bigger band. His comments towards the top so in case you missed it…
"I just changed out the band on mine with a tiny screwdriver. Used the pins from the original band (black steel) and replaced it with this band from Amazon “Beauty7 Black 24mm Brushed Finish Butterfly Clasp”. I really liked the original band, but it was about one link too small and I couldn’t find any way to get one more link. This one isn’t exactly the same color, but it looks nice and matches the style pretty close… but more importantly, it’s about one link size bigger.
Liquidblue said an hour ago
@mandirose Warning, be careful with cheap black bands. I bought one for my Martian and the finish started to wear off in weeks.
I like the leather band on the Olio, it was a positive factor in my purchasing decision.
@mandirose I did the same thing.
My weather seems to be working at night. I have no idea why it only works at night. Software is 1.10.220. Battery is still only lasting like 10-12 hours but everything seems to be great. Just wish battery lasted. Software says it has the latest version.
Overall happy.
Now that I’m fairly certain that I’m going to keep the watch and not give it away… I’ve got two full sized Black Anodized links up for grabs. Just reply to this comment… first come first served.
What can I say, I’ve got baby sized wrists (I’m keeping one full size and one smaller sized link just in case my wrist swells up.)
I don’t know what’s the best way to get in touch to get your address without posting my email address to the world or your personal information.
I will send one or both of them out US Postal gratis.
Maybe @mandirose can help out? Maybe operate the great Meh! Olio extra link / band exchange in addition to being the unofficial Meh! Tech Support for Olio?
@bbf
I am willing to purchase them. I have no idea how to send you my info either. As soon as I find out, I will post back.
@bbf unfortunately I won’t be able to facilitate that but the tech support I will continue to help out as much as I can!
@bbf
You can reply to me at meh@neowineries.com if you still have the links.
@wkmaylish I just sent an email to you. Oh, BTW, I’m not selling the links, they’re only available for free. Those are my terms, take it or leave it.
@bbf Dibs on next black links available.
Actually just one would be perfect, I’m not greedy.
Like the watch but battery is terrible anyone want to sell a charger or know where I can get one.
@Smokey20 battery is trash
@Smokey20 If you update the firmware the battery issues are fixed
@arfdawg Running 1.10.220 – is this the latest?Thanks
@Whitcomb Yes. And BTW, switching the screen brightness to “auto” helps save on the battery. Mine lasts about as long as my cell phone – maybe a little less before I need to charge.
@arfdawg Thanks, I’ve done that and also found the weather API working (occasionally) via Accuweather and changing the settings in Accuweather to “small circle”
BBF’s List of Things to Do/Obtain to Maximize Olio Model One Runtime Without Turning Off Bluetooth.
For the last week or so, I’ve been getting 15hr or greater run times from my Olio Model 1 with bluetooth on, and at least a dozen or so notifications a day.
Long explanations follow:
Now that my experiment with full day operation of the watch is over, I intend to carry the disc charger with me to work and charge it in the middle of the day to further reduce wear and tear on the battery. The less deep you discharge batteries, the longer they last.
Or if you’re a compulsive shopper with hoarding tendencies, you’ll have bought more than one Olio from Meh!, so you’ll have at least two charge pucks so you can keep one at work and one at home.
You can further increase run time by turning off bluetooth when you don’t need it, like at night when it’s charging… but I don’t like to do that because I forget to turn it back on.
I just finally got mine working. My first one died after the firmware update. Meh was kind enough to help me out. I then had to change the band, because it wasn’t long enough. (If you need to do the same, look for a 24 mm extra long band.)
I’ve turned off most of the extraneous services. I don’t want my wrist buzzing every 30 seconds. It’s a lovely watch, and I can control my music and podcast speaker volume. I wish there were more face designs; I’ll always be amazed that my $10 Anker doorbell than this supposedly-$600 watch.
This purchase is why I love Meh. For $50 and a little patience, this was completely worth it.
I didn’t buy one of these Olio Model One Smartwatch’s, but I’m amazed at how much tech support is coming out of this thread.
@therealjrn I’m still amazed at how much tech support is needed.
And for the first time ever the weather screen works! Apparently posting to meh fixes these watches!
@WaferboymC the weather screen would work for me in the evening only and go away each morning.
The “later” screen shows the weather too! Wish I knew what I did…
Battery going out while still showing charge may be connection issue. Mine went out and I took it to Batteries Plus and once they removed the back and touched the battery it came back to life. I’ve had to do it 3 times so I ordered my own t-3 torx screwdriver. Good luck
I just pinged the CEO via [LinkedIn][1]. Perhaps a few more personal notes his way may yield a solution.
I searched my email (“olio”) for a sayonara message and nothing came up. No medium post that I can find either…
I didn’t notice myself they were no longer in business until I just bought a new phone, as the watch had been working as expected up until 3 days ago (11/2/17).
Please toss my name in the bucket for any resolutions anyone comes across. I too would be willing to pony up some money to get a server back up and running so we can login and use the watch again. I personally love(d) the watch. It did everything I wanted it to do - tell time, keep my phone in my pocket, and receive “nice watch” compliments.
[1]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenkjacobs/
I did some digging today… about Olio … as of March 2017 … Olio was sold off to Flextronics International … Whereas three principles Steve Jacobs CEO - Evan Wilson Director of Engineer - John Paul Primeau Business Development … were still at the company… Steve and Even were part of a group of three that founded the company… the third person AJ Cooper was the Head of Hardware Architecture and went to work at Flextronics in Jan of 2017 … I wonder if AJ is up to re-inventing the Olio brand thru Flextronics… but if everyone would send AJ requests… I bet he would be the one that would listen … the other three key players show no new employment… probably because they made a little on the buy-out as well as walked away with however much from the 10million seed they received in 2015…
If I come-up with something I will post it…
@tc95 Steve Jacobs is a Product Manager at Google, via LinkedIn… AJ is on LinkedIn as well, I just don’t have their premium service to contact him. Thanks for the diggin and infos!
@unopixel You can message people by sending them requests to connect
@tc95 I just emailed Steve Jacobs. I HOPE he responds. Also sent invites to connect with AJ and Evan.
I’ll send both messages; so should EVERYBODY ELSE who can’t turn on their phones.
I sincerely hope that if they get inundated with our inmails, at least they’ll refer us to somebody who’s was in charge of the server before and they’ll turn on their server even just for 1 hour for us to connect.
@tc95 UPDATE - I sent a message to Steven Jacobs… never got a response… sent a message to AJ Cooper… got a I apologize but there is nothing that can be done … message back… Let me know what you find out…
I sent AJ Cooper a LinkedIn Invite with a note. Here’s his response.
“I’m sorry and disappointed to hear that has happened. As long as you haven’t unpaired your watch, it will continue working. If you unpair the watch, then it has no way to know if it is owned by the registered user and locks itself out. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to change that.”
Hey I just got an Olio but the app doesn’t accept my email! So the watch is stuck on the reset screen until I can create an account. I keep trying different emails and the app says, host server not found?! Has anyone had this problem? Does anyone know how to help me out
@HanyTawfik
Unless sometime is able to get the sw and rights to reactivate the server, these are dead.
If newly received or newly reset, unless/paperweight now for some months.
Read entire topic for details.
It’s a pity.
@f00l @HanyTawfik Yeah, it seems that way. That said, there are slim chances that the software can be resurrected by some fancy-pants investor with time and/or money to burn.
Any updates? I miss my Olio watch sooo bad.
What did everyone move on to? The closest I see is the Movado Connect.
If anyone is interested in the raw graphics from the Olio, here they are.
Does anyone here have Java and/or Bluetooth development experience?
So, as I’ve determined from the firmware update file that @Sompom found, when the watch asks the app for a firmware update, it is expecting a zip file that it will extract to /data/media/0/olio/firmware_updates_apply on its flash, then /data/media/0/olio/firmware_updates_apply/update.sh (so update.sh in the root of the zip) is executed as root (you’ll know what this means if you’ve ever used Linux, the operating system that runs on the Olio). This script then takes care of copying the other files in the firmware update to their appropriate places in the filesystem on the watch’s flash. Like I said earlier, this script runs as root, so it isn’t limited to installing official Olio firmware updates but rather HAS COMPLETE CONTROL OVER THE WATCH. (This is incredibly promising in respect to installing Android Wear/Google Wear OS on an Olio.)
Now I just need to find a way to simulate an Olio Assist app trying to update a paired watch from my computer. If you have any experience with Android or Bluetooth development at all and would like to help with this last step, please leave a comment.
Specifically, what I need for that last step:
I’m looking for a way to send an arbitrary file from a RFCOMM shell on my Linux computer (it is unrelated that both my computer and the Olio Watch run Linux, Linux is just my personal preference as well as a good choice for embedded devices like a smart watch) in a way that the paired Olio Watch (which, when paired with my computer, appears as a phone which makes sense considering that it is running Android) will think it is receiving a routine firmware update file. Here’s a link to the decompiled Java source code of the Android Olio Assist app, which includes the code for downloading an update file from oliodevices.com and sending that to a paired Olio. Also, I think that update script I mentioned, ‘runme_android_template.sh’, might not be Olio-specific but rather something common among all Android devices, so if anyone knows anything about that let me know.
@CaptainBilly @Sompom I will look at this when I can. I do have some Java/Android/Bluetooth experience. I don’t have a lot of time sadly.
My dearest meh, I will be happy to test the Black/Metal link model for you.
@ConAndLibrarian Also, if it’s free.
I’ll meh pass on this outdated tech.
smells fishy - if it came with certificate, even knowing it means nothing from a company belly up, I’d be up for a bid. Shame, watches are a good market with fickle buyers (and I would like to be a buyer).
@elysiumplain
/image certificate
@shawn
We get certificates for showing up?
I’m not sure whether to be happy, or complain that these certificates are as destructive as participation trophies.
I get a lot of nice compliments on the House of Marley watch I got here a while ago. Those wood accents are something people apparently don’t see every day.
I could probably find use for a gold watch since I have gold accoutrements I wear with my suit to weddings and what not. Maybe if these are still selling in the morning…
Did you get an auto? I got the fluid auto. Gains about two minutes over two weeks of daily wear. Only one comment, though. Doesnt matter, i still love it.
@dickie541 https://www.amazon.com/House-Marley-Capsule-Leather-Stylish/dp/B00C9XBFKU
Different band, but same face. It’s actually a terrible watch, black face and black hands make it impossible to read, but it definitely has style.
Is there any way to install Android Wear on one of these things?
@dominusprinceps
Wouldn’t it just be easier to buy an Android Wear watch at this price range?
While you wouldn’t be able to get a Gen 2 watch (to take advantage of NFC, WiFi, Wear 2.0, etc…), you could still get the LG G Watch, Moto 360 (1st Gen), possibly the G Watch R, etc…
@PlacidPenguin No doubt it would be, but I would be more interested in these watches if I could guarantee that they’ll have functioning software a year from now.
@dominusprinceps
Even if you were hypothetically able to get Android Wear on this (which you can’t);
I dunno why you’d try to make it harder for yourself and not just get an Android Wear watch since that seems to be what you want.
@dominusprinceps look up used moto 360s if you really want android wear, my $30 moto 360 1st gen just arrived today
@PlacidPenguin @communist I actually have a Moto 360, which is perfectly functional but pretty casual. I’d be interested in a “dressier” Android watch at this price point. I’ve been looking around for some kind of Wear equivalent of LineageOS that I could slap on these devices, but I haven’t come up with anything. It could also potentially be a fun project device, but it doesn’t look like these are very open to tinkering. Oh well.
@communist
Kinda ironic that that’s cheaper than what I saw I could sell my LG G Watch for. (It just sits there unused. Although just for fun, I put it next to my Huawei Watch on my wrist.)
Windows phone compatibility?
@kruzen you should be able to wear it on your wrist and simultaneously carry a windows phone on your person without causing a disruption in time and space. Beyond that, I don’t believe there is any.
@kruzen There is no such thing.
Olio…wasn’t that a margarine? So…are these kind of greasy? Or watches for the lactose intolerant??
I only have 2 watches with different brands. Since I am not really into fashion, what’s important for me is just to know what time is it already regardless of its specs. Also, if its really durable then its worth the price.
@JosephSmith it is fantastic at telling time
@mandirose It’s fantastic at telling time for the roughly 8 hours it’s on before the battery dies. And when the face doesn’t mysteriously turn off for 24 hours at a time without any possible way to wake it up
@dwileyjr344 if you just want to use it as just a watch, I suggest turning off bluetooth entirely. This greatly increases the battery life, especially if you have the setting on auto or low. Should get you through the day on these settings
@mandirose I am likely going to do that if the watch ever turns on again. It has been updating for the last 19 hours. The app on the phone still says 80% which is where it was when I went to bed last night. The watch did not turn on when I woke up this morning and remains in its sad state. I have left it under a bright light for 20 minutes and tried shining my phone’s flashlight on the watch’s light sensor for about 5 minutes with no luck. I think it may have just given up on its desire to live.
@mandirose @dwileyjr344 I’ve got through my day with about 14% remaining. You have to make sure BT is connected and not “searching.” I think the searching really drains the battery. Also keep the light on auto/low and of course make sure you’ve updated the software.
How does this compare to my “META” watch?
Smartwatch users: do you get annoyed by the constant updates?
@sourhead
Which Smartwatch platform are you referring to?
OS updates, or Smartwatch app updates?
@sourhead Not really? If I’m trying to focus, I turn it to quiet mode. Other than that, I’ve silenced most of the annoying ones down so it’s usually something important. (Someone spending money on my credit card, a text message from a co worker or my wife, or a notification in Slack.) The main two things I use it for is controlling my music on the phone, and as a “keep unlocked” token for my phone. (while it’s connected, my phone doesn’t automatically lock, but if I walk away from my phone and leave it somewhere, it locks automatically.)
@PlacidPenguin I meant software platform updates. Emails, for example. I get so many, my watch would be going off too often I think.
@sourhead
Oh. You mean notifications.
@sourhead you can customize this on the watch. You can make a “rule” to turn off certain notifications all the time or in certain scenarios
@mandirose Thanks, I’m tempted. Does it feel redonkulously huge?
@sourhead if you’re familiar at all with the Michael Kors boyfriend watch, reminds me a lot of that from a girl point of view. Here’s a pic
@mandirose
Interesting bookmark bar.
@mandirose But…but… that’s today’s meh page and your watch says it’s 11:46 on 6/4/17. It’s only 10:32 EST as I post this! So, this also has a flux capacitor?
@cinoclav @mandirose @narfcake
@sourhead I’ve got a Martian Notifier from meh (more than one, actually), and I have different vibration patterns for different notifications, so they are pretty easy to ignore after a half second. or check.
@cinoclav haha that pic is actually from last night
I’d have to say I’m intristically, fundamentally, essentially, primarily, inherently and mostly unimpressed with the product. Additionally, you’re pie chart looks a little confusing however it does look like a good word search puzzle. But I do like your wordage, expression, elocution, articulation - or should I say - delivery of your write up on attempting to sell the product.
