Discover the top platforms and faces you can use to customize your smartwatch
If you’re a proud owner of a Wear OS smartwatch from the likes of Google, Samsung, or Mobvoi, you’ve got thousands of potential watch faces to choose from.
With every Wear watch comes a group of pre-installed watch faces ready for you to customize and peruse, but you can also find even more on the Google Play Store through third-party apps.
In this guide, we’ll highlight the best apps to access these watch faces and a large helping of our favorites you can download.
If you want to mix things up out of the ordinary options, take inspiration from the watch face apps below.
Best Wear OS watch face apps
Unlike on the Apple Watch, you can access thousands of great, independently-made watch faces through the third-party platforms available on Wear OS.
Once downloaded onto your Android phone, you can browse the extensive catalog each app offers, edit them, and send them straight to your smartwatch.
Below, we’ve listed our favorite apps for Wear OS watch faces.
Facer
Facer has long been the go-to app for customizable watch faces, with a library of 15,000 to choose from and download to your Wear OS watch.
The variety is unparalleled with Facer, with options ranging everywhere from TV and film-inspired watch faces to original creations from designers.
The only downside with Facer is the in-app purchases, but you can download the app for free and even create your options via the templates on the app’s web portal.
- Free with in-app purchases – download Facer on the Google Play Store
Pujie
Another long-standing beacon of superb alternative watch faces, Pujie is a fully-fledged design platform and home to thousands of creator’s offerings.
There are (virtually) countless options if you go down the DIY route, with fonts, complications, and backgrounds to pick from.
You will have to pay to get your paws on these tools, but we think it’s a worthy investment for those who like to get creative with their watch faces.
- $3.99 / £3.39 with in-app purchases – download Pujie on the Google Play Store
TimeFlik
The artist formerly known as ‘Mr Time’ may have been rebranded as TimeFlik, but the same ability to create and edit watch faces still exists here.
With around 150 templates to start with and the ability to customize them with complications and colors, this is another great example of how easy it is to build a unique watch face on Wear OS.
The downside of TimeFlik is that the app is a bit clunky – and you’ll be dealt with plenty of advertisements if you stick to the free version – but it’s still a superb tool to test out.
- Free with in-app purchases – download TimeFlik from the Google Play Store
WatchMaker
Another platform you can use to edit from, WatchMaker affords you incredible levels of detail.
The positives here are the hundreds of watch faces ready for you to access in the free tier, but, while sampling the app, we’ve also experienced a few downsides.
You’ll discover quickly that you’ll have to pay extra to gain access to a wider library, and then subscribe annually to get rid of ads from the platform and see the full library.
It’s not our favorite pick, but it is still an option.
- Free with in-app purchases – download WatchMaker from the Google Play Store
Our favorite Wear OS watch faces
There are countless Wear OS watch faces that you can access using the apps highlighted above.
Below, we’ve listed some of our favorites from testing over the last few years.
Pixel Minimal Watch Face
If you’re the proud owner of a Google Pixel Watch 3 (or older) and Pixel phone and want to create even more synergy, this app delivers the perfect face.
Any Wear OS watch owners can get in on the act with this one, which is helpful if you crave branding your watch like a Pixel Watch. You can kid your friends and, hey, maybe even yourself.
- Free, Google Play
Dots
Dots is a simple face that drops time elements into circles and lets you add a dot for battery status. There are theme colors aplenty to pick from, and, if you care about the time over packing your screen with lots of complications, this is a slick operator.
- Free, Google Play
Bubble Cloud Wear OS Launcher
Give your Wear OS smartwatch a bit of an Apple Watch makeover with this bubble-based watch face – your app shortcuts turn into little floating circles, and you can customize the interface in many different ways.
Apps can be sorted into folders, too, if needed. If you love using Google’s Tiles, you can add bubbles to Tiles to fit in more features on a single screen.
- Free, Google Play
Retro Rocket
This is a fun face to put on your smartwatch screen. The stars mark the hours as the rocket orbits around to tell you the time. There are dark and light-colored themes and both options keep the complications away, letting that space-inspired face fill the display on your Wear watch.
$0.99/£0.99, Google Play
Bits
You’ve got plenty to enjoy with the Bits watch face, which puts widgets front and center. The digital hands telling the time are widgets, even. It’s up to you which ones you have on display, how you arrange them, and the colors you use. Ideal for those who like lots of information in a pretty package.
