Spent twenty minutes getting a face exactly right, with the perfect complications in every slot? You don't have to rebuild it on a partner's or teammate's watch. Apple Watch faces can be shared as a complete setup, including complications. This guide covers sending and receiving, following Apple's support guide.
What gets shared
A shared face carries its configuration: the face design plus its complications. According to Apple, shared faces can include complications built into watchOS as well as complications from third-party apps.
One requirement: the recipient must have an Apple Watch with watchOS 7 or later.
Share a face from your iPhone
- Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
- Tap a watch face, either one from your collection (under My Faces) or one in the Face Gallery.
- Tap the Share button, then choose a sharing option, such as Messages or Mail.
Add a short note about what the face is for ("my running setup," "the travel face with two time zones") so the recipient knows why it's useful.
Receive a shared face
Shared faces can arrive in Messages or Mail, or as a link online.
- Open the text, email, or link that contains the shared watch face.
- Tap the shared watch face, then tap Add.
If the face uses a third-party complication
Some shared faces include a complication from an app you don't have. In that case, Apple gives you two choices:
- Tap Get (or the app's price) to download the app from the App Store, so the face arrives complete.
- Tap Continue Without This App to add the face without that third-party complication.
If you open the link on an iPad or Mac
You might come across a shared watch face link while you're on an iPad or Mac. Apple's workaround:
- Tap or click the link to download the watch face file.
- Send the file to your iPhone with AirDrop or the Files app.
- On your iPhone, tap the file and choose to open it in the Apple Watch app.
- Tap Add to My Faces.
Ways to use face sharing
- Families: set up a simple, high-contrast face for a parent or child once, then share it.
- Teams: share a face with your team's time zones as world clocks.
- Training groups: share a workout-focused face so everyone sees the same metrics.
- Backups of your own setups: send a favorite configuration to yourself in a note or email so it's easy to re-add later.
After you add a face
A shared face behaves like any other face in your collection. You can edit it, reorder it, or remove it. To switch to it on the watch, touch and hold the display, swipe to the face, and tap it. To change its complications, touch and hold, tap Edit, and swipe left to the complications screen.
Troubleshooting
- Recipient can't add the face: check that their Apple Watch runs watchOS 7 or later.
- A complication is missing after adding: the face likely used a third-party app's complication and the recipient chose Continue Without This App. They can install the app, then add the complication back with Edit.
- The link opened on a Mac: follow the AirDrop or Files steps above to move the file to the iPhone.
A quick checklist before you share
- Remove complications that only make sense for you, like a private calendar.
- Pick a color the recipient will like, or tell them how to change it.
- Mention any third-party apps the face relies on, so they can install them first.
Going further with WatchLux
If you'd like a larger pool of designs to build those setups on, WatchLux is the face app I built, with animated and video designs. WatchLux has over 750 faces on both watchOS and Wear OS. All artwork is created with generative AI tools.
WatchLux is free to download and preview; subscription unlocks the full catalog and removes ads.
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
Sean McCue, Founder, WatchLux and ScreenLux
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