@WTFsunshine Meh is not a pie chart.
@Satchmo and what is “intrinstically”?
@WTFsunshine Maybe this is, instead of watches is pie chart of chocolate pie, blackberry pie, cherry pie, peach pie, french silk pie, apple pie…If so then in that case: /buy/blackberry pie, buy/peach pie, buy/cherry pie, buy/french silk pie…
@Satchmo Mmmm, pie.
@Kidsandliz The 70s called and wants to make sure you didn’t forget hair pie.
@BeerIsSoAwesome Sorry - was suppose to be intrinsically. Neither spellcheck nor I caught it. @Satchmo Never called Meh a pie chart I was saying their pie chart was confusing to look at. @Kidsandliz I’m with you if it’s that kind of chart…I’ll take apple, pumpkin, chocolate and French silk! @mike808 if you’re referring to angel hair spaghetti pie
not my thing. Same goes if you’re referring to the other type of hair pie.
@WTFsunshine @mike808 and definitely not if it is a hair shirt (I have no idea what a hair pie is - sounds nasty).
@Kidsandliz First way is when you use angel hair pasta to make what looks like a lattice crust topping. Trying to find a politically correct way to explain the second version but best I can come up with is that it involves a mans (or womans) mouth and a woman’s lower region. Trying to keep it PG.
/image exotic-brutish-yoke
@riceatusc That guy is a short story writer. Go sit in the corner /image until you apologize.
/image depraved fluttering ogre
I am willing to take the risk, since my Apple watch broke. Waiting until watch ver. 4 to repalce
Thank! Seems like a pretty good deal for a guy that needs a “Dress” watch and is broke. Keep me posted on other deals please at [mod: removed email; post again if you insist, but seems ill-advised]
.
@academic11 uh, okay. I’ll drop you an email if I see something nice.
@academic11 turn on the emails and you’ll get notified every morning.
Flat tire on the TOP???
But will it tell me how many steps I take?
Ordered the black/metal band…Really wanted the gold device…Any VMP want to work a deal out if there are some still available at 4pm?
I’ve got a black/metal band, paid for, that I’d trade for a gold/any band + $$. Or just buy a gold one straight $$. Wish I had heard of meh before last night, would have gladly paid the $5 to be a VMP!! Cool site and glad to have stumbled on it.
dammitall… whenever a deal pops up that I might actually like, they sell out before I see them.
@CFL_Kent sorry, I don’t think there’s anyway I can get ahold of you, or else we could swing a deal.
@wew Oh yeah? What do you have in mind?
I’m wondering how long the watches will remain compatible with IOS devices with the frequency of the software updates.
@CFL_Kent I’d get you a watch if you wanted one, but we can’t meet up, so that’s out, (someone earlier posted their email and it was deleted.) I have a little ios, and android, but am mostly windows os. My phone is webOS, which was an HP os that could have easily been third place in operating systems if it wasn’t for a bad CEO HP had,(their transducing charging docks were pretty much standard-throw your phone or tablet on a pad, and it charges, no little cables to hook up). Anyway I’m used to breakthrough or obsolete hardwear. Ex Amiga programmer, ex pirate ectera.
(wew. so much typing. I won’t be back for a month.)
@CFL_Kent there’s still one model left. I have the steel one. Later this morning decided I wanted to get a black one with the bracelet, but was too late. Had to settle for a black one with the strap (which I’ll have to replace). Hope it tells time better than my older one…
@sgrenald I was wanting a black one with the black metal band…
I got a gold Pebble Time Steel from Woot last month for $65.
I didn’t want the red band it came with, so I swapped it (and the gold band hardware) for a white silicone one from Amazon that looks nice - with a textured white band, you don’t even notice it’s not leather unless you look closely.
And it does not rely on cloud services, only on the Pebble app, which has itself been updated to be cloud-independent. Some watch apps may need cloud services, but that’s up to the specific app.
two models left. none with metal bands. Congratulations to those that scored.
@wew which models are left? I really want a 24k gold one!
@nickads black with tan suede and steel with tan suede
@sammydog01 Thanks for letting me know. Congrats to everyone who got one!Maybe a gold one will pop up on eBay for a semi-decent price
yeah, there were just leather bands left. dog gone. I always pick the wrong night to fall asleep early. (beating myself senseless.)
Will it work w/o app? Can you set time without phone?
I almost missed this completely, but got one of the last ones with the suede leather strap. I’ll probably have to spend $20 to get a proper strap, but my curiosity got the best of me.
I sure wish that Meh was using UPS or USPS for shipments. I live 15 minutes from the Meh warehouse, but thanks to the cluster F that is FedEx they always take a full week to make my deliveries. If Meh ever had an option to just swing by and pickup in person for the locals I would prefer that over waiting a week for every order to arrive.
@Ebrake that’s crazy. I’m in NC and mines scheduled for delivery a day before you
@nickads It seems to be a local issue. FedEx in the DFW area in Texas has outsourced all of its delivery routes to 3rd party contractors. Ever since they made the change we have noticed that they only deliver to residential addresses once per week.
I dont have this issue when packages are shipped FedEx to my office right down the road from my house. If this had been shipped to my business address it would have arrived today.
@Ebrake I can see how that would get annoying, fast. Hopefully your week goes by fast so you can enjoy your time piece soon!
Looks like I got angry too soon due to FedEx fatigue with other shipments lately. The tracking was updated today the package was forwarded from FedEx to USPS and they are showing that it will arrive tomorrow in my regular mail delivery. That I have no complaints about whatsoever…Much better than waiting on the FedEx driver in our area.
@Ebrake
Let’s hope mine gets updated as well, but generally, FedEx Smartpost has been okay to painfully slow with my previous meh shipments… the last 3 shipments have been 3, 4, and 5 business days from Carrollton, TX to San Diego, CA.
Currently my Fedex status still shows 6 business days for delivery for this one.
![Olio where art thou, oh Olio][1]
[1]:
Anyone able to spare/sell extra links from their Black/Metal band? I added the two extras included, but I’m 2-3 short of mine fitting my wrist. Apparently Olio never sold extras. What you got in the box was it…
@putterwonder
/image black metal band
Sorry, not sorry.
Anyone know how to get weather to work? It shows, but with a ? instead of the actual weather. It originally worked, but then I had to re-pair it and it stopped showing the actual weather. Thanks
@barrysegal somewhere it said that weather doesn’t work.
@RiotDemon but it did work when I initially paired it. I unpaired it and when I paired it again I see the weather in the clock quadrant, but they aren’t showing the actual weather. Guess I need to try again. Thx
@barrysegal weather was one of the features we had said doesn’t work BUT we’ve heard a few people have gotten it to come up. If anyone has any advise or figures out and tricks please post them in the comments!
@mandirose I don’t know how but it starts to show up whenever it feels like it on the quadrants face. However it does show hour by hour weather? I have no clue how it works.
wondering since it worked on the old version of software until it automatically updated and then stopped working if maybe there is an issue with the new version of software?
I guess that patience is a virtue since the weather just started working again. If it shows up but without the actual weather, be patient and hopefully it will start to work.
@barrysegal After seeing your post, I tried again. I do not know if all of these are required, but with this configuration, I now have the Weather complication working:
@curtw4 I had all four panels of weather working for my main location, but just noticed that now I have one little weather icon and temperature showing in each of two different time zones. That’s all I know for now. It seems like it might be something as simple as it starts by gathering information for the current time. The zones on mine are somewhat disparate, and the little quarter that’s active (not just a question mark) seems to coincide with whatever is the current time in the zone.
Also, I was getting weather without the Apple app even installed. (I know this because when I searched for weather, one of the returns was current local conditions; when I selected it, I was told that the app wasn’t installed.)
@curtw4 sad no work for me
Anyone who receives the Rose Gold Band and wants to sell their links, I am a buyer - should have bought 2 watches then I would have all the links I could wish for…
I’m trying to figure out how to get TWO watches to sync. My old one connects fine, but there doesn’t seem to be anything in the app that lets me connect the new one to my phone (yes, I’ve got the bluetooth connection going)
@sgrenald I think you have to unpair one to pair the other
@mandirose I was afraid you were going to say that.
I’ve had a full day to play with this and I have to say, for what it is and what it cost its a snazzy watch. Looks good and everyone I’ve shown has been rather impressed by the look.
However battery life is absolutely awful. I have everything on auto right now and turned off all notifications as those were driving me mad. So today on a fresh charge the battery was down to 10% after 8 hours of just normal ‘look at watch for the time’ use. That’s pretty bad. Hoping it somehow gets better…
Other than that it’s quite nice. Charges quickish, design is nice. Just hope battery isn’t always going to suck.
@Shampoohorn === Check “About” section in the app on your phone. If it does not say “You have the latest software version” you need to get the watch to update. The battery life is awesome with the latest software. Do this overnight: make sure the phone is linked via bluetooth to your phone. Put the watch on its charger, plug your phone into its charger and check in the morning. It takes about 6 hours to do the update and it will not start until the watch is at a 61% charge.
@Forgetmestick56 You also need to reboot after the download.
@Forgetmestick56 Ya I’ve been on the newest update since yesterday. Battery life just blows.
@Shampoohorn ===You have my sympathy…that sucks!
@Shampoohorn +++ Like curtw4 said above - be sure the watch rebooted. Best to try and reboot to be sure. Go to settings on watch (swipe down from top) and swipe left to right to get to “restart” and restart (“reboot”). Hopefully this will get you battery issues resolved. Let us know how it goes!
@Forgetmestick56
While I know I’ve rebooted it before my test run I decided to do it again right at the start of use today. At 100% charge at 9am. I have hardly used the watch outside of checking the time, which was not anything I would consider even moderate use.
It’s 3:10pm now. I have 17% battery. I’ll update once it’s fully empty.
@Shampoohorn do you known if it’s staying connected to Bluetooth? If Bluetooth is “searching” it can drain the battery life.
@mandirose
Constantly connected. My phone never leaves me (that sounded kind of sad).
Well it finally died. Pretty close to 6pm. So with light to moderate use I got nearly 9 hours.
@Shampoohorn keep playing around with the settings, I’ve found the longer I’ve had it, I find little ways to improve things.
@mandirose Ya I actually really like the watch. If I can get a full day out of it I’ll definitely make it a daily use.
If anyone hates their stainless steel watch band with extra links I’d be willing to buy it at a reasonable price!
@mandirose said “If Bluetooth is “searching” it can drain the battery life.”
Yeah, this was my big problem in the first 24 hours. Phone thought it was connected, but watch still searching. Had to wipe watch to factory settings and delete app on the phone to get it to work. And as a result, the watch now appears twice in my phone’s bluetooth listing, but hey, they’re talking.
@curtw4 I completely forgot to mention that! On my i-phone it shows up twice on bluetooth as well but there has to be come reason because if both of them aren’t connected it doesn’t work correctly
@mandirose Any idea why it takes so long to download the update? Mine’s been connected for an hour and is only up to 20%…
@JimMeh4 that’s pretty normal actually. That’s why I suggested doing it while you’re sleeping. It can take like 6-8 hours.
@mandirose The update finally completed to 1.10.220, and now I have a new watchface (white on blue - I think it’s the one that’s supposed to go with the stainless steel model). Not a problem as I like this face. Now we’ll see if the battery life improves to a usable range.
@JimMeh4 Hey Jim, so I’d actually recommend swiping up and restarting the watch if you’re seeing that face right after the update (restart, not reset to a different device). But that DOES mean it updated correctly. Make sure you’re at 100% battery and either change the brightness to medium or auto and I think you’ll see better battery life!
@curtw4 hey, you said you were able to reset to factory’s settings… how did you do that?
@bjlewis2 if you swipe down from the top, the various settings choices appear. Once there, scroll left or right (using the “swipe from center” gesture) to the Reset option. It is distinctly different from Restart.
I can’t get the watch and phone to connect.
@MntlWard put in on the charger for about 5 minutes and then try pairing it while it’s off the charger. If it pairs then put it on the charger right afterwards and let it charge and update.
@mandirose I am in the same boat, I cannot get my watch to pair with any of my phones, has anyone had success pairing with Samsung S5, Samsung S7 or Nexus 4 ? The watch powers up in the Proceed screen, and the app nor the bluetooth scanner can find the phone… I am guessing my watch’s bluetooth receiver/transmitter is dead… Any advise is greatly appreciated. Phone is pretty well charged, a couple of hours on the charger
@vkaku because I don’t have an android I don’t know as much about any tips and tricks, maybe someone else can assist on this one. I know trying it while it was off the charger worked on a couple I tried. Best I can offer is this video for pairing but maybe another member can offer some assistance!
Android pairing
@vkaku I have an S7 and mine paired right away… Timing is important. Turn Bluetooth on the phone off and on again. Make sure no other devices are connected, on and in range, or trying to connect. Swipe down on the face of the watch and check Bluetooth settings. Try rebooting both.
@Liquidblue After trying for the past 3 days to pair, and it’s only worked once in a day, only in a bluetooth quiet environment, where it paired up. 1st time, worked for a short time, 2nd time, worked all day, phone discharged, went to charge it and bluetooth got disconnected, and this morning, got it to connect by removing the app, power cycling by wiping the cache clean, reinstalling the app, power cycling, disconnect bluetooth and reconnnect multiple times and it finally saw the phone. Kept the phone on charger, and after 4 hrs, my original phone version of 1.1.76 got the latest 1.10.220 ! What an ordeal, the watch is muuuch more stable now. Many thanks to all for their notes and help. Advice to those who can’t pair, keep trying, I think it takes alot of persistence, but does pay off. All my notifications are working. It’s just a novelty - nice to have something on my wrist that not many people have, the build quality is A1, software, well, ok at the price point.
@vkaku Thank you SO much for your write up. I know some people are discouraged and I wish I could jump through the computer screen to help them! I understand the frustration but if people are patient and can get it worked out I believe they will enjoy the watch at the end of it.
Help would be appreciated: Is there a user guide that isn’t flagged for possible attack on line?
Well that’s not the watch I ordered… Got a brown band instead of a black.
@ardahlbe go to https://meh.com/orders and you can contact customer service and they can help
I have been trying for two days to get this gorgeous watch to pair to my iPhone. No luck. I tried on the charger. I have now tried off the charger. Nada.
The watch shows the “Open Phone App Olio Model One XX:ZZ” message but the watch never shows up in my Bluetooth pairing window. I’ve rebooted the phone. I’ve let the watch run battery down and recharge. I’m legitimately out of ideas at this point.
Any suggestions? @mandirose ? Anyone?
@monty323 hmmm if you’ve tried all of those things I would contact customer service. They’ll be able to give you some options!
@monty323 Delete the iPhone app, and start over, following the steps precisely as outlined in the youtube video that @mandirose linked to. (I.e., don’t go straight to the iPhone settings, go through the app, etc.). I thought I was doing something wrong when this resulted in the watch appearing twice in my Bluetooth connections, but apparently this is normal.
