Reviving an 8-year-old smartwatch with a custom firmware

I had the original Amazfit Bip (A16008) back in my junior high school. I only got it replaced, not because of its age, but I got a freebie of Xiaomi Band 8 from my purchase of Poco F6 back in 2024. Since its left unused, I figured out to tinker with it. I have found archived websites which has custom firmware for this exact model.

It was a fun experience having to see new features to my old smartwatch. Because of this, I wanted to use this watch again, but strictly for my walk or jog sessions since it has a GPS in it while my Band 8 does not. The battery is still surprisingly good too despite its age.

The process was very simple as well, since documentation are easy to follow from Gadgetbridge's website.

Customizing features

Using the browser-based amazfit-bip-web tool, I was able to easily configure which new features I want to have.

1. I selected BipOS_0.5.5_b7_not_latin_1.1.2.05_ENGLISH.res as my base
2. I left the default selected apps and hooks enabled
3. Added Animated Menu hook, Metronome app, and Music Control app
4. Generated the .res file and downloaded it

I also got the firmware (BipOS_0.5.5_b7_not_latin_1.1.2.05_ENGLISH.fw) and font (BOLD_V6.2_not_latin.ft) files from the same website as well.

Flashing

According to the Gadgetbridge wiki, the proper order of flashing should be strictly followed to avoid soft bricking the device. I used the Gadgetbridge app on my Poco F6 to pair with the watch and flash the files in order. The steps are as follows:

1. Pair the watch with your phone using Gadgetbridge app.
2. Flash the Firmware (.fw): Select the 1.1.2.05 firmware file through Gadgetbridge's installer. This takes a long time despite the small file size since the watch is just a low-power device.
3. Re-Pairing: Re-established the Bluetooth handshake within Gadgetbridge once the watch booted back into its baseline state.
4. Flash the Font (.ft): Flashed the BOLD_V6.2_not_latin.ft file. This replaces the thin stock typeface with a heavier, larger font that drastically improves legibility on the reflective display.
5. Flash the Resources (.res): Flashed the compiled asset bundle that you exported from amazfit-bip-web.

New features not present in original OS

• Alarm time editor on the watch itself
• Calendar
• Calculator
• Flashlight
• Music Controller (play, pause, next, prev, vol +, and vol -)
• Metronome
• Animated menu

References

• https://gadgetbridge.org/internals/specifics/amazfit-bip-os/
• https://github.com/ngxson/amazfit-bip-web