Apps Apple Watch gets Star Wars Custom Face!

[rolandontheropes]

Check out this awesome BB8 fully custom Apple Watch face... this ain't just no wallpaper!

This is an App called WatchGIF available in the App Store (full disclosure, I am the author ). You can use this app as an alternative to the built in Watch faces. In your watch settings you set 'Show last app'. You open the App and then from that point on every time you raise your wrist you see the current time on your custom watch face.

There are a growing number of custom watch faces available all of which are and will be completely free after the initial purchase of WatchGIF.

It's possible to create your own custom watch faces by creating PNG animations. I'll write a post on how to do it but in summary 4 animations are used, one for the background, one for the hours, one for the minutes and one for the seconds. Based on the current time when your wrist is raised the appropriate frames are selected and overlaid to create a fully working custom watch face.

This BB8 watch face is currently in the Popular section of WatchGIF.

 

[BarracksSi]

Check out this awesome BB8 fully custom Apple Watch face... this ain't just no wallpaper!

According to the one review, it's basically another app, and works best if you set the watch to "open last used app" upon wrist raise.

 

[rolandontheropes]

According to the one review, it's basically another app, and works best if you set the watch to "open last used app" upon wrist raise.

I just wanted to clarify in case this has caused any confusion.

This is an App. In your watch settings you set 'Show last app'. You open the App and then from that point on every time you raise your wrist you see the current time on your custom watch face.

There are a growing number of custom watch faces available all of which are and will be completely free after the initial purchase of WatchGIF.

 

[alFR]

I just wanted to clarify in case this has caused any confusion.

This is an App. In your watch settings you set 'Show last app'. You open the App and then from that point on every time you raise your wrist you see the current time on your custom watch face.

There are a growing number of custom watch faces available all of which are and will be completely free after the initial purchase of WatchGIF.

it wouldn't (purely coincidentally) be your app, would it?

 

[rolandontheropes]

it wouldn't (purely coincidentally) be your app, would it?

Hi alFR, I've updated the original post. Thanks for keeping me honest!

 

[nicho]

This is an App. In your watch settings you set 'Show last app'. You open the App and then from that point on every time you raise your wrist you see the current time on your custom watch face.

What if i use another app?

 

[rolandontheropes]

What if i use another app?

WatchGIF stays open when you receive notifications. So if you get an e-mail or message the custom watch face is displayed again immediately after. If on the other hand you regularly open and close lots of apps on your watch rather than mainly use it for the time and notifications then you will have to re-open WatchGIF to make it the last app that gets shown on wrist raise.

 

[nicho]

WatchGIF stays open when you receive notifications. So if you get an e-mail or message the custom watch face is displayed again immediately after. If on the other hand you regularly open and close lots of apps on your watch rather than mainly use it for the time and notifications then you will have to re-open WatchGIF to make it the last app that gets shown on wrist raise.

So it's good for people who want pretty jewlery (to be fair that includes my wife, she uses the jellyfish watch face and doesn't do much else right now because she's pregnant so not even working out) but not much use for people who like to, you know, do stuff. Weather apps, calendar, Runkeeper, music... All things that would stop what you said being true

 

[tommyd75]

Quick question if I use this app and have my own background image, does the hour hand and minute hand still remain there or is that part of your gif?
If so where can I get that?
I just want to use the analog clock with a different background.

 

[tommyd75]

Check out this awesome BB8 fully custom Apple Watch face... this ain't just no wallpaper!

This is an App called WatchGIF available in the App Store (full disclosure, I am the author ). You can use this app as an alternative to the built in Watch faces. In your watch settings you set 'Show last app'. You open the App and then from that point on every time you raise your wrist you see the current time on your custom watch face.

There are a growing number of custom watch faces available all of which are and will be completely free after the initial purchase of WatchGIF.

It's possible to create your own custom watch faces by creating PNG animations. I'll write a post on how to do it but in summary 4 animations are used, one for the background, one for the hours, one for the minutes and one for the seconds. Based on the current time when your wrist is raised the appropriate frames are selected and overlaid to create a fully working custom watch face.

This BB8 watch face is currently in the Popular section of WatchGIF.

How did you get the analog clock on there? Is that part of the app or is it a gif?

 

[tommyd75]

How did you get the analog clock on there? Is that part of the app or is it a gif?

Bump...

 

[rolandontheropes]

Hi Tommy, thanks for the bump I needed that!

On watchGif every face is made up of 4 animated GIFs (or animated PNGs) stacked on top of one another. When creating your own watch face you can therefore mash up any combination of second hand, minute hand, hour hand and background.

So to achieve what you want (use the same hands but a different background) you would select the BB8 watch face. WatchGIF will then load the BB8 face and you can change JUST the background URL to point to whatever background you like while still leaving the original second, minute and hour hands.

As an FYI the best resolution for the background is 312 (width) x 348 (height) pixels. The background could be a GIF, single frame PNG or animated PNG.

Hope that helps!

 

[friedmud]

Just a heads up that this App goes against the App Store Review Guidelines: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/

"10.7 Watch Apps whose primary function is telling time will be rejected"

It's only a matter of time before this gets pulled. So... if you want this kind of App you'd better get on it quick!
[doublepost=1453687314][/doublepost]@rolandontheropes How much did you pay Disney for the rights to make this app?

 

[rsbell]

Hi Tommy, thanks for the bump I needed that!

On watchGif every face is made up of 4 animated GIFs (or animated PNGs) stacked on top of one another. When creating your own watch face you can therefore mash up any combination of second hand, minute hand, hour hand and background.

So to achieve what you want (use the same hands but a different background) you would select the BB8 watch face. WatchGIF will then load the BB8 face and you can change JUST the background URL to point to whatever background you like while still leaving the original second, minute and hour hands.

As an FYI the best resolution for the background is 312 (width) x 348 (height) pixels. The background could be a GIF, single frame PNG or animated PNG.

Hope that helps!

I went ahead and bought the app as a "thank you" for creating the app. Not real sure I'll use it past the novelty of it, but I appreciate the effort to bring to the watch what Apple should have built it.

Would love the step-by-step how-to!