Your watch face is the screen you look at more than any other, yet a lot of people never change the one their watch shipped with. This guide walks through the built-in steps on Apple Watch and on Wear OS watches (Samsung Galaxy Watch and Google Pixel Watch), so you can switch faces, add new ones, and tune colors and complications in a couple of minutes.
Apple Watch (watchOS)
Switch to a face you already have
- With the current watch face showing, touch and hold the display.
- Swipe to the face you want, then tap it.
Tip: to swipe straight from one face to another, open Settings > Clock on the watch and turn on Swipe to Switch Watch Face.
Add a new face on the watch
- Touch and hold the current face.
- Swipe left all the way to the end and tap the Add (+) button.
- Tap a collection, such as New Watch Faces or Data Rich, or scroll down and tap All Watch Faces.
- Tap Get next to the face you want, then tap Add.
Customize colors, styles, and complications
- Touch and hold the face, then tap Edit.
- Swipe left or right between the edit screens (for example Style, Color, or Dial, depending on the face) and turn the Digital Crown to change the selected option.
- For complications, swipe left all the way to the end; if the face offers them, they're on the last screen. Tap a complication, then turn the Digital Crown to choose a new one.
- Press the Digital Crown to save your changes, then tap the face to switch to it.
Do it from your iPhone
Open the Apple Watch app on your paired iPhone:
- Face Gallery: tap a category (or scroll down and tap See All Watch Faces), tap Get on a face, then tap an option. Tap features such as color or style, tap a complication position to choose a complication, then tap Add to Watch. The face joins your collection and becomes your current face.
- My Watch, under My Faces: swipe through your collection. Tap Edit in My Faces to reorder faces or remove ones you don't want.
Tip: removing a face from your collection doesn't delete it for good. You can add it back from the Face Gallery at any time.
Wear OS: Galaxy Watch
Switch faces on the watch
- From the Home screen, touch and hold the watch face to enter edit mode.
- Swipe left or right to see your faces.
- Tap a face to apply it.
Add a new face
- On the watch: in edit mode, swipe to Add watch face and choose one. Scroll to the bottom and tap More watch faces to open the Play Store.
- From the Play Store on the watch: open Play Store, tap Browse watch faces, pick one, and tap Install.
- From your phone: open the Galaxy Wearable app and go to Watch faces (or the store section) to browse and install.
Customize a face
- Touch and hold the face, then tap Customize (not every face can be customized; if it can, you'll see the option).
- Change things like background or hand color, and tap complication slots to change what they display.
- Press the Home (Power) key or tap OK to finish. Changes show up right away.
From the phone: in Galaxy Wearable, tap Watch faces, select a face, tap Customize, then Save.
Wear OS: Pixel Watch
Switch or edit faces on the watch
- Touch and hold the watch face.
- Swipe left or right to browse the faces on your watch.
- Tap a face to use it, or tap Edit to change its colors and complications first. In edit mode, swipe to move between styles and complication layouts.
Add a new face
Touch and hold the face, swipe to the end, and tap Add new to pick from the gallery. Newer Pixel Watch software also offers options such as a Photos face from your Google Photos library.
Use the Pixel Watch app
On your phone, open the Pixel Watch app and tap Watch faces. Swipe through them, then tap Use on watch, or Edit to change colors and complications before applying.
Quick troubleshooting
- A newly installed face doesn't appear: make sure the watch is connected to the phone and nearby, then check the face list again. Updating the watch's apps often helps.
- No Customize or Edit option: that particular face has no adjustable settings. Pick a different one.
- Face list is cluttered: remove the ones you never use (on Apple Watch, touch and hold, swipe to the face, swipe up, and tap Remove, or use Edit in My Faces in the iPhone Apple Watch app; on Wear OS, use edit mode) so switching is quicker.
- Check your Wear OS version: on the watch, open Settings > About (or System). Some third-party face apps require a minimum version.
Going further with WatchLux
The built-in faces cover most needs, but if you want something more expressive, I built WatchLux for exactly that. It has over 750 faces on both watchOS and Wear OS, including animated and video designs. All artwork is created with generative AI tools.
WatchLux is free to download and preview; subscription unlocks the full catalog and removes ads.
The flow is simple: browse in the phone app, pick a face, send it to your watch, and then switch to it with the same touch-and-hold steps described above.
My team specializes in advanced generative AI art and video, and WatchLux and ScreenLux are where we apply it to the watch and the phone.
- iPhone and Apple Watch: WatchLux on the App Store
- Android and Wear OS: WatchLux on Google Play
Whichever route you take, built-in or third-party, a five-minute pass through edit mode is the easiest upgrade your watch will get this year.
Sean McCue, Founder, WatchLux and ScreenLux
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