When will Apple let us use third party watch faces?

[iModFrenzy]

This has probably been asked many times but It's a question that still comes to mind. Or are we able to already? The reason I am asking is because I would love to turn this picture into an actual face. Like you can scroll through the menu on the side.

Some of you will say "why not use the picture watch face", I hate using the picture watch face because I feel like its not really efficient where as I can get Time,weather,fitness,date,etc on another face like modular.

Thanks

 

[IphoneIssues]

I hope soon. They're playing around with something we should already have.

Something as simple as that is an advantage they're just handing to the competition.

 

[bjet767]

I think this will happen when the revenue stream from proprietary watch faces slow down. Then the $.99 face will appear on the App Store. Also the developers have to get access before any of this will happen.

You'll see it first here on Mac Rumors.

 

[AsherN]

I had a Moto360. The ability to create custom watch faces was great. They need to just turn this over to app developers.

 

[BarracksSi]

When?

Probably when copyright issues are taken care of.

(which nobody seems to care about in Android Wear, judging by the number of fake branded faces I've seen)

 

[AsherN]

When?

Probably when copyright issues are taken care of.

(which nobody seems to care about in Android Wear, judging by the number of fake branded faces I've seen)

Strawman. Copyright issues are not Apple's problem. They don't even have to write the tool. Just open the API, let 3rd party developer write apps that allow us to create watch faces. Besides, with the album face, there can be copyright issues there as well. I could download pictures from the internet and put them on my watch.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Strawman. Copyright issues are not Apple's problem. They don't even have to write the tool. Just open the API, let 3rd party developer write apps that allow us to create watch faces. Besides, with the album face, there can be copyright issues there as well. I could download pictures from the internet and put them on my watch.

It most certainly is Apple's problem because people have sued Apple for copyright infringement caused by third party app's developers. Whether or not it stands in court is another issue, but Apple would rather not get into the mess in the first place.

 

[AsherN]

It most certainly is Apple's problem because people have sued Apple for copyright infringement caused by third party app's developers. Whether or not it stands in court is another issue, but Apple would rather not get into the mess in the first place.

With watch faces, you are one more removed from the 3rd party app. While you may be able to make a case for copyright infringement inside the app that Apple supposedly vets on the App Store. You can't for user controlled content. That is like saying that if I download a copyrighted picture form the internet and use it as my wallpaper, Apple can be sued for copyright infringement. Nonsense.

 

[DynaFXD]

Nonsense.

Agreed. It seems that dealing with this is already a fairly well vetted process. See YouTube. People post things all the time that are not appropriate. YouTube gets a valid take down notice, or their own crawlers find it first, and down it comes. So long as they show a good faith effort to be responsive there is no actionable issue, IMHO. IANAL. For Apple, it would be in the App store where they would filter things. On the down side, it probably WOULD be in the APP store where we would get the new faces. I don't think we'll ever see user to user shared watch faces unless you have a jail broke watch. Apple will want a piece of that action. And if they are going to clear the watch faces through a filter they can have it. Just get on with it!

 

[AsherN]

Agreed. It seems that dealing with this is already a fairly well vetted process. See YouTube. People post things all the time that are not appropriate. YouTube gets a valid take down notice, or their own crawlers find it first, and down it comes. So long as they show a good faith effort to be responsive there is no actionable issue, IMHO. IANAL. For Apple, it would be in the App store where they would filter things. On the down side, it probably WOULD be in the APP store where we would get the new faces. I don't think we'll ever see user to user shared watch faces unless you have a jail broke watch. Apple will want a piece of that action. And if they are going to clear the watch faces through a filter they can have it. Just get on with it!

I don't want faces in the App store. I want an app that let's me create my own watch face. Have a look at Android Wear. That's where it needs to go.

 

[Ries]

About same time they open up those animated backgrounds for iPhone, which is never.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

With watch faces, you are one more removed from the 3rd party app. While you may be able to make a case for copyright infringement inside the app that Apple supposedly vets on the App Store. You can't for user controlled content. That is like saying that if I download a copyrighted picture form the internet and use it as my wallpaper, Apple can be sued for copyright infringement. Nonsense.

You mean the users will have to hunt down and upload their own background picture for the faces? If so, that could work. If Apple allows the developers to provide copyrighted pictures or allows the users to search for them, they'd get in trouble. After all, they got sued because a developer used a copyrighted sound in an app.

 

[AsherN]

You mean the users will have to hunt down and upload their own background picture for the faces? If so, that could work. If Apple allows the developers to provide copyrighted pictures or allows the users to search for them, they'd get in trouble. After all, they got sued because a developer used a copyrighted sound in an app.

That is exactly what happens with Android Wear. The user can create it's own face. The user is responsible for the content. As much as I think they should not be able to be sued for the content of an app, there is a difference with an app built with copyrighted material and an app that is completely neutral to content.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

That is exactly what happens with Android Wear. The user can create it's own face. The user is responsible for the content. As much as I think they should not be able to be sued for the content of an app, there is a difference with an app built with copyrighted material and an app that is completely neutral to content.

Makes sense. People who are hoping for faces in the App Store are thinking about the wrong type of apps then.

 

[AsherN]

Absolutely. I don't want faces that have design and features that someone else thinks I need. I already have a bunch of those built in. I want an app to create what *I* need/want.

 

[iModFrenzy]

Absolutely. I don't want faces that have design and features that someone else thinks I need. I already have a bunch of those built in. I want an app to create what *I* need/want.

I completely agree with this statement.

Excuse me for being lost here guys, but what does copyright have to do with the watch faces? I mean I read your posts but I don't understand. Could someone break this down for me?

 

[maxsix]

I had a Moto360. The ability to create custom watch faces was great. They need to just turn this over to app developers.

Apple's entire business revolves around customer lock-in, selling closed proprietary devices. A company that believes their customers aren't smart enough to care about choices, Apple's dominance and control over their users is legendary.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

I completely agree with this statement.

Excuse me for being lost here guys, but what does copyright have to do with the watch faces? I mean I read your posts but I don't understand. Could someone break this down for me?

Apple (or any developers for that matter) can't legally allow trademarked clock-face designs such as those from Rolex, Hermes, etc. in apps without some sort of licensing. If, however, the user is left to hunt down and upload those faces on their own (i.e., it's not included in the app from the get-go), then that's fine. In fact, Apple was caught using Swiss Federal Railway's trademarked clock-face design for the iPhone clock in iOS 6 and had to pay a $21 million lump sum to license it retroactively.