@monty323 I’ve had issues. It’s a little fickle. You have to be able to see it in the Iphone bt settings (but not connect to it). Then go to the app and connect through there. I’ve also had to connect first and then immediately go to the app. In any case, make sure you are completely disconnected before reconnecting.
@monty323
Same issue here. I watched the YouTube videos and tried everything. The watch refuses to connect with my iPhone 7 plus and it does not even power up unless placed on the dock! Its been on the dock for more than a day so I know its a 1000% charged. I also noticed that the watch gets noticeably “warm” when on the charger.
@RPJ It actually doesn’t start “charging” fully until it’s connected to your phone. Did you try taking it off the charger and then pressing proceed and trying to connect it while it’s off the charger?
@mandirose I don’t think that’s accurate. It does start charging once placed on the dock. UNLESS its connected miraculously even though it says not connected on both devices. I have tried it 50 different ways with no luck. My apologies but its gotta be simpler than this. Anyway, I’m not happy. Product does not work in a reliable fashion – atleast mine does not. Also the device is getting really warm - - not a good sign overall. Return and refund por favor!
@RPJ Contact our customer service team and let them know what’s going on, they’ll be able to assist you
@RPJ So we got your watch back today and this was a weird one so wanted to post in case anyone else is having this problem. Watch just needed to be reset. Charged it for about 5 min, swiped up and went to the reset watch screen, hit confirm and then it went to the Welcome/Proceed screen.
Went through the app to get to bluetooth settings on my Iphone 6s…Watch wasn’t showing up in bluetooth but went back to the app and the proceed/next button in the app showed up. Hit next and the watch magically paired right away. Checked bluetooth screen again and there it was connected. Currently updating the watch now and app version is 1.3.124, might have been a bug with this app setting but watch seems to be working perfectly after this fix if anyone is having the same issue!
@mandirose Thanks for the update. Too much going on right out of the box. It should have been easier with the instructions and interface. Anyway not worth more headaches … awaiting my refund. Thanks again for being super helpful.
@mandirose How do you get to the reset watch screen?
@JimMeh4
In contrast to some others’ experiences, I’ve had no problem pairing. Quite the contrary, my Olio and iPhone want to double pair.
The watch wasn’t showing new notifications and said it was “searching” in the BT screen. I went to BT on my phone and saw it in there twice–and both items were “connected.” I simply “forgot” one of the connections and the watch showed “connected” and started responding immediately.
Someone more clever and/or ambitious, please make a joke about the double pairing. I’m thinking hermaphroditic worms or some shit like that, but I’m too damned lazy to follow through.
/giphy worm sex
I swear that I had a completely different analog display immediately after I upgraded software on the watch. I did a reset (still showing latest version) and I’m back to the original. Anyone have any thoughts or a similar experience at least? Other than changing between analog and digital (and swapping out the inner bits where the date is), is there a way to adjust the appearance? Maybe I just hallucinated.
@joelmw So I’ve now set up probably 15-20 of these watches and know exactly what you’re talking about, goes to that face for like a minute. I have no idea why or how to get it to stay on that face but if anyone figures it out let us know!
@mandirose Thank you. I seem to always run into these weird little things that others don’t. It’s good to know I’m not going crazy (or at least that this isn’t a manifestation thereof).
If I’m remembering correctly, the vanishing watch face looks like one I’ve seen in their videos. It’s more elegant than what I’m going to call the default. Mine actually stayed with that face for a while and it only disappeared after I did the restart. I haven’t seen it since. And, again, I don’t think I saw it before the update.
NICE looking Black, Black Metal band! I have charge all weekend. I put watch on this morning at 8:00, now it is 5:00 and the battery is dead. Just been wearing and working, nothing special. Have not really noticed I have it on. Do not believe it is going to work out when the battery will last less then a day.
@Silverado90 do you know if your watch updated? Sounds like it might not have yet. Check the about section on your app and see if it says you have the latest software
@Silverado90 Make sure you double check your brightness settings. Setting to “auto” or “low” will extend your battery life.
@mandirose
Yes, downloaded update, current
@troy Done, thanks
@Silverado90 looking through the watch features, I made the decision to bail on the BT connection to my phone. I don’t need it. Once I turned off the BT, I had about 70% battery left after wearing it all day. I am more interested in wearing it as watch instead of a smart watch. At $60, the features will not work the way I would want anyway, so I disabled BT and get more than all day battery life.
If you’re thinking of buying one don’t… it’s a POS that’s why the company went belly up…
Bluetooth connection is unreliable and will disconnect anytime, the UI to re-enable the bluetooth on the watch is terribly flawed… in order to display back to watch face from bluetooth settings, you have to swipe it up and doing so will touch the bluetooth settings back to disable/off which is really idiotic design. It uses a passive update on the latest firmware which I’m terribly waiting for days (didn’t happen… it supposed to fix the bugs)
Battery life is just half a day (or barely) and you end up with a watch that can’t even show time. This watch is an ultimate failure, it looks nice but that’s it… call it a dumb watch…
@arthurmeh Hey there, I would love to try to help you here. Definitely sounds like it needs the update and if we can get that to load there is hope yet! First off, the watch has to be connected to your phone and on the charger and charged up to at least 60% for the upload to start. You’ll see in the about section of your app the arrow turn yellow if the upload has begun. Then, in order for it to continue and work properly it MUST stay on the charger and be connected via bluetooth in order for the update to continue downloading. Once it’s downloaded and your watch will reboot and the new software will load. I highly recommend trying to do this at night before bed. Once you’ve made sure the watch is connected to your phone and the download has started, just keep the watch on the charger near your phone and it should download the update
@mandirose - I’ve been doing that for 4 nights now and here’s what’s so goofy about the way it charges, once it reaches 100% the charging stopped and will let the watch discharge instead of maintaining the charge. So instead of expecting 100% charge in the morning, you’ll only get maybe 60% or less depending on how long the charging stop. Such a crappy programming, I know the update contains the fix but it’s been several days now that it’s not updating… I’m a software developer so I know what a crap programming is…
@arthurmeh I wonder if it’s becoming disconnected from the bluetooth connection to your phone at some point. So in your about section is it ever showing the download is working?
@mandirose - the bluetooth is connecting because it will show a different message and in the mywatch section it shows the battery % and the bluetooth icon in blue… if it’s disconnecting and reconnecting I don’t know since I left it at my desk for the update to happen. Currently the message is “New software update version 1.10.220 is available.” and both phone and watch is charged 100% connected on power and wifi… when will it update?
@arthurmeh Did you try restarting the watch? I’m wondering if maybe it’s already downloaded and needs to be rebooted to update? Normally it starts downloading as soon as the watch gets to 60% charged
@mandirose - did all I know I can, restarted, re-
paired,re-installed,re-initialized… still getting that "new software update version… " message… not updating… and of course bluetooth is always connected because the message says “The watch must charge up to 60% before the download starts”. (it’s 100%) The message is different if the bluetooth connection is lost… frustrating…
@arthurmeh contact customer service and ask for @thumperchick, she should be able to help you out
Pulled my watch out of the box it powered up and started to pair then went completely black. I can’t get it to do anything now. Any help appreciated?
@Rabernathy Check out the video in the post above hope this helps. Make sure you keep the watch on the charger once its paired and an update should start downloading once the watch gets to 60% charged. The update should fix this bug
@mandirose it won’t do anything. I know it’s trying to charge because of how hot it is getting on the back of the watchface.
I am going to try to update the watch tonight, but I am so far HIGHLY disappointed. The battery lasted less than 8 hours today on my first wear. The bluetooth connection is highly unstable. Using the watch sucks… it is extremely unresponsive and I have to repeat my gesture multiple times before it registers that I’m trying to swipe up, down, left or right. The face with the time doesn’t stay on and it takes a lot of wrist wriggling and/or finger mashes to get it to display the time. The only notifications I have gotten it to work with is a few emails… texts aren’t showing up on it. So, yeah $50 for a watch that doesn’t want to tell you what time it is and that runs out of battery…and that you have to charge every night for these luxuries is a complete waste of money. I know Meh warned us to some degree, but it is WAY worse than advertised. Don’t look at this as a nice watch that just isn’t so smart for $50. Think of this as a $50 piece of trash that will only tell time if you shake it, and for only 8 hours per day. I think it may end up in my trashcan and I’ll be taking a long hiatus from Meh.com for this.
@dwileyjr344 It’s really vital to the watches performance to download the update. The watch MUST be connected to the phone and on the charger and charged to 60% for it to start downloading. This fixes so many of the issues you listed above. If you want to use the watch just as a watch and don’t care about the notifications, try turning off the bluetooth connection altogether, this will prolong battery life tremendously but I can’t express how important the update is to the watches performance.
Has anyone had success in getting their watch to work after it went to a black screen? I left on a trip the day after I got it, so I wasn’t able to upgrade the firmware, but it was working fine for two days until today. I thought I had plenty of battery left when the screen shut off but didn’t really think much of it. Now it won’t turn on when on the charger and it won’t pair with my phone. I tried shining the light on it and that didn’t work. Is there any way to do a hard reset? I’m thinking about letting it sit for a couple days and see if the battery fully discharges.
@mrongey that’s the best way to do it. Let the battery run completely out and try it on the charger in 24 hours. If it connects, make sure to let the firmware update in entirety before wearing, it should help alleviate any big issues. Let me know if you have any questions about how to get the firmware to update and I’ll be happy to help
@mrongey I had the same issue with it going out with still lots of battery life left. I took it to “Batteries Plus” and once they removed the back from the watch it power back up. I’ve had to do this twice since the original black out. Seems to be a flaw in the battery connection. t-3 torx screwdriver will open the 4 screws in back of the watch. Good luck
@mandirose “Let me know if you have any questions about how to get the firmware to update”
I had a question, how do I get the firmware to update?
(Admittedly, the answer is probably “wait more than an hour to allow it to sync and check” but I am not great with patience, I want a button I can click/tap that says “Update Now”.)
@mediocrebot It took me 4 hours to sync the watch to my iphone. After installing and uninstalling still having trouble with the watch. Its not syncing correctly. Emails not connecting as well as the weather. Beautiful watch, garbage software. What are my options? Just bad luck with this watch?
@djnasty313 did you update the firmware yet?
@mandirose yes when i installed the app and paired the phone.
@djnasty313 weather was a feature we said in the write up would not work. Do your email notifications come up on your phone as soon as they come through? For example, I have my mail notifications set to fetch so my email only shows up on the watch when I open the mail app on my phone. The notification settings on your watch are the same as on your phone so if you have notifications turned off on your phone. As we wrote in the write up, the watches aren’t perfect which is why they were so heavily discounted. If you want to just use it as a watch, I suggest turning off bluetooth and that will greatly increase the battery life for simple usage of the watch face feature.
@mandirose thank you for your reply. I tried to give the watch another go. Turned it on and it wasn’t connected. Been trying an hour to pair the watch and it’s not been successful. The craftmanship of the watch is stunning but worthless if I can’t even get it to work properly.
I have spent 3 days trying to pair watch ! This is crap. I know it was only 60. But it should have been 60. Less. Not happy! Will not purchase from Meh again. Thanks !
@wsb2901 Contact customer service and they should be able to help
@wsb2901 i feel the same way.
If it’s of the gold variety, I’ll take it off your hands $$
Does anyone have what the latest version for the software should be?
I’m at App Version 1.75.54 and software version 1.3124 according to the ‘about’ page of the app.
Charged it to above 60% and it doesn’t seem to be trying to do any upgrading, so I wasn’t sure if I was already up to date.
Also going to have to get a new band, this black leather one doesn’t quite fit my dumb fat dude wrists. :c
Anyone have a guide on changing the leather band?
@forthe48 Mine shows 1.7.54 for the app and 1.1.76 for the watch. I have an update available but the first time it didn’t take. Trying again. I’ll reply with the updated version if I can get it.
@forthe48 I had a scare during the update process. It rebooted a couple of times and at one point seemed to be stuck on the boot screen. Eventually it came back up and now the watch is on version 1.10.220 and the app says it has the latest software version. Hope this helps.
@forthe48 make sure the watch is connected to the battery and that it doesn’t get disconnected from bluetooth. The watches tend to be really testy on the older software so it takes a little work but once it does download it’s a much smoother experience. The pins are spring loaded to change the bands, I bought a cheepo watch repair kit on amazon to change the band. @troy do you know what that tool is called?
@nbk24o8
Thank you!
I think my phone needed to be connected to Wi-Fi, because even with the watch at 100% and connected to the charger it didn’t want to start downloading.
As soon as I got home and got connected to Wi-Fi it showed the update was available.
It’s downloading now and I’m sure it’ll be updated soon.
@mandirose Thanks! I think it’s called a spring compressor tool, but it turns out as long as you’re careful about it you can use a dull knife to get the spring compressed enough to pop the band back out.
@forthe48 y’all need to know, you made my day! So glad you got it worked out. Great tip about the wifi! Enjoy
My app version is 2.91.0599 IPhone.
The software version is 1.10.220.
The app says it’s the latest version, but I’ve seen others listed with a higher software version. Does this have anything to do with the style of watch? I do not have an option to upgrade.
Battery goes from 7am to around 5 before it dies. I was hoping there was a software upgrade to extend battery life. Don’t get any emails but most of other features are working.
Any help on if there is software upgrade and how to do it if watch says it has the latest version already.
Thanks
@Smokey20 That should be the newest software version. Try changing your settings to see if your battery life improves. Changing the brightness to low or auto helps. Do you get push notifications on your phone for emails? The watch mimics the settings on your phone so if you have notifications off for email on your phone it should shadow whatever your phone does
Emails are pushed (fetched) every 15 minutes on phone but not on watch.
@Smokey20 interesting, if I hear of a fix I’ll make sure to respond to you with it. Out of curiosity, do you have an android or iPhone? Also, no emails show up whatsoever in the earlier screen?
I have an iPhone. No emails at all. I do get text alerts and schedules show up. I have several accounts including yahoo, google and outlook exchange emails
@Smokey20 on your iPhone, check settings -> notifications -> mail -> and then make sure your email accounts are set up to show in Notification Center.
If you don’t want to do it universally you can use the VIP settings and add contacts for the email addresses you want notifications from, and save them as favorites.
If you’ve already done that, I’ve got no suggestions as I receive VIP email notifications on my Olio.
Okay I would love it if someone would explain it to me, because I am very curious. So I have the watch, and somehow it is still connected to my phone and controlling my music and receiving notifications immediately, without Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. For reference, I have the LG v20
Where can I get extra links for a stainless Olio?
After some dorking around, i have the watch paired and upgraded to the latest version.
Problem: it doesn’t usually alert me to incoming phone calls. I’ve tested with a dozen calls and it usually doesn’t work. I think the times it has worked have been soon after app reinstalls and/or reboots of the phone or watch.
Meanwhile, it always alerts me that the call was missed. Even when it didn’t alert that the same call was inbound, seconds earlier.
Phone is iphone 6, latest OS patch installed.
