Neil Hughes
One key new feature in watchOS 3 comes in tandem with iOS 10, allowing users to view, add and edit watch faces to their liking with more screen real estate, via the Apple Watch app on an iPhone.
After updating their Apple Watch to watchOS 3 and iPhone to iOS 10, users will find a pair of new features in the official Apple Watch app related to watch faces. First, under the "My Watch" tab, is a new menu called "My Faces" that displays all watch faces currently enabled on the device.
Users can scroll through their watch faces, or tap an "Edit" button to rearrange their order or remove them.
Tapping on a watch face brings up all of the customization options available, including color, detail, and complications. With the chronograph watch face, users can customize the timescale to their liking, while the timelapse watch face allows users to select a location.
Below the settings for each watch face are options to set the selection as the current watch face, or to remove the watch face. On the Apple Watch itself, switching between faces is also simplified with new edge swipe gestures on the left and right side of the display.
The addition of "My Faces" to the Apple Watch app for iPhone makes it much easier to customize the look of the device, offering a much larger display to view and select different options.
In what could prove to be a precursor for a full-fledged watch face app store, the Apple Watch app in iOS 10 has also added a new "Face Gallery" tab. Here, users can view all of the available watch face options, and preview the different combinations of settings before adding it to the Apple Watch.
Each face in the gallery comes with a text description describing their look and feel, as well as some of the ideas that went into their creation. The four new watch faces found in watchOS 3 — activity digital, numerals, Minnie Mouse and activity analog — Â are also spotlighted in their own section.
Below that, the rest of the watch faces in the gallery presented with their own sections. Within those, users can scroll through different configurations of each face. From there, simply select one, customize it to your liking, and hit the "Add" button to install it directly on the Apple Watch.
"My Faces" and the "Face Gallery" require both watchOS 3 and iOS 10, both of which are currently available to developers for pre-release beta testing. A public beta is scheduled to begin in July, and both watchOS 3 and iOS 10 will launch to the public this fall.
For more, see AppleInsider's Inside watchOS 3 series, parts of which are included below:
- Customize your Apple Watch display on a workout-by-workout basis
- Apple Watch adds new iOS-style swipe-up Control Center
- New 'Breathe' app for Apple Watch reminds you to relax, focus
- Send text messages from Apple Watch by drawing one letter at a time
- Apple Watch gets improved glance-ability with new complications, watch faces
- Apple Watch gets more familiar with dedicated dock button
- Apple Watch gets new apps for Reminders, Home, Find My Friends & heart rate
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
10 Comments
Kinda wish they had opened Watch Faces up to developers. Not just the Complications, but literally developing whole customizable Watch Faces. There is no denying that the Watch Face is intensely personal; everyone has a slightly different idea on what should be there and how it should look. Apple has added quite a bit of customization on their own, but I still think some more would be nice. I have a vague idea of what I would like to see on the Watch Face, and despite the multitude of options, I still can't quite create one that is perfect for me.
Had they opened this up to devs, I could conceivably create my own right from the source material.
I don't unstained why some people are clamouring for custom faces considering you can add any photo to the photo face and you can customise every face now in so many ways. Sometimes having too many choices makes a product worse for more people.