watchOS 4.3.1 Beta Hints at Future Support for Third-Party Apple Watch Faces
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Being ok with the lack of being able to make your own watch face does reinforce that one is comfortable as a conformer. And after all that is the goal of political correctness and government policy in general.
Apple used to have a motto of "Think Different", but with the iPhone and the closed ecosystem, not so much any more. You can only Think Different if Apple approves of your thinking.
deanthedev
Suspended
Mine works great. Rarely do I ever have to "click" my wrist again to get the Watch to turn on.
Always on is pointless. If you have your full watch face on all the time it greatly reduces battery life. It makes no sense to use up your battery to have something displayed on your watch for the 95% of the day when you're not actually looking at it. If you have only the time displayed (to save battery power) then you need to tap your watch to get it to activate the "full" display and get access to all your information. So you're not really saving anything by displaying "only" the time.
usarioclave
macrumors 65816
Apple has turned into a bag of bozos. I'm surprised they even let people write apps...because the built-in apps should be enough. Right? I mean, who needs a calculator on the iPad anyway? Your own custom watch face? Perish the thought that the people might sully Apple's design aesthetic.
deanthedev
Suspended
Logical fallacy. Just because someone is happy with their existing device doesn't mean they're opposed to choice.
macduke
macrumors G5
It's going to be really interesting to see how they regulate this. I remember Apple was sued by some Swiss clock maker several years back for the design of the clock icon or something on iOS and they either had to pay them or tweak it slightly. Seems like clock faces are protected under patents or copyright and I always assumed that was a small part of the reason they didn't allow them.
Fzang
macrumors 65816
Hell, I forget to even include the todos. I stick by the tried and tested "I'll definitely remember to implement this in a month from now".
dannyyankou
macrumors G5
I feel like they can do more with machine learning. For instance, if someone texts “what time is your appointment?” or something like that, your phone can search your calendar and give a quick reply.
The Game 161
macrumors Nehalem
finally
Wow. It’s a miracle the Samsung watch faces store isn’t litigation city then. Have you seen the outright copies there?
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
When I read the title, I figured this was gonna be an ambiguous reference in the code, but nope it's pretty clear... haha
Ok, so I'm not really an advocate of Apple banning 3rd party watch faces, but this is a horrible analogy.
Yes we DO only accept the food that the grocery store provides or that the clothing store provides. Old Navy doesn't allow random people to come off the street and sell clothes inside their store. The stores are inherently limiting our options and making these decisions for us. Just like how Apple does with watch faces. Of course comparing physical goods with digital goods brings up a host of problems, but you're the one who brought up the analogy
Ok, so I'm not really an advocate of Apple banning 3rd party watch faces, but this is a horrible analogy.
Yes we DO only accept the food that the grocery store provides or that the clothing store provides. Old Navy doesn't allow random people to come off the street and sell clothes inside their store. The stores are inherently limiting our options and making these decisions for us. Just like how Apple does with watch faces. Of course comparing physical goods with digital goods brings up a host of problems, but you're the one who brought up the analogy
RecentlyConverted
macrumors 6502a
They look very nice. I use all the complications I can on my watch (not to see data, but to get to an app quickly), which would spoil the elegant look of these faces. I wonder if Apple would allow hidden complications, ie you would have to remember which was where, but by tapping the relevant corner the app opened.Brining some beloved Bauhaus Max Bill Style to Apple Watch. I made these mockups on launchday of the original Apple Watch.
deanthedev
Suspended
Wow. It’s a miracle the Samsung watch faces store isn’t litigation city then. Have you seen the outright copies there?
Lack of litigation doesn’t mean there’s no infringement. Those developers could simply be too small for the watch manufacturers to bother with. If an Apple developer copied, say, a Tag Heuer Watch, then I’m sure you’d see legal action.
madeirabhoy
macrumors 68000
thats a great idea.
im torn between wanting as many complications on one screen and wanting a clean face, so I mix up modular ones with lots of complications with ones like Numerals and Simple, with all complications turned off. being able to set them to be on but hidden would be great.
or even if you have a choice of using the 2nd button to bring them up, as I never use it for its normal use, its so cluttered.