Bluetooth on watch says “connected.”
Hmm, Bluetooth on phone showed two discrete “olio model one 22:35” entries. One of them connected, the other not.
When I toggled bluetooth on phone, it connected to the second Olio and the phone calls started coming in.
any clues?
@danpritts for some reason on some iphones it shows up twice in bluetooth. I’ve found that both need to say connected for all functions to work correctly. No idea why though
@mandirose Two connections showing up is a minor cosmetic issue. Not keeping them running is a problem.
Anyone having issues like this? Mine seems to randomly swap between notifications and other apps randomly without any input from me. Yesterday it managed to enable the alarm by itself. Took me a while to figure out why my wrist was vibrating like crazy. I did let it go through its updates before wearing it.
@Lightborne If you haven’t tried yet. Try restarting the watch and if that doesn’t work try resetting the watch and unpairing in the app and repairing it from the proceed screen. Hope this helps!
@mandirose This did help somewhat. Still wigs out occasionally. Also, today after having it on charge for most of the day, the screen refuses to turn on. My phone is still paired to it, and still shows that it’s connected in the app, but nothing I do seems to wake it up.
Anyone found any links to a forum or group regarding this watch? The best information I have found is from this site, but I would think there are others that have been using this device much longer.
@ktnemec I’m interested in a group or forum as well about the Olio One…
@ktnemec There’s a facebook group called “I own an Olio” which has a number of us that were early adopters and also a part of Olio’s beta program. Join up and feel free to ask any questions.
@Beyach4000 See my comment above.
@greg8920 Thanks so much for adding this info to the forum! Here’s a quick link to anyone who needs it Olio Facebook Group
I had my watch on the charger last night and when I woke up this morning it is totally dead. Tried the light trick but that doesn’t work. Going to try leave it a few days to see if it wakes up with a new charge. Any other suggestions to try?
@arnoldbe - it probably got discharged overnight. There’s an issue with the charging if you still have the 1.1.48 firmware version. Once it goes to 100% it will stop charging the watch until you remove the charger and put it back again (software bug) It doesn’t maintain the 100% charge.
I really like the watch but it will be returned back, mine is still not updating for several days which will actually fix that issue. The weather portion worked one day, it’s nice to see temperature and rain/cloud conditions but it wasn’t accurate, it showed rain and temp at 80, it was sunny and 86… so not sure where it’s getting the information…
Watch is present for son we opened the box for the first time today 6-17 and we are not getting any power to the watch it is not coming on.
@dino2269 the watch was attached to the included charger and didn’t turn on at all?
Does anyone know where to purchase an additional charger for the watch?
@crimar30 +1. Looked everywhere online. Two other wireless chargers I have do not work
Anybody willing to part with their gold link bracelet/strap?? If so, let’s talk!
Meh administrators - did you guys pick up any Olio accessories?
@greg8920 no dice
Hi, I purchased my watch from meh.com, on the first day I charged it and the watch got incredibly hot, too hot to be worn. The charge lasted approximately two to three hours, all the while not actively using it, it did however disconnect from my smartphone several times even though they were never further than 10 feet apart from each other. I tried charging it again the next day and now the screen won’t even turn on. The response from meh.com was to come here and ask for advice. What can I do to get the watch working again?
@popkanzia did you get the new software update for it? You need to connect it to your phone through the Olio app. It will take a while but helps a ton with connectivity and stability.
@popkanzia Hey There! I would read through this forum as much as you can. I will tag you in posts that relate to your issues
@popkanzia
Yeah, I’m having the same issue too. First day I got it, charged it, and it turned on fine. I installed the app on my phone and synced the watch to it. I wanted to let it charge to 100% before trying it on, so I let it sit for about two hours. As it continued charging, I noticed the battery life would hover around ~70% - it wouldn’t increase charging for some reason.
Eventually at some point, the screen on my phone turned black - it was still backlit, but it wouldn’t function and wasn’t responding to the app. I figured I’d let it run out of battery and try charging it again the next day, but ever since then, the screen doesn’t light up anymore and does nothing when I charge it. It basically seems broken at this point.
I’ve waited a period of about a day to two days to let it discharge before trying to charge it again, but it’s still not working. At this point, I’m going to try letting it discharge for a full week before charging it again, and if it doesn’t work after that, I’m going to ask for an exchange or refund from meh. It’s a shame too, because I really like the aesthetics of the watch - it looks really nice. I don’t want my money back, I just want a working product.
@qberting be patient. It takes some messing around to get it to work. You can contact customer service and they may be able to swap out as well. The watch does take a long time to update. You can check the status in the app on the progress. Be sure to restart the watch after it updates.
@popkanzia I’ve recently had a similar experience. I wasn’t charging, but just wearing my watch, sitting at my desk at work. It had a decent charge on it and wasn’t near the point where it would be discharged, but the screen just went black and it stopped responding completely. Disconnected itself from bluetooth and wouldn’t do anything.
Tried charging it full, but nothing happened, so I left it for a few days, trying off and on to put it on charge to see if it would power up. I had decided that if the screen didn’t come on in 30 seconds that it still had juice and was just misbehaving so I’d take it off power again and leave it to sit and discharge more. After about 3 full days of checking it like that, it’s finally come back to life after putting it on a charger.
That’s not a fun experience. I thought it was dead forever. Hopefully it stays alive this time. On a tangent thought… I think I will only put it on low-current chargers now, after reading other comments about it getting hot. Maybe I’ll find an old crap USB charger that puts out like 600 milliamps and use that exclusively to charge it.
Does anyone want to sell their extra links for the black stainless version?
@wkmaylish you should respond to the comment directly above yours.
@Thumperchick
Looking through the watch features, I made the decision to bail on the BT connection to my phone. I don’t need it, I get plenty notifications on my phone. Once I turned off the BT, I had about 70% battery left after wearing it all day. I am more interested in wearing it as watch instead of a smart watch. At $60, the features will not work the way I would want anyway, so I disabled BT and get more than all day battery life. I did notice that the watch ‘lost’ about 20 minutes slowly over 3 days the first time I turned off the BT so I just re-synced to my phone and it updated. So far, it hasn’t lost any time and it has been 2 days. Go figure.
@evenrute thanks for the update on that!
Anyone know if it’s possible to disable the music controls on the watch? I accidentally hit “play” last night and phone started blaring and woke up my wife.
Interesting watch. I can’t get the weather to work consistently and have been playing around with different apps on my iphone6 with no luck.
Anyone find a 3rd party charger to work with this watch? I’d appreciate hearing what folks have tried already.
Well, after about a week this is what I feel about the Olio watch.
Pros:
Cons:
1a) No other watch faces (more than “Digital” or “Analog” would have been nice.)
1b) Touchscreen is fidgety, will often not register swipes or misinterpret them as a full “edge” swipe rather than “mid” swipes.
1c) text is too small when reading emails and text messages on the watch
1d) Charging circuitry/software sucks donkey balls: it runs too hot with a high current USB power source, hot enough to cook the battery enough to reduce cycle life
1e) Software on watch is incomplete (expected that, but still had to mention it.)
Overall Conclusion for Olio Model One: Form over Function
I’d be pissed off if I had paid $500 for the watch. I’d be livid if I had paid >$1000 for a Gold one. For $70 or less, it’s a great buy if one can get it last “all day” (>15hrs for me) with bluetooth turned on connected to one’s phone… if one has to use it with with bluetooth turned off to get enough battery life, then I’d rather get a Wenger Chronograph from ebay (refurb or new) for around $100. Or this one, BIN, for $67. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wenger-Silver-Dial-Brown-Leather-Strap-Mens-Watch-79131-/272534833340
AFter a lot of work, I got the update downloaded to the watch, but the watch is now just stuck on the Olio logo screen. I tried draining the battery and recharging, but it’s not doing anything. I can’t even reconnect it to the phone. Thoughts?
@wishlish Same thing happened to me. You just need to delete the app and then re-install it. Been running perfectly ever since
OK, I’ve been playing around with this thing for a week now. Uninstalled/reinstalled the app countless times. Wiped caches, un-paired/re-paired, let it completely discharge, tried my wife’s phone. The watch “connects” but only when the face is on. A few seconds after it dims the connection is lost. I haven’t even seen anything about an update, though I’m sure that’s directly related to it’s lack of a lasting connection.
I really want to like this watch. Anyone find something that’s worked for them that isn’t already posted here?
@Pacers
Cancel that. Decided to give it one more go using an old phone i had stuck in a drawer. Installed the app, it connected and immediately started downloading the update. Surprisingly it only took 20-30 minutes to finish. Restarted the watch. Unpaired with the old phone, re-paired with my current, and until now, completely uncooperative phone. It’s been a couple hours now of steady connection.
3rd time’s the charm.
Mine stopped working after two days-- will not turn on have had sitting on dresser for 9 days and tried charging again and I still get no power
@yankees07 I’ve also tried all “fixes” stated here – very disappointed–
@yankees07 That’s too bad. Mine quit working suddenly, but I had success leaving it to discharge for several days until it was dead and then putting it back on the charger. Try a different charger? Different amperage?
ha! I’m having trouble downloading the software. I’m not on Apple based software.Like someone said, I really wanna love this thing. I just wanna tell the time.
@wew The firmware updates if you go to watch settings. It takes forever to down load and update
ya, can someone give me a hand? I can’t find the software and have been looking a few hours. it won’t show up on my itunes.
thanks, and sorry for being a pain
and man is this watch hot! looks and temperature wise.
@wew look up Olio Assist. It’s right there. And BTW, the watch charges hot the first time and then doesnt any more. At least for me
i got the software. man, its been so long since I used any Apple stuff.
@wew The watch works better with Android
So mine took the updated firmware and hasn’t worked since. All I get is the Olio screen in perpetuity. It doesn’t make itself available to pair via Bluetooth. Is there a way to reset the watch back to factory settings? Should I be contacting meh support at this point?
@wishlish check the post above yours.
@jbartus I tried that, didn’t work.
@wishlish try letting it drain over 24 hours and then try putting it back on the battery. You can also try deleting the app and redownloading it as I’ve heard from some people that’s helped
@wishlish See my post directly above yours
@arfdawg Since I own an iphone and an ipad, that’s not exactly helpful, but thanks anyway.
@mandirose I had actually tried that before I posted, but it didn’t work. I’m going to try it again, but I’m running out of hope.
@wishlish I’d try the steps I mention anyway. But it’s true, iPhone doesn’t like to work with non apple products. I’ve grown to hate Apple. Android is so much more functional these days
@arfdawg See, I disagree, because I had Android phones for years and grew to loathe them. My iPhone 6s is my favorite mobile device ever. But to each his own.
I had tried the steps above before posting. I’m trying them again. But honestly, I think the firmware update borked the watch. I was able to get the watch into pairing mode before, and can’t now. It just shows the Olio logo over and over. I’m letting it drain again and will retry Friday, but after that, I’m going to invoke Meh’s warranty, if possible.
Even though we disagree on the Android/iPhone argument, thanks for helping.
@wishlish contact customer service if it doesn’t work and they’ll take care of you
@wishlish I had the exact same prob after the firmware update. All I got for hours was the Olio logo. I was desperate. But uninstalling the app and then re-installing it worked like a charm. The watch is perfect now. I’ve had an iPhone 3, 4s, 5 and 6s. My Pixel blows them all away. There is no comparison. Fast as lightning and all the apps just work correctly all the time. Never could get a Pebble to pair with Apple and even the Apple watch is glitchy with the 6s. Good luck with your attempts.
I got this as a gift for my son. He was into it, but got frustrated with the random resets, the battery drain. I’ve been trying to weed through the thread to find fixes, but, damn y’all love to bitch. Please post links to actually helpful info.
@mandirose
If you’re not busy…
@kathologist Hey there! Do you know if he was able to update the firmware on the watch? He can check by going to the ABOUT section on the app and seeing what version it says 1.10.220, that means it has been updated. If it doesn’t, it should say there is an update available. The watch and phone need to be connected and the watch needs to be on the battery and charged up to 60% to start downloading the update. It takes several hours to finish and the watch and phone have to be connected the entire time so I suggest doing it over night. If it HAS been updated, have him try changing the brightness setting to either low or auto, that really helps to extend battery life significantly. Let me know if you have any other questions. Make sure to hit reply to this post so I get the notification and I’ll answer back as soon as I can!
@PlacidPenguin thank you!
@mandirose Oops, forgot to reply sooner.
Thank you for taking the time to share all that.
Heading
He did all that he could (spent time looking up shit and following your input), but alas, it kept randomly resetting. It got him interested in getting another dumb “smartwatch” though…
@mandirose I’m on SW version 1.3.124 and core and UI versions 1.3.123. Never saw anything about updating firmware. Is there a way to get it updated anymore given the status of the company?
EDIT: I just noticed in the app under “about” it says the download is paused at 70%…not sure how to get it to complete the download?
@tatertots712 hey there! In order to complete the download you just need to make sure the watch stays connected to your phone via bluetooth and that the watch stays on the charger the entire time it’s updating. If you take it off the charger it pauses the download. The connection can be spotty on the old UI versions so you do need to keep your phone close to the watch and babysit it a little. I promise it’s worth it though! The watch works much better with the update.
@mandirose That’s good to hear! Even on the version I’m running now, the watch is pretty cool. Only problem I have been having is it occasionally disconnects from bluetooth and what I have found works best is to turn the BT off on the watch for like 30 seconds to make sure it fully disconnects from my phone then turn it back on and usually connects within a few seconds. I will try messing with it more at home this evening, but I know for sure last night that it was on the charger overnight with my phone charging right next to it. I will provide an update once I can experiment more.
Thanks for your quick reply!
@mandirose Took about 2 hours, but I finally got the update installed and watch re-paired. Are there any notable features added with this update? I saw a comment up above about getting the microphone to work, but I have had no such luck.
Thanks!
@tatertots712 definitely glad to hear you got it working! The most notable by far is battery life (make sure to put it on auto or low for best battery life) and just a lot of overall bug fixes and a smoother experience.
My watch never lit up or started charging - totally DOA; how can I get another one to replace it?
@donaldsquires If meh support can’t replace it (presumably they’ll refund it), drop me a line to this username at gmail if you want my stainless/black leather watch. Firmware updated, gets a day (possibly more) on a charge.
Battery died. no replacement in sight - - -
@Whitcomb do you have a case open with customer support?
No case with MEH, just hoped to find help. Thanks
Meh,
Just stuck on the Olio loading screen, itll buzz after about a minute, screen goes out then back to the splash screen.
Its been two full days (after a full 24 hrs just trying to get the damn thing set up) and I’m finally ready to give my review.
First of all I’ll start off by saying that the update took this watch from a literally worthless hunk of steel, LEDs, and (unreasonably hot) lithiom swill to an actually somewhat usable device. Its not even worth owning this thing if you don’t successfully update it.