- Free, Google Play
A/D
The A/D watch face sticks to the basics, but its minimal aesthetic features such a good design that we feel compelled to include it here. Almost every aspect of the design can be configured – the fonts, the colors, the numerals, the complications, and more. Great fun.
- Free, Google Play
Primary Watch Face
Primary Watch Face crams that main watch screen with fitness stats, weather updates, and the date, while also letting you keep a close eye on that precious battery life.
There’s a free and premium version. The latter is the one that lets you enjoy widgets, activity tracking, a missing notifications indicator, and even battery consumption graphs.
Go for the free option and you’ll still get to show off the time, battery status, and date – all in its slick watch face look.
- Free (in-app purchases), Google Play
Ranger Military Watch Face
This nifty analog face option for Wear OS watch owners makes room to show additional data with sub-dials and is optimized for both circular and square watches.
Its party trick is a dedicated night mode that makes it a more vibrant and easier place to glance at the time, check your watch-bound compass, or see how chilly the temperature is.
- $0.99/£0.99, Google Play
Gauss-Backlight
A huge amount is happening in this excellent Facer watch face for Wear OS. You get a choice of colors and complications, and a very sophisticated style – see humidity, step count, the moon phases, the time in digital and analog form, and much more.
- $4.99/£4.59 a month for Facer Premium, Facer
Rutherford Pro
No matter what Wear OS watch you’re sporting on your wrist, it’ll become an instant eye-catcher once you’ve got the Rutherford Pro watch face installed. See your heart rate, step count, watch’s battery level, and more on a classic racing car design.
- $4.99/£4.59 a month for Facer Premium, Facer
Aviator Mk. 7
An aviator look is present here, as the watch face name suggests. And if your smartwatch has a built-in barometer, you can see your altitude on your wrist. Add a fine selection of complications and customization options, and it’s well worth installing.
- $4.99/£4.59 a month for Facer Premium, Facer
Ultra
Not only does Ultra pack plenty of info on the screen of your smartwatch, but it also manages to look cool and funky while doing so.
There’s integration with Google Fit to show off stats and you can even count your cups of coffee on it. Some features are locked behind a premium upgrade, but there’s plenty to enjoy for free, including the weather and battery widgets.
- Free, Google Play
Digitless v2.1 in Seafoam
Designed to be easy to read and minimize battery drain, this Digitless watch face sets the time in colorful words against a black background.
You’ll get extra information along the bottom, which vanishes in ambient mode, leaving you with just the time, in words, in white. If you want a sleek watch face to go with your Wear watch, this is one of the best.
- Free, Facer
Rose Gold Scallop
If you’re after something a bit more elegant – though light on information – this one’s a great look, particularly when used with a gold or rose gold case.
Particularly suited to female-focused Wear OS smartwatches, this is free via Facer – and certainly gets the nod from us.
- Free, Facer
Folds
This face prefers to use words over numbers, doing so by ‘layering’ different colored blocks (or maybe that’s meant to be paper) on each other. We also like Citrus, a similar face by the same maker.
- Free, Facer
Watch Face Minimal & Elegant
You have to pay for this one, but once you do you’ll receive access to thousands of different watch face options. It’s an Aladdin’s cave of attractive designs, from digital to analog and back, and they can all be customized to suit your personal preferences.
- $1.99/£1.59, Google Play
Vaer Classic Light
A simple but versatile face, the Classic Light is an official creation from watchmaker Vaer. Close to resembling Vaer’s physical watches, it even has the 100m water-resistant badge in the middle.
Just remember that it isn’t actually going to make your Wear watch any more waterproof. We like the dark blue version, too.
- Free, Facer
Radii
Radii takes its inspiration from the planets. It displays the date, time, and battery life in an echo of our planetary system.
You’ve got the day and date over on the left, while in the center you’ve got the hour with the minutes next to it – almost like a moon. And, then, on the right, you’ve got a little red meter checking on the battery life. Reach for the stars, indeed.
- Free, Google Play
Weather for Wear OS
An information-heavy, weather-based app that gives you a wealth of real-time weather data, with satellite images so you can see when rain is expected, and some nice forecast home screens, too.
There’s lots of fun for free, but you’ll have to pay for some premium features. Also, check that your location supports the more impressive features, like the useful weather radar.
- Free, Google Play