JohnApples
macrumors 68000
Here’s some off the top of my head:
- Roman numeral face
- Weather-based face (think the stock weather app on iPhones but as a watchface)
- More abstract faces/unique ways of keeping time. Think sundial, or the concept a user posted here where the hands were circles.
- 24-hour analog face. Yes these exist and I quite like them.
- And how about some, I don’t know, *square* watch faces? IIRC the only square one is restricted to Hermès
Cloudsurfer
macrumors 65816
All I need is an analogue watch face with custom backgrounds. Perhaps also with a few different hand designs.
Journojulz
macrumors 65816
Yup. A 'photo with hands' version would be perfect way to give yourself a fake rolex/jaeger/patek.
And That's probably the reason why it isn't allowed.
Its also a large potential revenue source.
18 million watches sold last year
$18,000,000 dollars if everyone pays a buck for an app
$4,500,000 if Apple get a quarter commission.
Not something they would give away without thinking about it first.
elvislives
macrumors 6502
About "Time" 
skinned66
macrumors 65816
This would be a big improvement for sure. What would be even better is if they release non-developer tools to the masses to make their own. There's nothing to say they won't, I just would bet money it'll all tie back to XCode and a Dev account if it happens at all.
One thing I can't stand is all of the round watch face on a rectangular screen. Hermes had the right idea. If Apple wont make them they should let people make their own.
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I recall the Pebble one being rampant with things like Rolex watch faces and the like - branding and all. IIRC nobody did anything about it. Then again Pebble never had Samsung or Apple's pockets.
One thing I can't stand is all of the round watch face on a rectangular screen. Hermes had the right idea. If Apple wont make them they should let people make their own.
[doublepost=1523905103][/doublepost]
Wow. It’s a miracle the Samsung watch faces store isn’t litigation city then. Have you seen the outright copies there?
I recall the Pebble one being rampant with things like Rolex watch faces and the like - branding and all. IIRC nobody did anything about it. Then again Pebble never had Samsung or Apple's pockets.
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RecentlyConverted
macrumors 6502a
Or possibly, we could have a swipe right to give us 4 detailed complications.
macduke
macrumors G5
Companies don't tend to get litigious until Apple does something because that's when it goes mainstream. If they sue too early they won't get as much money from infringement and it will serve as a warning for Apple to not infringe. Right now the Android Wear market is a lot smaller and it's mainly the nerdy types that customize their watches to look like GoldenEye, etc (this would probably be me if I didn't have an Apple Watch). Gotta sue while the suing's good.Wow. It’s a miracle the Samsung watch faces store isn’t litigation city then. Have you seen the outright copies there?
mcdj
macrumors G3
I used to think I’d want 3rd party faces, but the reality is, the only ones I’d want would be photo-realistic brand name faces, and most of the watch companies I’d love to see faces from will have zero interest in lending their cachet to a competitor’s watch. Which means unauthorized brand name 3rd party faces will be rejected by Apple.
What I would love to see is much more robust native customization options.
Let me move elements around with my finger or on the phone.
Let me scale dials. Let me make everything more bold.
How about gradient colors instead of just boring solid colors. How about hands that “glow” green-blue at night in homage to real luminous hands.
How about a virtual Reverso, where tapping the dial flips it over to reveal a second dial with a different time zone or function.
Let me use gestures for music or HomeKit stuff without actually being in the app.
Let me tap the screen 3 times to virtual tap my wife’s wrist with a haptic, without fiddling with the messages app, to let her know we gotta leave a crappy dinner party ASAP.
What I would love to see is much more robust native customization options.
Let me move elements around with my finger or on the phone.
Let me scale dials. Let me make everything more bold.
How about gradient colors instead of just boring solid colors. How about hands that “glow” green-blue at night in homage to real luminous hands.
How about a virtual Reverso, where tapping the dial flips it over to reveal a second dial with a different time zone or function.
Let me use gestures for music or HomeKit stuff without actually being in the app.
Let me tap the screen 3 times to virtual tap my wife’s wrist with a haptic, without fiddling with the messages app, to let her know we gotta leave a crappy dinner party ASAP.