That being said, its still pretty unfathomably terrible. Especially when you consider that these con artists used to charge $800+ for it. Doesn’t take a savant to understand why this company went belly up. Use the watch for 5 min and you will wish you could sit down with the ex-CEO for a few min just to pick his/her brain. Baffling.
Anyhow, onto the good stuff.
The only way to pair this thing with an iphone is to download the app then close the app. Turn BT on your phone off. Click pair to new device on watch and reset it, or just pop on charger if its your first time opening it to start the pairing process. Open BT on phone. Click proceed on watch. Click watch on your BT list on phone (it might be listed on your BT list twice, yet another unexplainable quirk). Click the notification at top of screen to return to app. Go through pairing process on app. Finally you will be paired.
To update: the only way to update this thing without spending 4 days waiting for it to happen on its own is to babysit it. Set it on the charger and plug your phone in also. This is gonna take a while. A six pack and a full season of gilmore girls is my recommendation. God bless hulu. Anyhow, wait for watch to get up there, say 80% or so. Now open the app on your phone and it will start automatic update. Your phone has to be within 18 inches of the watch cuz this thing is just that buggy. Now check your phone every 15 min or so. Try to keep the phone out of lock screen as much as possible. It tends to pause the update when your phone goes into lock screen sometimes. Now do this for about 6-8 hrs, waking your phone up ever 15-30 min. The update percentage will initially go up in 4% increments. Eventually at like 60% it will start going up in 10% increments.
Eventually the watch will reboot and it will go to the eternal olio logo screen. This is when you have to delete the stupid app from your phone and redownload it. The watch will eventually get past the olio screen. Then go through the tedious pairing process all over again.
Morale of the story…I’ve worked for software companies my whole professional life and this is a complete fumble. Anyone who releases software this terrible and charges consumers north of a grand for it should expect to file chapter 7. No surprise there. Its a shame bc the actual watch housing, band, etc is actually pretty nice looking. But as they say, some people just can’t hang.
Not pissed I spent $40 on this thing. But definitely not feeling like I walked away with a great deal by any stretch of the imagination.
Hope my little how-to helps some frustrated purchasers out. Needless to say its the last unsupported device from a bankrupt company I will ever spend money on. Thanks meh, you bastards. Love you though, kinda. Not really.
Also apparently this charger works with the olio model one. Make suee to cradle it with the logo on the left side
@asherwitt https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VNZAW6I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
@asherwitt I am about to order one of these charger/stands. Has anyone confirmed hat they work OK with the Olio?
@iwilsker I just took a gamble and ordered one of these as an “Amazon Warehouse Deal” for $8.09. It is scheduled for delivery on Tuesday August 1. I will try it and post the results here.
@iwilsker I dont know, I saw it on a reddit thread about Olio watches
@asherwitt The MOTO 360 Wireless Charger mentioned above arrived today. It fits OLIO 1 watch perfectly and IT WORKS! The watch is charging on it. The Olio logo is to the left on the charger as mentioned above. I plugged the included USB cable into a 1 amp charger, and the watch is charging just fine! I have touched the watch every few minutes, and it is not hot.
More review to follow after a few days of use.
@iwilsker UPDATE: Using the Itian branded MOTO 360 charger available on Amazon for $9.99,
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VNZAW6I my Olio watch charged to 100% reasonably quickly using the included USB cable connected to the 1 amp port on a conventional USB charger. The watch did not over heat (was only slightly warm).
I have not yet left the watch on the charger overnight to see what happens, but according to reviews of the charger (when used with a Moto 360 watch), it cannot overcharge the watch, but will drop to a trickle once he watch is fully charged. A Moto 360 can safely be left on the charger overnight.
On Amazon, the manufacturer states that this charger is only intended to work on a Moto 360 smartwatch.
There is a tiny LED on the bottom front of the charger which is on only while charging.
Considering the mediocre battery life of this watch, I will be ordering another one of these chargers for my desk at work to keep the watch charged during the work day. The charger that just arrived will be on my night stand, and the original “silver dollar” charger that came with the Olio watch will stay on my computer table. I may even purchase a third charger to keep in my suitcase when I travel. For about $10 each, it is worth it to keep my watch charged.
YMMV
@mandirose
I’m having two issues with my watch.
@jpparker88 this happened to me too. I just kept messing with the watch and the app till it popped back on for some reason. Maybe throw it on the charger to wake it up? Or some people claimed the flashlight trick worked. I didn’t have to do that.
@jpparker88 1. The watch doesn’t have any sound. It just controls the music on your device. 2. Worst case let it die and then in 24 hours put it back on the charger. I found that when I open my app up and keep it on in the background, then I don’t have that problem. Just my experience though.
@jpparker88 How in the workd did you get the microphone to work and what command did you say to it?
This thing is a piece of crap. Wish I didn’t buy it.
I’ve been fiddling with this watch for a month. It gives me time and date, text notifications, phone call notification. A couple times I’ve seen some weather info on the weather screen. Occasional weather info in the “Later” list.
It is running with a Galaxy S6… SW version, core version, UI version are all 1.10.220. Kernel is 3.10.0-g2ae2f33. VM version is 2.0.0.
What are right versions of software? Is there a clear list anywhere?
I’d love to have anything else work. Any ideas out there? A post or blog that someone has found? In all my reading here, I haven’t found any other ways to make other things work.
Thanks!
Just got mine today. Ready to go through the process
Sounds like it’s going to be a long one.
Anyone who wants one, I think I’m going to be rid of mine. I like it a lot, it is really nice looking. The disconnection/reconnection issue i’m having with the iphone is more hassle than it is worth to me. Black leather band, stainless watch.
I like the band, so assuming I can get the band off, I would sell the watch only for $25. Or you can have the whole thing for $50. this username at gmail.
@danpritts what kind of band is it can i get pictures of just the band( i have 3 watch bands that might fit it), i might be interested
@communist According to the Olio site, it’s a 22mm band, looks like a standard pin type mount. I’ll confirm tonight.
I was wrong, it’s a 24mm band. It does appear to be a standard pin type mount.
@danpritts nvm then
Is there any type of online or PDF manual for this watch? Something more than the pamphlet that came in the box.
@iwilsker You should ask @mandirose
@iwilsker https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC57jorxQAFRR0d-TbXYZnGQ
If there’s anything not covered that you wanna know. I’m here to help
@mandirose THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Those YouTube videos were exactly what I needed to show how to perform all of the functions of this watch.
Anyone selling a Rose watch cheap, let me know as the back of mine cracked (yes, the back, not the front) Thanks
@Whitcomb - did you find a back… If you don’t need your extra links… I can trade for a ION exchange glass…
@tc95 Would love to help out on this but mine came with leather band. Thanks
I just got a replacement one, and it charged, but then had trouble charging afterwards. I was able to get it to charge again by setting it in the charger, but offset upwards. (Just posting it in case anyone else was trying to do it.)
It’s on version 1.3.126. I saw 1.10.2210 mentioned above, is that what I should be upgrading to? Is there a way to make it update other than to stare at it for a long time?
Also, I can’t seem to figure out any way to switch to 24-hour/military time. Is there a way to do that?
@LexPendragon the watch must stayed on the charger and be connected to the phone on Bluetooth. Once it charges over 60% the download will start. You might notice the battery go down during the update, it might seem like the watch isn’t charging. That’s normal. Takes several hours to update. I recommend doing it overnight while you sleep
@mandirose Tried that last night. Next idea?
@LexPendragon so when you go to The about section while the watch is connected to the charger and to Bluetooth, does it say an update available? Does it have a percentage downloaded?
@mandirose
This was all I got when I went to the about screen. I’m recharging it at the moment after wearing it for the day, but I had it on the charger overnight, on Bluetooth, with the app open (and visible) on my phone overnight.
@LexPendragon Yup, fully charged now, and there was no change.
@LexPendragon Mine shows the same thing and the same version. Are you sure this isn’t the latest?
I’d say that the watch works pretty well on this version.
@Delons This is my second time, (the first one died after a day) and it had updated, and worked better. I didn’t catch the number, but 1.10.220 is listed a bunch above us.
@mandirose Another night on the charger, another full charge, no update, again.
@LexPendragon Last thing I can think of is based upon things others have mentioned…is your phone connected to wifi? I’ve heard from multiple people that can help.
@mandirose I tried both on and off WiFi over the weekend.
I just want to know where that big friendly button is to say “Check for update”.
@mandirose It’s not just him. I’m having the exact same problem. I’ve tried re-downloading the app, wifi on and off, repairing, charging to 100% multiple times. No update button for me either. I am also on 1.3.126.
@Delons So there’s no update button actually, it will look like this before updating
@Delons Here’s what it will look like while updating. If you can’t get it to say this, contact customer service. THANKS!
So here’s my experience with it after the first 2 days.
The battery is well, terrible…ish. I’m not really sure. It doesn’t seem to be consistent. My guess is that it will last about 4-5 hours, although depending on use I’ve seen it get to 30% after just 2 hours.
Functionality is pretty good. It works well for notifications, checking the time, and calendar. I have not been able to get the weather working.
Music playing works for skipping songs. I’ve only gotten pause and volume to work once. The name of the song only updates when a different page is brought up and then returned to the music page.
My biggest problem is getting the display to turn on. Half the time it wont respond to the flick of my wrist (and tapping the display doesn’t turn it on) and the other half of the time it stays on too much. That’s the most annoying part of the watch.
@Delons A lot of what you are describing I see with the version you and I have, but it got better once I got the update; better battery life, better waking, and it even let me use Google Assistant. (That’s why I am so impatient for it.)
@LexPendragon Yea, I’m having the same issue with it not updating. I wonder why. Let me know if you get it to update.
@Delons - even if you do not update… change the brightness to medium… & turn on the gesture controls … this will increase the battery life by 60% … I have two of these… the update is crucial… make sure and do it… but with the earlier software I was able to get 10 to 15 hours by changing the brightness…
Ok… I also need two extra rose gold links… if anyone has them and wants to sell… please let me know… Thank you…
Is it September 3rd yet?
@therealjrn What is going on Sept 3rd?
@mandirose Hey, my phone says the update is downloaded and will be applied after watch reboots, but when my watch restarts, it still says software version “1.3.126” and that “1.10.220” will be applied after watch reboots. Can’t seem to get it to actually apply. Any thoughts?
@bjlewis2 Do you have an iphone by chance?
@mandirose yes. iPhone 6, latest OS
@mandirose I wondered if the download got corrupted or something. Do you know if there’s a way to reset it to factory defaults so that I can retry a fresh download?
@bjlewis2 @Mandirose @Delons
I think I am seeing a trend:
I suspect that iPhone users get version 1.10.220 while Android users only go up to 1.3.126. Has anyone seen anything to refute this hypothesis?
If that’s what’s happening, I think I may try to find a friend with an iPhone, sync my watch to their phone, let it upgrade, then try to sync it back to my Android phone.
(I welcome anyone’s input and thoughts.)
I have v.1.3.124 and am trying to update. It shows 1.10.220 downloaded and will be applied after reboot. I push restart on watch face and ‘confirm’…watch shuts down…when it comes back app on phone still shows 1.3.124 and acts ready to download again…so it keeps going in circles…what am I missing here? If someone can please post step-by-step how to download and update these…
@frankdimes Look further up in this very thread. There is a wealth of information starting at the comment I linked.
Come on September 3rd…
@therealjrn what’s September 3rd?
what’s September 3rd?
Anyone have Rose Olio they would sell for parts? The back on my watch is cracked. Thanks
@Whitcomb I have a stainless one i’d sell. I can’t swear that the back is identical but i’d be surprised if they weren’t.
I only bought this Olio as a back-up in case my Apple watch ever died. Which it did, over the weekend. Discovered quickly that while I can adjust/cope with the UI issues, this thing is just too damn heavy for daily use.
Anyone interested in a very lightly-used (like one day’s worth of wear) black body/black metal band model? Extension links are still in the bag. No reasonable offer will be refused.
Oh, and I also bought one of those Motorola chargers, so it will come with bonus charging hardware.
$15 plus shipping?
@Whitcomb sure - but i keep the band. OK? email this username at gmail.
@danpritts
you bet, don’t need the band just need to make sure the 4 screws line up in the back case. PayPal ?
you bet, don’t need the band just need to make sure the 4 screws line up in the back case. PayPal ?
estavan at msn dot com
@thumperchick
Wanna reformat the email address so it’s not a hyperlink?
you bet, don’t need the band just need to make sure the 4 screws line up in the back case. PayPal ?
Ok so I just got one of these Olio watches. I downloaded to app, signed in and paired with my phone. I was having trouble getting the weather to populate. So I tried rebooting the watch… nothing. so I thought I’d uninstall the app reboot and start over… now I’m getting a “There was a network error performing login”. So I tried “signing up” with a new email address and I get the same message… “There was a network error performing Sign up”. What can I do to fix this?
@svasquezsr I’ve got the same issue. Mine was working for the past 2 years until this past weekend. I’m still searching everywhere as what to do with this damn thing now.
@svasquezsr What are the odds? You and this “other” poster @juice999 just joining up to post the same very specific problem? Good luck to “both” of you.
@therealjrn I’m wanting to know if there’s any way I can hack into this thing and make it do what I want. I’m seriously not the same person as I replied to. Lol
@therealjrn Google probably thinks this thread is the most dense source of information about these watches on the internet.
@djslack And the company is long gone isn’t it? And these watches weren’t so popular to have a vibrant user community to find anybody who might have modded or “hacked” their watch. Shit.
Good Luck you “two” on finding the cure for your oddly specific problem for these watches you did not buy from mediocre, inc.
@therealjrn Are you guys seriously THAT doubtful that I now have a $400 paperweight? I’m guessing I got my money out of it at $.54/day for 2 years
@svasquezsr
The weather feature doesn’t work anymore according to @mandirose.
https://meh.com/forum/topics/olio-model-one-smartwatch#593c4018e071640a2448ec03
@mflassy It’s a lot more than just the weather feature now. It’s the entire watch.
@juice999 @svasquezsr
Meant to apologize for being late.
@juice999 I never doubted you “two” had a problem.
@therealjrn I actually took a gamble on this POS company during the second batch on July 30th 2015 and didn’t receive it until mid Dec. Problems after problems. Had to send it back because it wouldn’t turn on. They replaced it free of charge 1 yr later. It’s been working “ok” for the past year. Now it’s fucking garbage! Anyone wanna buy it? Can’t do anything with it without the app and a registered account with them. Hell, I have a registered account but can’t do shit with it since their servers always time out when I try to log in.
If you want a watch that’s stuck on “searching” let me know. I’ll box it up and send it your way.
@juice999 Could be nobody is there to pay for or maintain the servers huh?
As good as your offer sounds, I think I’ll just give a polite, no thank you.
@juice999 If you find anything… PLEASE let me know.
@juice999 if u have the blacl model i need extra links for the watch id gladly take it off your hands just shoot me an email {redacted}
@arod1118 @Thumperchick
Email address alert.
Oh, and then there’s these poor bastards trying to unload these fishing line sinkers.
