PeekSmith 3

First Steps

Congratulations on having your PeekSmith device. We hope you will like this tiny piece of magic, and you'll amaze your audience.

What's included?

PeekSmith 3
charging cable

We recommend joining our PeekSmith Facebook group for updates and discussing your ideas. It is a welcoming and active community you will love. 🙂

It is one display model available in our shop at the moment. For more information, please check our PeekSmith 3 product page.

We are sharing important tips here - please read this First Steps guide carefully before start using our device.

Always make sure that you upgrade your device to the latest firmware (code running on PeekSmith device). You can do it with the PeekSmith app, for more details read our firmware update guide.

If you just got the device, it is likely that we have newer firmware than the device has, but you can start experiencing with PeekSmith 3 without an immediate upgrade.

Turning ON and OFF the PeekSmith Device

Your PeekSmith might arrive uncharged. We recommend charging it before start using it. If you turn on the device, you will see the battery percentage on the screen. When PeekSmith 3 is connected to a charger, you will see a Charging screen with a rough estimate of the time left until the device will be fully charged. Make sure it is fully charged before a performance.

You can turn on the device by pressing and holding the side button. It will vibrate, and display a "PeekSmith 3" screen including the brightness setting and the battery level. You have to press and hold the side button for 3 seconds to turn off the device. After the red LED turns on or starts blinking, you can release the button.

Previous models have a small on/off switch. When these devices are on, you should see red LED lighting inside the device. These are also displaying a short message and the battery status. The PeekSmith Two device will do a short vibration.

When you finished using it, don't forget to turn it off. With one charge, the device can work for several hours.

The device will arrive with a thin transparent foil on the screen. Feel free to remove it, the screen will look much better. It might be hard to find the edge of it.

Now the device is ready to connect to a mobile app via Bluetooth or use it as a standalone device to connect to other Bluetooth devices.

First Steps as a Standalone Device (PeekSmith 3 only)

PeekSmith 3 can operate on its own by connecting to other Bluetooth devices: dice, NFC reader, and impression pads. Make sure you read our Standalone Mode guide to master what you can do without a phone.

First Steps with the PeekSmith App

You should install the PeekSmith application. Go to The App page and follow the instructions.

Start the app, and go to Settings. You will see different sections, in the first one, the "PeekSmith Device", you should see a "Select PeekSmith" title and a "List devices" button. Press the button, and your PeekSmith device should be listed there. Tap on the device name, and the device should connect. The PeekSmith device will display a "Welcome" message.

If your PeekSmith 3 device is not listed, please check these:

Make sure Bluetooth is ON on your phone.
Phones have a limit on the number of devices they can connect to. If you have more than 6 devices (a band, earphones, etc.) connected to your phone, try disconnecting them if you cannot connect to the watch. Modern phones are usually can connect to 10-16 devices at a time.
Allow the app to use Bluetooth and/or Location Services.
On Android, make sure the GPS is ON. While we are not tracking you, this is somehow a must-have for Bluetooth communication, too.
On Android, Bluetooth has some bugs. You should try restarting the phone if you have any connection problems.
You should not connect to PeekSmith 3 from your Bluetooth Settings, but the app will set up the connection.
For more tips, you can read our Bluetooth Troubleshooting guide.

Now you should see a green button with the "Details..." text, press it, and now you can test your device.

There are different ways you can use your PeekSmith device now:

Your assistant can use the PeekSmith app and can send you messages with it. The phone should be in the Bluetooth standard 10 meters / 11 yards range to be able to communicate with the device.
You can use Web Polling to retrieve data from other apps. For example, Inject 2 and WikiTest are popular magic apps, you can use them with PeekSmith by going to "Display Web Data" in the PeekSmith app, turning on the "Read data from URL", and selecting your "Data source".
We have a video about using PeekSmith with Cognito, you can watch it here: How to use the PeekSmith display with Cognito
The PeekSmith app can also watch any custom web URLs, so if a developer sets up a web URL, you can set it in the "Display Web Data" section, by selecting the "custom" data source.
There's a growing number of applications that can work with the device. We are listing them on the Compatibility page. You should consult the app's instructions about how to use it.
On Android, you can set up catching mobile phone notifications as well (iOS doesn't allow you to catch notifications because of privacy reasons). Any magic app that can send a notification can be used with the PeekSmith device, just go to the Notifications section in the PeekSmith app, and turn on catching the notifications. You can test this feature by sending an email yourself or asking someone to text you / send you a chat message.

Charging the Device

You can charge the device with the Micro-USB / USB-C port (latest models). Any compatible charging cable should work, you can buy them in an electronics store. You can plug your device into your computer's USB port, or a wall charger.

It is about 1-2 hours to charge your device to 100%. It doesn't matter if PeekSmith is on or off while you charge it, the charging time is more or less the same. If the device is off, it will charge a bit faster. You will not damage the device by keeping it on the charger for the night.

There are two important notes:

Don't let the device totally discharge, as the battery can be damaged (it is true for any LiPo battery). At least charge it every 2-3 months, even if you are not using it.
Some "intelligent" chargers are not providing the 5V constantly, but trying to detect if a device is plugged in. If they were designed for mobile phones with 1A/2A charging, they might not detect PeekSmith's 100 mA need, and won't charge.
You can use any 5V charger, even 100W laptop charger. They don't overload the device.

Devices with a Micro-USB port will not give you visual feedback when you charge the device. Turn PeekSmith 3 on to see if it is charging properly.

Devices with the USB-C port turn on as you plug them into the charger, and you will see charging information.

Troubleshooting

For first-time users, some tips to know:

The PeekSmith app should be in the front to work. You should not lock the screen, or switch to another app. There's an option in Other Settings: "Turn OFF screen when covered". If you enable it, the app will turn off the screen if it detects something in front of your screen (like your pocket). You can use it instead of locking the screen.
The PeekSmith device (and typically any other Bluetooth device) can connect only to one application. If the device is ON, connected to the PeekSmith app, then other compatible apps won't be able to list and connect to it.

Further Advice

PeekSmith is an electronic device that can work in normal room conditions. While we have designed it to be as massive as possible, the screen can break or some water can cause damage to the electronics.