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aevan

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2015
4,527
7,211
Serbia
On one hand, I’d like all the fun watch faces that we’d get, on the other - I understand Apple’s reluctance. They see the software as part of a unified design with hardware and, more importantly, part of the brand. And I say that as someone who would really like new watch faces more suitable to my needs.
 
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BrownyQ

macrumors 6502
Dec 13, 2021
341
1,265
USA
Ehh, not the best defense but I honestly don't need the third party watch faces. Sure, there could be more designs, but I'm not starved for them.

As it stands, I've had Solar Dial as my primary watch face since it dropped with WatchOS 6.

But if they don't want to allow third party faces, why not have more faces released with more frequency?
 

ApplesAreSweet&Sour

macrumors 68020
Sep 18, 2018
2,281
4,227
Weak. They should allow them, period. It's not like they change the overall shape of the watch, ever. The watch faces from series 0 all work for God's sake on the Series 8 so I don't see how compatibility is an issue. Apple just wants control over the faces like they do everything else. That's fine, but spare me the BS of uniformity.
It doesn't even make sense what they're saying -As with everything else, Apple would simply provide clear guidelines for 3rd party devs and then have a team review each watch face before it becomes available, testing whether or not the watch face meets Apple's standards.

This way watch faces would never stray too far from Apple's vision for the Apple Watch "experience" but also provide a way for 3rd parties to create watch faces that are different from something Apple would create.

But since Apple is repeatedly refusing to do 3rd party watch faces, we have to assume they are tying their familiar shapes, designs and overall aesthetics of their watch faces to the Apple Watch brand identity and need consumers to immediately understand that they're looking at an Apple Watch regardless of which (Apple designed) watch face the user opts for.
 

DMG35

Contributor
May 27, 2021
2,503
8,080
That's not entirely true. All of the Series 0-3 faces were redesigned to fit and scale well to the new screens of the S4+.

But aside from that, the point is that each watch face has to be designed to work with so many things, like the customization UI and how color tinting works with colors the face wasn't originally designed for. But the most difficult part is the Always-On Display. You have to think about how the UI fades when the displays dims, how the minute hand/number can raise the refresh rate temporarily every 30 seconds, how the face wakes back up and the UI readjusts to its "precision" state where the minute hand reflects number of seconds as well, etc. Basically, every custom face would have to be an extremely "good citizen".

Devs couldn't rescale their watch faces for larger sizes? Of course they could. They do the same thing with aps.

Developers could absolutely figure out tinting, and every other function that a watch face needs to have. There are so many talented developers out there that could come up with brilliant watch faces. All Apple would have to do is set the parameters of the faces and it could be done.

I'd argue that there would be developers that would make faces that would absolutely blow away any faces that Apple comes up with. They would make owning the watch even more awesome. Instead we just get stuck with the same limited number of faces that Apple decides to give us. It's a shame.
 
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TimeAndOrSpace

macrumors newbie
Jun 5, 2023
12
13
As opposed to widgets and things that can break just by looking at them the wrong way, yet alone a system update

I honestly wouldn't mind this if we didn't get 2-3 faces a YEAR. Introduce more 1st party options for at least some variety. 2023 has given us the 23 pride face and the two at WWDC. If we're lucky there might be a secret one in the final build.
 

ClaytonK

macrumors member
Apr 3, 2007
41
63
Fine. But create more flexibility in the built-in faces. I don’t like reading the analog time, particularly without numbers. But most of my favorite Apple faces are analog. Maybe add an option where when I raise it the digital time shows up, similar to how it looks on like the jellyfish face. Claim it’s for accessibility if that makes Apple feel better.
 
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drumcat

macrumors 65816
Feb 28, 2008
1,187
2,888
Otautahi, Aotearoa
I don't want analog faces; it's digital. Let me have at least a text-builder option. So few options with seconds, and many of the complications are simply hard to read.

Honestly, carrying on the idea that people want round, analog watch faces with a bunch of dials is the worst form of skewmorphism that Apple has held since the desktop was that leather thing.
 
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genovelle

macrumors 68020
May 8, 2008
2,114
2,699
Weak. They should allow them, period. It's not like they change the overall shape of the watch, ever. The watch faces from series 0 all work for God's sake on the Series 8 so I don't see how compatibility is an issue. Apple just wants control over the faces like they do everything else. That's fine, but spare me the BS of uniformity.
Basically, The demand for them is basically limited to a few hundred people and they don’t want to invest the resources required to develop the ability to do that and then support it.
 

XXPP

Suspended
Jun 30, 2019
541
1,042
So developers can make incredible billion dollar games, and software that does incredible things like image recognition and AR/VR, but Apple doesn’t trust them making a Watch Face???

100% BS. Apple just wants control.
This is question of taste and design.
 
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Night Spring

macrumors G5
Jul 17, 2008
14,845
8,028
I don't want analog faces; it's digital. Let me have at least a text-builder option. So few options with seconds, and many of the complications are simply hard to read.

Honestly, carrying on the idea that people want round, analog watch faces with a bunch of dials is the worst form of skewmorphism that Apple has held since the desktop was that leather thing.
I enjoy analog faces occasionally, when I'm in a retro mood, but digital faces with multiple complications are what makes the Watch truly useful. I sometimes even find myself wishing I could swap out the time for another complication, so I can fit all related data in one screen.

The basic truth is, Apple watch isn't a watch, it's a computer on the wrist, and if Apple made that a key part of their design philosophy, it might improve their watch face designs.
 
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DanteHicks79

macrumors 6502a
Sep 19, 2019
641
8,184
Silicon Valley
It's ridiculous that we can't customize and design our own specific watch faces. Surely it wouldn't be difficult to build a tool that would allow you to just change the parameters like fonts, colors, and background image. I hate that I can't use a custom image AND have minute/hour hands, and have complications surrounding the clock.
 

Darmok N Jalad

macrumors 603
Sep 26, 2017
5,415
48,107
Tanagra (not really)
How is this not like an app in the AppStore? It’s on devs to follow the rules and update as needed. Heck, just make them recertify the face if there’s a significant watchOS update that changes things. We’re not little kids, Apple.
 
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