Well, I tried other “smart watch” apps and none seem to work. Looks like it’s a lost cause at this point… If anyone finds anything out, PLEASE let us know…
@svasquezsr You didn’t buy it from meh.
Didn’t you just get it? Why not return it to whence it came? If it’s an eBay purchase, PayPal might intervene for you even if the seller claims to “not accept returns”
You bought a defective, non-working product.
/giphy Aint Nobody Got Time For That
@therealjrn Ease up with the mean-girls vibe. We let new kids sit with us - even if they aren’t wearing pink.
@Thumperchick or purple.
@therealjrn
Jeeza Louisa.
You having a bad day or something? If so, my sympathies.
It might have been purchased from Meh using another account. Or purchased here and given as a gift.
Or for some reason you don’t like some people. Ok.
Anyway, seems like a legit q.
Looking to sell mine, it’s a brown leather watch strap stainless steel model. Has another interchangeable fossil watch band. $65
@ahsun882 You just joined one day ago? HAHAHAHA! You need to go to fleabay young man.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
/ping @tHumperchick
@therealjrn eh, no links, it’s clearly an effort to sell crap.
BUYER BEWARE - aka: buying things from strangers is risky under the best of circumstances. Buying from this person is riskier.
@ahsun882 What about this from AJ Cooper?
@ahsun882
I am ready to buy it for -$65,000.00
Let me know.
My Olio Smartwatch died last Monday evening, age 6 months.
It was fully charged on the “silver dollar” charger in the morning. Did not over heat. Silver dollar induction device connected to a 500ma charger as had been recommended here in the threads to avoid over heating.
Has worked great since received, but at dinner looked at the watch and it was dark, as in off. Would not respond to life. Checked bluetooth connection with watch, which was live, but unresponsive.
Put it back on charger, and nothing happened; no welcome screen that usually appears if battery is dead, nothing! Watch is dead.
I realize that Meh gets its bargains from closeouts and bankruptcies, but I am 1 for 4 with smartwatches from Meh. My Meta watch became unresponsive and eventually died a premature death; this Olio smart watch died in less than 6 months. I am back wearing the only smart watch that is still working of the four that I purchased from Meh, an all black Martian Notifier.
Actually I purchased 2 of the Martian Notifiers, and one had a dead watch battery out of the box, but the other is still running great and on my wrist now.
Come on Meh, you can do better than this.
If you’re watch is dead and you have a black model Olio I’d be open to grabbing your links for the bracelet because it does not fit me but still operates just fine on my end save the weather operation
@arod1118 My email is {it’s a bad idea to post your email in an open forum. ~TC}
@arod1118 I don’t, sorry. I have the silver model. Good luck though and congrats on still having a functioning watch.
So in an effort to troubleshoot the watch I just reset it and now when I try to set it up again the Olio App on my iPhone just says “Unable to connect to Olio Server” in the last setup step when you connect the app to the watch. Can’t get past it and there definitely IS an internet connection. Does that mean the server is gone and the watch can never ever be set up again?
@Undulat
That is correct. The server shut down early in the Summer.
https://www.soft32.com/blog/platforms/another-one-bites-dust-long-olio/
(Credit to @Fourhundred57 for finding this.)
@mflassy That means new device won’t activate too?
@Undulat Any way some geek can find a way to disable server check so we can still use watch with app? Is Olio community sizable enough to pull this off?
@TechnicGeek that’s what I’m hoping for. Even more, that some kind of community effort to reverse engineer the watch communication and write a 3. Party phone app for the watch will happen. Am not holding my breath of course. But it’s a beautiful watch
Well antone let me know if you have a black wristband for the black model I’d gladly buy
@arod1118 You want to buy a watch with wristband or wristband only?
@TechnicGeek preferably just The Wristband cuz I need additional links
@TechnicGeek but if you have the black model and are willing to sell it for cheap I’ll grab it
Hey I just got an Olio but the app doesn’t accept my email! So the watch is stuck on the reset screen until I can create an account. I keep trying different emails and the app says, host server not found?! Has anyone had this problem? Does anyone know how to help me out
I got an Olio last year, have been so crazy busy that I haven’t had time to work with it until now. Was smart enough to download Olio Assist (269 KB) when it was still available on the iTunes/Apple Store. Still using my iPhone 4s and tried it with my friend’s newer Android phone…in both cases I got an error message: “There was a network error performing SignUp.” Am I SOL, or are there other options?
@horserace2000
As far is as known here, you are currently SOL.
@f00l LOL! Anybody else here on the Meh Brain Trust have contrarian ideas?
@f00l That said, very odd that “Olio Assist” is still available on the Android store BUT not Apple’s. Anybody here wanna wager a guess on why that is?
@horserace2000
Apple actively polices its appstore and Google doesnt care?
Or
Laziness and chaos?
Have any of you Android users ever seen a message like this:
@CaptainBilly Slightly better image:
@CaptainBilly Why are your pictures so blurry? Why are you posting two different watches?
@therealjrn 1. I’m using a crappy camera. 2. They’re the same watch, I just wanted to show that it was an Olio whereas you can’t really see that in the first picture and the option to edit it had gone away.
@CaptainBilly
Starting with Android 6.0, apps targeting API 23 do not automatically grant app permissions upon installation.
Instead, as an app needs access to a certain function, it will ask for that permission to be granted.
@CaptainBilly
*API 23 and later. API 23 corresponds to Marshmallow.
@PlacidPenguin So… it looks like our watches run Android (not that that helps us get even basic functionality out of them).
@CaptainBilly
I don’t have one, so I can’t tell what the software is based off of. I’m merely stating that that kind of dialog can be seen starting with Marshmallow.
The thing which is throwing me off though is the color template, which was removed in Kit Kat, when Android transitioned from holo blue to white.
It’s not running Android, or, at least, not Android Wear/Wear OS (not that a 3 year old watch would have been upgraded to Wear OS anyways).
From what I can tell, it’s more of a homebrew OS, though clearly it’s taking cues from Android.
Also, I should point out that considering Marshmallow was not released until the later part of 2015, and the watch was announced in July of the same year, though it wasn’t released for a while afterwards, it wouldn’t have been running a port of Marshmallow in all likelihood anyways.
Though I don’t know their firmware update history anyways.
@CaptainBilly @PlacidPenguin So what kind of watches do we have? Is there some sort of special club?
@therealjrn
Get me one of these watches so that I can look at it a bit
.
@therealjrn
I downloaded the firmware which @Sompom shared.
One of the files is entitled ‘Experiments-debug’.
Installed in on my Pixel for fun, and I was a bit dismayed that it raised my screen’s brightness, and I had to adjust it back manually.
Anyways, assuming that the file was not created by Sompom, it targets API 22, so for the watch to ask for permissions manually, is a bit odd, since granular permission control was not until API 23.
@PlacidPenguin ok
@PlacidPenguin @therealjrn The watch itself runs a down-scaled version of Android, and that is very likely what the .apk’s in the zip are for. I just got a hold of that firmware file, and I think that will be enough for me to write a computer program to flash a third party OS (Android Wear, for example) over the watch’s Bluetooth connection.
Does anyone have a copy of the olio-firmware.zip file? It’s not online, anymore; but maybe check if the app cached a copy on your phone?
@CaptainBilly I had a copy stashed on my phone – I have put it here: http://sompom.net/sompom/olio-firmware.zip
That link is likely to die before too much longer because I need to do a reinstall of that server, so it would be useful if you or someone else hosted it somewhere else.
@Sompom Thanks so much. Just saw that today. I put up a copy at https://tuxism.faith/olio/olio-firmware.zip. That’s a stable site so feel free to take your copy down.
@Sompom Did the app have any other files stored on your phone?
I presume you use Android (that’s what you have the app installed on, anyway). Is that correct?
@CaptainBilly Yes, I use Android (rooted, of course, which is why I am able to grab the files I have)
Here is the listing of files in the data partition: https://pastebin.com/ijYtywvx
gaClientID is 7eba041c-47e6-41dd-94a1-b1948cd6acd7
If there is some other file you’re interested in, I can send it to you… I don’t really want to publicly post the entire contents of that folder for fear of leaking personal information!
@Sompom Entirely understandable. I was asking because I saw a reference to some alternative firmware image file in the decompiled code, but I don’t see that in the tree.
@Sompom What happens when you try to use the Olio Assist app? I’ve only ever actually seen the ‘A server with the specified hostname could not be found.’ error message that everyone is getting when the user is trying to sign in (including me, I didn’t get involved in this project until this past May), but it may not apply to people like you that signed in when the server was still up.
@CaptainBilly Sorry for the slight delay. I had to dig my watch out of storage!
Before I started messing with it, I was able to open the app and see everything as normal: configure smart notification rules, view battery life, etc.
At some point while I was last messing with it (I currently have a slightly modified version of the error message screen which has a different error message haha) I was able to restore the data to the app after deleting it / reinstalling the app and I was able to connect to my watch and everything behaved as normal.
Unfortunately, on trying today I am not able to get past the pairing that (I assume) everyone is stuck on. Or maybe not: I do have my account logged in still, so I’m past that first screen.
I suppose this is relevant information, though, that the app still basically works once it is logged in, and is why I was suggesting minorly hacking the login/auth process might be enough to get it working. Now that I have realized my watch is busted I might take another look!
@CaptainBilly https://github.com/sredman/fakolio
@Sompom Very interesting, I’ll test that when I get a chance. Keep working on tuning that up, and if whoever’s operating it now stops renewing oliodevices.com, I’ll register it and host your program there. In the meantime, I’ll keep working on my PC Bluetooth client (I’ve been using Python, too); don’t get too excited, though, nothing that works yet.
@Sompom Do you think Amazon would give me the code from Olio’s AWS server if I ask nicely?
@Sompom If you’re interested in playing with firmware updates: write a shell script named update.sh with the shebang
#!/system/busybox/sh
Make it do something so that you would know if it runs, say rebooting (path to reboot command on the Olio is the same as any other Android device: /system/bin/reboot, I don’t if the $PATH env contains /system/bin so you probably should specify the whole path) after sleeping for so many seconds. Give the script exec permissions, then put it in the root of a zip archive named olio-firmware.zip
Take the MD5 sum of your olio-firmware.zip file and put that in the “firmwareHash” string in your firmware array, then put your olio-firmware.zip on a web server and put the link to that in the firmwareUrl string. Change the “version” string to a number with a lot of decimal points that’s higher than whatever your watch is currently running (the last version they released is 1.10.220, so try, say, “1.10.520”). The “name” string is probably always “olio-firmware.zip”.
That “version” string is the first thing that jumps out at me as to why the app crashes; it’s probably expecting a number and some dots but instead gets a word.
@CaptainBilly The watch reboots after downloading the custom .zip containing only that update.sh. How is the progress on custom firmware?
Do you have a better way to deploy for development? (JTAG, etc.?) Having a one-shot script where if you mess up there’s no going back probably won’t cut it…
@CaptainBilly Actually, it looks like the reboot-only update.sh has put my watch into a bootloop. I guess it just keeps running the new update.sh. Not recommended!
I just looked at update_2.sh, and notice that it actually deletes a files named update.sh. So apparently Olio runs update.sh on every boot!
@CaptainBilly In other words I hope you’ve got that debug port or I’m out of the running haha
@CaptainBilly Just to be clear, if you download the Fakolio server and want to try this, notice at the end of the olio-firmware.zip’s update.sh (after
echo "$0: Done, now rebooting") it does a switcharoo with a file named update_2.sh and update.sh to put update_2.sh where update.sh used to be, then update_2.sh is responsible for deleting itself. If you want to give this a try, be sure to save those two pieces!@Sompom I’m so sorry, I meant to mention to have the script delete itself. Did you ever get it out of the reboot loop? If not, I can trade your bricked watch for one of my working watches.
On the other hand, that’s fantastic news that you got a custom firmware update running!
@Sompom I took one of my watches apart, but no, I never found any sort of debug port. Again, I’m really sorry about that. Without a UART or JTAG port, the only way to fix a bricked watch is to use a hot air reworker to unsolder the flash/RAM combo chip; connect it to a programmer; then solder it back to the watch.
That firmware update seems the only way to get any sort of technical access.
I’ll start looking into Bluetooth packet sniffing as a way of understanding the Bluetooth protocol. While you and I can do it, most of the people here probably don’t want to setup their own servers to get back their watch’s functionality; so I’m still hoping to write that PC client.
@CaptainBilly No need to feel bad: From my point of view, there is no difference between this week and last week. My watch was already not working and put in a box!
My only annoyance, actually, is I’m not sure that I didn’t get the mock server working – I actually got my watch re-activated by restoring my Android backup of the Olio Assist app, so everything looked like normal for me. After I set it up to deploy the (official) olio-firmware.zip, the picture of the watch in the app changed! Previously, (without restoring a backup) I was seeing no picture, so now that I was seeing one suggests that it might have been working.
So, if you (or someone else) wants to set up the mock server, I would be interested to know whether it actually works to re-activate the app. Very possibly the thing that was crashing the app before was not receiving the URL to the firmware update then trying to make an invalid REST call. I was not able to test any of these theories, so I am left hanging!
@CaptainBilly With regard to swapping watches: Again, I am not terribly bothered. This turned out to be a fun and interesting weekend for me, and that’s enough. I was thinking about getting a different watch anyway (unfortunately, as you’ve said, there’s not much that can stand up to the Olio for looks!). The Olio with custom firmware would be interesting to me, but at the moment I am not strongly interested in actually developing for that.
So, if you want to do the swap because you want one more hacker to have one even understanding that I’m not likely to pursue it much further, then I accept your offer
@CaptainBilly Also, I agree with your point about the REST server not being terribly useful beyond hacker nerd type… But step one, step two, right?
@Sompom You’re right, your server probably won’t be the final means for flashing custom firmware but I’ve definitely found use in it.
I wonder how much more functionality it would need to be equivalent to the original server. Like I said, I’ll grab oliodevices.com if it ever expires, and there might be some people that prefer the Olio’s original UI as opposed to Asteroid or Android Wear.
Your watch might be bricked now, but you’re still the first person in the world that has never worked for Olio Devices to get arbitrary code execution on an Olio watch. That’s something to be proud of.
@Sompom PROGRESS!
This causes the watch to change from it’s ‘Open Phone App’ screen to it’s
Connected
Next, use the Olio Assist app to set up your personal assistant.
screen.
Here’s my code so far (it’s just an example Python Bluetooth program with variables changed to match the Olio): olio-configurator.py
I’ll update that link as my code progresses.
Wow, that’s a lot of binary I have to figure out.
I really wish I had the ability to help you guys out. I had to buy a new phone and lost my watch along with the transition. I really miss my Olio and would love to have it come back to life someday.
@CaptainBilly @Sompom I don’t have an olio watch but I’m enjoying watching this unfold.
Fun fact: if you run that python code to make the watch switch to it’s ‘Connected’ screen, then from there let its battery die; it will act like it was configured (except that it wasn’t, the most obvious aspect of this being the incorrect date and time) and let you access all of the operating system features.
I was able to pause/play VLC and control my computer’s volume with the music interface of the Olio UI. As some of you may have noticed, the Olio has a HID Bluetooth service, and this is what it uses to control music from the music interface, turning the volume down from there is the same as pressing the ‘volume down’ key on a Bluetooth keyboard.
@CaptainBilly You made top network question on StackOverflow!
FWIW, you may need to collect more information before contacting Flex. https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/97958-44 says that Olio is an “operating subsidiary”, which suggests they retain legal responsibilities. Goodness knows where that information came from, though…
@Sompom You saw that, did you? I just joined the Open Source SO site 15 hours ago and my rep is already 122.
I sent a message to Flex on the connect tab of their site a few hours ago, haven’t heard back yet. If I don’t hear from them within the next few weeks, I’ll mail them a physical letter so they know I’m serious. I’m hoping that there will be at least one package on the Olio licensed under the GPL version 3.0, then they will have to comply with the ‘Installation Information’ clause of the GPL v3 and give me whatever code they have for sending firmware over Bluetooth (despite that probably not being GPL).
On their LinkedIn pages, Steve Jacobs, AJ Cooper, Evan Wilson, and Mattis Fjällström all list working at Flex immediately after working at Olio Devices. I think Flex used Olio as the basis of their ‘Wearable Technology Group’. They probably know that they don’t have any reason to lock up the Olio source code, but it doesn’t make fiscal sense to them to have their lawyers verify that, so they just keep it secret (despite all the people such as those here that would benefit from it).
@CaptainBilly Fingers crossed! Assuming the watch is running just stock Android, everything is GPL v2 or some other license, but who knows if they put other software on there.
https://source.android.com/setup/start/licenses
@Sompom You wrote in your fakolio repo (very helpful, by the way) that you weren’t sure why Olio Devices wanted the watch’s MAC address. It would seem that the watch itself has no idea what color/material and band it has, so the app looks up the watch’s MAC address and the API server would tell it, the app then uses this to set the face displayed by the watch and the watch image it displays in the Olio Assist settings. I realized this when my black watch had a blue watch face like the silver watches.
I wrote a C program that allows shells to be accessed over simple Bluetooth RFCOMM connections, I’m going to try sending it in a firmware update later tonight. I think that once I get code exec on one watch, I’ll be able to get the libc addresses I need to write BlueBorne exploit code that will work with the Olio’s, this would then be usable on a computer without the need for setting up any servers. If you’re able to exploit it quick enough, you might be able to use my BlueBorne code to fix your watch.
@Sompom Of course, there probably is some marketing data that they got from knowing who bought what, too. They might have kept track of the MAC addresses of the watches they gave to certain retailers, and used that to verify sale claims, for example.
@Sompom This process seems rather roundabout but it makes sense: it allowed Olio Devices (or their manufacturers, more accurately) to manufacture motherboards without caring about what color watch they were going in; they just had to briefly boot up every watch when it was done with the manufacturing process (which they probably already did for testing) and record the MAC address it displayed and its color.
@CaptainBilly The BlueBorne exploit sounds like a cool idea. I hope it works out! I would certainly be willing to give it a shot.
When you say your black watch has a blue face, do you mean you have managed to activate it post-Olio?
@Sompom Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. The fakolio server works flawlessly for me. No crashes whatsoever. I can use every feature of the Olio OS.
@CaptainBilly I am about to move apartments and I am trying to minimze the amount of stuff I have to move. Do you want me to mail you my watch? No strings attached. I don’t need it back, I just can’t bring myself to throw it away! If so, email me at the address on the commits of my github repo
The old link no longer works; for anyone who is interested, olio-firmware.zip can now be downloaded from https://olio.watch/olio-firmware-1.10.220/olio-firmware.zip
I had a stupid reset of the model one I was using well. The server doesn’t seem to be running at the moment. Does anybody know how to connect it to iphone? also does anyone know how to update the firmware? T.T
@Jinwon
The server was taken down last year.
Once a watch has been reset after the server was taken down, there is no way to reconnect it to a device.
So unfortunate! Live this watch. Got a new phone and now can’t connect and old phone is wiped. Watch does not work. I’m trying to connect with AJ Cooper, Steven Jacobs and Evan Wilson. We will see if they accept my linkedIn invite.
@jakeeastman1 Have they?
@jakeeastman1 There’s no hope in trying to contact them. They sold Olio Devices, and in doing so everyone involved signed a no-disclosure agreement regarding absolutely every aspect of the company. Even if they didn’t, they don’t actually have a way to make the watches work short of writing new code (which they probably won’t do unless you pay them). Instead, just follow this forum. I’m working on a program that will let Olio Watch owners install their own smart watch operating system of choice (Android Wear, Google Wear OS, Asteroid OS, etc.) on their nonfunctional watches.
Anyone want to sell their old watch?
@RiotDemon But they no longer work?
@Barney exactly! Buy cheap and hope it gets fixed in the future.
@RiotDemon They are nice watches. Um, you might check with @f00l. She might still have hers.
@RiotDemon Check eBay.
@CaptainBilly I was looking already. People are asking hundreds of dollars for them. On Amazon the gold one is still listed at $1250.
Edit: one new listing showed up that might be promising.
@RiotDemon Be careful with the cheaper listings, some are brand new but do not have chargers.
@CaptainBilly @RiotDemon
I’m pretty sure mine went to Goodwill. I thought they would be useless forever, and I got to that box during my attempt to de-junkify.
Apologies.
I guess I should have offered it discounted on eBay instead. And made the big bucks. Hmmmm.
I know we’ve been bugging the founders on LinkedIn with no luck, but I just came across an old email announcing a new Customer (thats us!) Experience lead, Christina Hall. I’m wondering if we reach out to her if she may have any promising info (or code!). I’ll try LI and provide an update.
I am thrilled to announce the addition of Cristina Hall to lead the Olio Customer Experience team. She joins us after completing her MBA at Harvard Business School and has a background that includes customer experience research and advisory, fashion, and technology. Cristina has a unique passion for user-centered design and premium customer care, and shares Olio’s relentless commitment to quality and excellence in everything that she does.
I know it’s been a few months, but no luck getting a reply from Christina Hall
@unopixel How did you contact her? Is there a chance that she didn’t get your message?
@CaptainBilly Through LinkedIn. I’m sure there is a chance, but I chalked it up as no response just like the other attempts at contacting people through LI.
If anyone is reading this who has access to the Olio’s Linux kernel source code, or any other Olio-related source code for that matter, or schematics, etc. but is worried about the legal consequences of disclosing it, please send it to me anonymously by emailing me at jake@olio.watch, or uploading it to https://www.hypotheticalquestionthursday.com/dropbox.php
I won’t attempt to derive your identity from your IP (which is very hard to do), but if you don’t trust me, feel free to use Tor.
What is more important, honoring your NDA or honoring all the people who spent real money on their Olios?
OK all - Let give this one more try… it’s 2020 we should be able to figure this out… Let’s see if we can somehow turn these watches into WearOS units…
Does anyone here remember exactly when the Olio Assist app stopped working?
@CaptainBilly I don’t have an Olio, but here’s a couple of articles.
https://www.soft32.com/blog/platforms/another-one-bites-dust-long-olio/
And a little followup
https://www.soft32.com/blog/platforms/update-another-one-bites-dust-long-olio/
@CaptainBilly I quickly started my FB group ‘i own an olio’ on Feb 9,2017 when it became apparent things were going south. I believe servers started being shut down in jan 2018. You’ll find interesting info on the group page, here’s one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/248238775628372/permalink/310024716116444/
Anyone here have any experience editing Wikipedia? I’m making a Wikipedia page for the Olio and I could use some help.
@CaptainBilly We happen to know an expert. Meybe even the expert. Paging @giraffedata
@djslack @giraffedata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olio_Model_One
Specs
Watch Faces Per Style
What’s in the Box?
1x Watch
1x Wireless Charging Disk
1x Charging Cable
2x Extra Links with pins (Metal Band Models)
1x Polishing Cloth
1x Quick Start Guide
1x Safety & Use Guide
Pictures
All Watches
Sampling
Whats In The Box?
Lines up
Others
More
MORE
Band
Back of the watch
Exploded
Price Comparison
$595 - $1300 List, $1365.86 at Amazon
Warranty
90 Day Mediocre
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Thursday, July 16th
Does anyone here have a copy of the Olio Assist IPA (iOS app copy)?
@CaptainBilly Still looking for the Olio Assist IPA - I do have a copy - still syncs with my Olio and works with iOS 11 - just need to extract it from my 7
@billongings @CaptainBilly — Have a copy of the IPA it’s version 2.9.1 … 53.5 MB… https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cW6u0OF4dYfeIHpLXokD9rMu1Af9E6Y5
@billongings @CaptainBilly — When I heard they were shutting down… I saved copies… sorry been really busy the last year and have not been able to help…
@tc95 No problem, thanks a lot!
@CaptainBilly I just wanted to ask about your progress on this project. I’m pretty much a noob at programming but am curious about how you’re approaching this problem.
@jz3ba This actually falls a lot into the ‘sysadmin’ category, so even if you don’t have experience with programming you might still understand.
I can get complete control (root code execution) over the software of any Olio over Bluetooth via the firmware update mechanism of the Olio Assist app, whose functionality I can restore with @Sompom’s custom server: https://github.com/sredman/fakolio
Right now, I’m trying to test new low-level, system critical code, the kernel. (If the kernel doesn’t work, nothing does.) Typically, the kernel has to be permanently written to the system memory to be loaded. Generally, though, whenever you write something to the bootloader area of a computer’s (such as the Olio) memory, it will be ran every time the computer boots until something comes along and replaces (overwrites) it.* This means that if I were to test a kernel the normal way (by writing it to the memory and letting the bootloader load it) and the kernel doesn’t work the first time (which is really likely my first time creating (compiling) a kernel, something minor like the Bluetooth not working resulting in me not being able to talk to it); the watch I used would never work again.**
This is somewhat true with a typical PC, but if you overwrite the kernel on a normal computer with one that doesn’t work (I’ve done this a few times, I’m one of those hardcore Linux users that compiles my own kernels), you just have to boot a bootable CD or USB drive and fix it (or if you can’t do that for whatever reason, take the hard drive out, plug it into a working computer, and fix it with that). The Olio doesn’t have anything like a USB port or CD drive that can be used for loading recovery boot media**, and the hard drive in my PC analogy, the flash (the memory as I’ve been calling it) is soldered on top of the CPU (and I have neither the equipment nor the skill to remove it).
There is a way to run kernels even if they weren’t loaded via a bootloader (as noted above, a bootloader can only load kernels from the flash), that is via kexec. kexec is a function that replaces a running kernel with a new one, without rebooting the system and therefore without getting the bootloader involved. The kernel that kexec loads doesn’t have to come from the dangerous bootloader region of the flash. I could send the Olio a kernel and one-time instructions to run it; then, if the kernel doesn’t work, I just have to let the battery die. The next time the watch turns on, as I didn’t touch any of the bootloader memory, it would boot the working kernel it was running before. If the kernel does work, great, tell it to write itself to the flash! (‘Working’ includes being able to talk to it over Bluetooth, so it would only commit itself to the flash with explicit instruction to do so from me.)
The catch is that the kernel that is being replaced via kexec has to have code for kexec. None of the official Olio kernels have kexec support (the significance of this being that until I compile my own kernels and see them work only the kernels released by Olio Devices are guaranteed to work on Olio watches). They do, however, have support for loadable kernel modules (LKM), small pieces of kernel code (but not whole kernels) that can be introduced after boot. Currently, I am working on introducing the missing kexec code via an LKM. An LKM has the same potential of crashing a computer as a whole kernel, but I don’t have to permanently insert them into the kernel or anything like that; I can just send a one-time command to insert my LKM, and if it crashes the Olio system, I just need to let the battery die and turn it back on.
** There may (or may not) be a UART/serial port on the Olio’s motherboard. On devices that have them (they’re typically found on embedded devices like routers or IP cameras), UART ports are frequently used during the manufacture or repair process; they can essentially be used as a recovery CD or USB drive. The only contacts on the Olio’s motherboard that could be UART ports are 1.8 volts, but all of my UART adapters are either 3.3 or 5 volts. I ordered a 1.8 volt UART adapter on eBay, but it’s shipping out of China so it won’t be here for a few weeks. I’ll only use it if it arrives before I get my kexec module working (using a serial port to access the bootloader would be much easier, though, so if kexec isn’t working I’ll switch to the serial converter as soon as it gets here).
@CaptainBilly @jz3ba @Sompom Thank you for the explanation… sounds like your 50%there… if there is anything I can do (outside of coding) let me know…
@tc95 Once I get a custom kernel compiled and know that it works, I still need to actually port an OS (the user space part), but that won’t be very hard (definitely not compared to what I’m doing now).
You could look through this list of former Olio Devices employees, find the contact information (maybe check GitHub and LinkedIn) of those listed as software engineers or developers (don’t post any contact info here if you find it, we don’t want them to get spammed), and ask nicely (making legal demands hasn’t worked for me) for any changes that they made to the code of the programs that run on the Olio, such as U-Boot and the Linux kernel (I need the custom Linux code the most).
They never released any of this Olio-specific custom code. The GNU GPL version 2.0, the copyright license under which Linux is licensed, dictates if you use a GPL-licensed program in your product that you have to release the corresponding source code, including any changes you made to it, if any. (If you didn’t make any changes to the code then a simple acknowledgment is enough, but Olio Devices didn’t even do that.)
The GPL says that you have to make this code available or provide it at request within three years of the last distribution of your product. According to that, Olio Devices, despite being defunct, is still legally obliged to provide the code (the last time Olios were officially ‘distributed’ was when they sold their fourth batch in late 2016/early 2017, so we’re still within that three year window). I pointed this out to Olio Device’s acquirer Flex, Ltd. in an email, but they never replied. I don’t have a huge legal team to go sue them, so our best bet is to nicely request it from former employees.
They seemed to have continually revised their code up to the time they released their last firmware update on November 30 2016, so if you get code from someone (such as someone that was fired early on), it is definitely better than nothing, but not necessarily the latest. They seem to, just like the mainstream Linux developers, have used the git program to keep track of their changes. In the version section of the Olios settings menu, there is a kernel listing which always shows 3.10.0-g… The characters after the ‘g’ are the first seven characters of the latest git ‘commit’ (revision) ID that was present when the Linux kernel was compiled from its source code. In all of the Olio kernel versions that I have seen, none of the commit IDs were present in the Linux 3.10.0 repository commit history, meaning that they were custom commits that the Olio devs made. The latest firmware lists having kernel version 3.10.0-g2ae2f33, so the Linux kernel source tree with the latest custom Olio Devices code will have a commit with an ID starting with 2ae2f33.
Also, do not believe them if they give you a simple acknowledgment that they used Linux but claim that they did not write their own custom code. No public Linux code has strings like ‘olio,mic_enable’, or ‘%s OLIO wrong number of args (%d, expected 1) for power request.’, or ‘CONFIG_OLIO_H1_PRODUCTION’.
Maybe you could make up a sad story to make them feel sympathetic (empathetic?) for you. Say that everything in your life is going wrong and you just want to be able to play Mario on your watch.
Once upon a time there was a domain called internal.oliodevices.com, which sounds like it could possibly be a repository where they hosted this magical custom code, but whatever was there is now gone. I didn’t read about that domain anywhere, I was guessing various oliodevices.com subdomains. Surely enough, it resolved to an Amazon Web Services IP, but that IP doesn’t have any services at it. It wasn’t ever saved on archive.org. A SSL records website showed that it had a self-signed certificate when it was operating.
Wow, this turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be.
@CaptainBilly – I think I will go a different route … let me take one of them apart and see if I can find d the manufacturer … And go that route…
@tc95 I took an Olio apart but I didn’t find any manufacturer markings. Here are some pictures of the watch’s insides (those are pictures from the FCC testing, not my own, but the boards in that watch and my watch are identical). If you did find the manufacturer and they were willing to disclose anything to us (most companies won’t just disclose their customers’ information to random people that ask for it unless there is some law saying that they have to, like the GNU GPL, but no one cares about that), that would definitely be some helpful insight but they probably wouldn’t have any source code. The source code was compiled to binary files (which is what I already have and what the factories had) by Olio Devices’ employees, as hinted by ‘ewilson90@EW-LT’ in the version strings on the kernels (Linux kernel version strings contain various information besides the actual version number such as the system name and user on that system that compiled the kernel and the time and date that it was compiled) from early Olio firmware; Evan Wilson was the ‘Director of Software Engineering’ according to the page I linked (EW-LT probably stands for Evan Wilson**-Lapt**op).
In later kernels the compiled by string changed to ‘olio@olio-build-server’, olio-build-server could possibly be an Amazon Web Services (AWS) server. These are reasons that backup that theory, they’re not that important to read (the point is just that it’s more than likely that olio-build-server is an AWS server).
…so if anyone would have it, it would be Amazon. They may have deleted that server when Olio went out of business; then again, they might not have; Flex appears to be maintaining Olio’s infrastructure: they keep renewing oliodevices.com (it was renewed on July 26 of this year, July 26 2013 being when it was initially registered), oliodevices.com uses Amazon’s nameserver (which they don’t let you use for free), oliodevices.com still points to an AWS server which is on but doesn’t have any services running, internal.oliodevices.com points to an AWS IP, but it doesn’t respond to any pings or any other traffic (they surely would have given that IP to another server unless someone was actively paying for it). (My point in saying all that is that if those servers are still up and weren’t deleted maybe olio-build-server wasn’t either.) That internal.oliodevices.com server could be the olio-build-server server.
But Amazon probably wouldn’t be willing to disclose their customers’ information, either. We might be able to get something out of them if we tell them that one of their customers violated the GPL, big companies like that typically want to stay out of legal trouble as much as possible, but that probably wouldn’t work.
So maybe you could look into the AWS terms of use or their privacy policy to see under what kind of terms Amazon would be willing to disclose one of their AWS customer’s servers to us.
@tc95 AWS CodeCommit: “Securely host highly scalable private Git repositories. Collaborate on code.”
That might be what they used.
https://aws.amazon.com/codecommit/
@tc95 According to this article, the Olios were manufactured by Flex (then Flextronics), the same company that acquired Olio Devices and who refuses to give us the source code.
So the manufacturer route (if you’re still interested in that, even though you posted that eight months ago) probably won’t work.
CaptainBilly, I don’t, but I’ve got anbox set up and can deconstruct the android APK if there’s something in there that’s consistent across Android and IOS that you’d find useful! Really appreciate what you’re doing.
@astanford I doubt that there are any inconsistencies (that’s why I wanted an IPA, so I could check).
Does Anbox support Bluetooth?
@astanford @CaptainBilly
If you guys are able to overcome the current status of these watches, you’d be legendary! I’ve been quietly sitting on my watch, hoping for the day to come. I will scour the web and find you that ipa!
@CaptainBilly it does. I’ll see what I can come up with.
Quick poll: would you rather have Android Wear or Asteroid OS be the first firmware image I release?
@CaptainBilly android wear, as I think asteroid isn’t compatible with iOS.
@CaptainBilly I don’t care, as long as it works. That would be awesome.
/image that would be awesome
@CaptainBilly The battery life on the Olio was pretty bad. Asteroid seems like a lighter more battery friendly os build on paper, but who knows how it would actually fare. Still that’s my vote: Asteroid OS.
@CaptainBilly – Does not matter…
@CaptainBilly Just another voice say that if one or the other of these is more compatible with you charging money, I’d be happy to get this watch supported via a (reasonable) subscription model.
@curtw4 That’s kind of tempting, but no, I’m not going to charge money for anything I come up with (with regards to the Olio, I’m saying this so that 20 years from now some lawyer doesn’t come along and say that everything I make has to be free).
@curtw4 Maybe lawyer fees if I have to sue someone to get the source code that Olio was legally obligated to provide, but that’s probably just a little too much for your definition of ‘reasonable’.
You guys still working on this?
Does anyone here know anything about the Olio model number convention?
When I was trying to deduce how much custom code is in the Olio’s kernel, I was just looking for the string ‘olio’, but I’ve now seen that ‘H1’ also means code custom to the Olio, H1 as in H1B-SKU-…
@CaptainBilly Probably not much use, but anything here help: “https://fccid.io/2AEP5H1B”
https://forum.xda-developers.com/smartwatch/other-smartwatches/olio-smartwatch-t3721771
i have no idea now to do anything that you are trying to do, but appreciate your work.
i love this beautiful boat anchor watch, found this online. the xda forum is very good at jailbraking almost anything. just a suggestion, perhaps someone there has some ideas how to repurpose this beautiful watch.
someone last year was asking how to load other software on this watch because the olio server was shutting down soon.
best of luck and thanks for all the hard work.
Here’s another expression of interest. I bought one of these beauties a few weeks ago…
I can also help a bit with coding or electronics hacking. Having worked on the first team to successfully emulate the 3DO gaming console, I’m used to working against incredible odds on abandoned tech.
@captainbilly
Any update on your progress? I’d love to have my watch functional again, as it’s just…purdy.
@captainbilly
You still working on this? Do we have any hope?
@euratus Well, it pretty much depends on whether we can get Olio Devices’ former employees to disclose the source code that they were legally obligated to disclose. (But they’re out of business now so it legally doesn’t really matter if they disclose anymore.) I gave up on that, but if someone else can get their modified Linux kernel sources (Evan Wilson and
Mattis Fjällström worked with it most) and send it to me, I should be able to get another OS running like I had been trying. Give it a shot if you want, look them up on Linkedin (or elsewhere) and send them a message.
@CaptainBilly @euratus I have been following this thread for sometime. I would like to get my Olio watch back on its feet again (LOL). Thanks.
@CaptainBilly @euratus @la832 has someone tried to reach out to former Olio folks?
Did someone buy the remains/assets of Olio btw? If so, would the legal requirement to disclose the source code carry over? If someone bought the IP then I assume it would carry over.
A lot of people would probably be interested in this. Keep us updated anyone out there. My watch is still good unpaired but it isn’t a smart watch anymore.
@Shalifi Does it keep the time?
@CaptainBilly @Shalifi
Mine doesn’t. I only take it out of the box a few times a year just to see if it still works, and the time is always way off until I sync it to the phone (unless it’s an atomic watch too). I don’t think there’s a way to set the time manually.
/image wwvh
I took this at 8:27pm:
@eonfifty That’s a good lookin’ watch.
@therealjrn
It looks nice, but the interface is frustrating for anything other than checking the time.
/giphy time in Iceland
Yes, a little over a year ago (maybe 2 now) someone found one of the Founders on Linkedin and reached out to him. It doesn’t seem like he was thrilled with being contacted (DB), no help was provided or offered from him. Looks like that is a dead end.
Did anyone here buy their Olio directly from Olio Devices while they were still in business? If so, let me know.
@CaptainBilly I did, yes.
Hey CaptainBilly…
I bought the watch direct from Olio when it was first announced… back in Aug 2015…
@abus500 You need to ping him like this: @CaptainBilly for it to email him. : )
@abus500 Would you be willing to talk to the Software Freedom Conservancy about your transaction with them? They might be able to get me the code I need to fix the Olios, but first they think it would be helpful to get some information from someone who bought their Olio directly from Olio Devices. If you would be willing to talk to them, give me your email address and I’ll forward it on to them. Also, if you don’t want everyone on this forum to see your email address, just ‘Whisper’ it to me (the link to the right of Reply).
@CaptainBilly @therealjrn ty for that~ hehehe glad he got the message and got in touch~ thanks
@abus500 No Charge for the assist. You’re taking a big enough bath with your Olio
@abus500 I purchased my first one thru them directly…
Do any of you guys have the latest 1.7 firmware? I just got mine running using the Fakolio program. Also, @captainbilly did you ever port AsteroidOS to the Olio?
Keep up the good work.
@JonSmith42 I haven’t yet ported AsteroidOS, but I’m still working on it (I need Olio’s Linux kernel modifications).
The latest firmware is 1.10.220, but if you have a firmware file for 1.7 I’ll take it (I’d like to compare the differences).
@CaptainBilly Thanks for the firmware update. My watch was on 1.3. Now it’s on 1.10. I am a software engineer myself. Mostly database and application. I know linux pretty well, but I’m not a Kernel hacker. Is there anything I can do to help?
@JonSmith42 Do you have any experience with Android and/or harassing people for source code?
@JonSmith42 If not, maybe you can help with higher-level OS stuff, once we’re ready to start porting AsteroidOS and other of our own OS’s.
@JonSmith42 Last thing, what programming languages do you know?
VB.Net is probably my strongest. Second is Perl, HTML, SQL, Javascript. I know a little C++, and Java, but I wouldn’t say I’m an expert. I started programming in Basic on TI-994A. Been writing in Basic-like languages ever since. My C++, and Java experience was in college. Never really did anything with it.
@JonSmith42 Memories. And only 2k of it.
@JonSmith42 @narfcake When I took my intro to computing class I used QBasic in the lab.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I got nuttin’
@mandirose Do you think you could give me some information about how and where you got the Olios?
OK … so I was looking online today… and saw this…
It looks strangly like an Upside-Down Olio… could they have a line to the factory and maybe a person to re-program the old watches…??
I had my wife spend a day in Shenzen looking for a factory that knew what an Olio was… they just would not help… did some digging… found a number to an Alibaba person… whom would not answer me directly… so I forgot about it… until today when I saw that watch…
TC
@tc95 Sorry, I didn’t see this until now. They probably don’t have any connection to Olio; the flat notch on the top or bottom of the screen is the result of a fairly common (and cheap) way of connecting the screen to the motherboard.
Does anyone here live in or around San Francisco, California, or is there anyone that will be traveling around there soon?
@CaptainBilly I think @Ignorant and/or @Narfcake live somewhere in Cali. I’m sure we have other mehtizens there.
@CaptainBilly @therealjrn
SoCal here, though. Likewise with @Ignorant.
@CaptainBilly Sorry Houston TX here
@CaptainBilly I live in Walnut Creek. I’m willing to lend out my two Olios for any help/development to get the watches working again on hacked Olio OS or AsteroidOS
@CaptainBilly @rareyman I live in the sacramento area, what do you need?
@bensan @CaptainBilly I’d love to just get my two Olio watches working again! I’m even up for flashing it and installing another watchOS.
Mine works fine. And still works on my now old phone. Which I can use to set the time properly. But there’s no way to sync it to a new phone unless someone finds a way to hack the firmware or something.
I have a fb group called i own an olio. Jacobs was a member, not sure if he lewis an eye. Lots of folks still hoping someone gets this working.
@Beachbenns Have you tried sending any messages to Steve Jacobs on Facebook?
@CaptainBilly He used to watch and reply on the FB group, then went silent. He claimed there was nothing they could do since they sold the whole thing to another company. I did not reach out directly to him though.
Have anyone try this https://github.com/sredman/fakolio
@esebuenjona Yes, that can be used to restore enough functionality to the Olio Assist app to get the Olio past the setup screen and set the time on it.
@CaptainBilly How do you do that? Is there a guide somewhere?
@euratus Do you intend to use it with an iOS or Android device?
@CaptainBilly Android if possible.
@euratus Is the device rooted?
@CaptainBilly No unfortunately, but I can find a rooted android or if it’s easier i have an old iphone 5s somewhere.
@euratus It being rooted is not required but it does make it easier. Do you already have the Olio Assist app installed on the device?
@CaptainBilly Sorry for replying so late. I already found an apk and installed it on my note 9 on android 10.
@CaptainBilly @euratus Hi, I do have Olio Assist App installed on my non-rooted Android phone. Is there ANY way you could help to get my phone back up and running? (the github link provides no clear directions, at least for me) Would appreciate this a lot!
@CaptainBilly @sandrokv I never got it working. Sorry man. I couldn’t find a rooted android.
@CaptainBilly @euratus Billy did say being rooted wasn’t necessary.
Btw, the end of that Github link says we have to “restore the app’s data partition from a backup where the watch was previously working”. Do you or anybody else have that backup?
@CaptainBilly @euratus Also, I found oliodevices.com is active and seems like it has at least something to do with watches and the old Olio we knew (https://www.oliodevices.com/about/).
They have an annoying in-site contact us form but I did send a message anyway - have received no answer from them so far.
I live in San Francisco. If anyone wants my watch to experiment.
I posted the link to the wiki on my FB group (I own an olio) in case there’s someone over there that can help.
I need to download an iOS phone app for the Olio Model One. Can anyone help?
Any want mine for free? You pay shipping…
I’ve tried to sell it on eBay but I’m running out of time before a move. Pics at the ebay link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/203388991576
Hey I habe one of these if anybody wants to Buy it and Hack it let me know… Its REAL GOLD and I can’t get the damn thing to work in 2021 because why would I… If a company manufactures a $1800 watch and goes BellyUp - THEY SHOULD RELEASE THE GD FIRMWARE SO WE CAN CONTINUE TO USE THE GD THING. Im actually thinking of Suing… Its really ticking me off. Ive been looking for ANYONE who can Hack this thing or HELP Me hack it for YEARS now. GOoGLE Android needs to create an ANDROID Backwards Compatibility Layer for these PERSISTENTLY and usually unnecessarily updated and Over Bloated phones so that we can use software built for 2008-2018 Android Devices. And OLIO SHOULD have at LEAST left the damn Server on or sold it to be maintained by another entity… Like IDK Samsung or Moto… The worst kind of STUPID AHOLE BUISNESS practices went on with this watch. Everything past 2008 Sucks. MEH.
I am right there with you…bought brand new off e-bay…I am seeing it is completely useless.
Any news please post here. I still got mine in a drawer. The band is nice though. Worry getting the special screw driver to reuse on another watch
.