One of the best features of the Apple Watch is the ability to customize its appearance to match your outfit, your mood, or your current activity. You can have a sleek, minimalist analog face for a formal dinner, and instantly swipe to a data-heavy digital face displaying your heart rate and weather forecast when you hit the gym. Changing your watch face takes only a few seconds.
How to Swipe Between Saved Faces (Directly on the Watch)
If you have already added a few different faces to your collection, switching between them is incredibly easy.
- Raise your wrist to wake the Apple Watch screen.
- Touch your finger to the very left edge or the very right edge of the screen.
- Swipe left or right across the face of the watch.
- The current face will slide away, revealing the next face in your collection. Keep swiping until you find the one you want to use.
How to Add a Completely New Face (Directly on the Watch)
If you are bored of your current collection and want to build a brand new face from scratch, you can do it right from your wrist.
- Wake the Apple Watch screen.
- Press and hold your finger firmly in the center of the current watch face.
- The watch face will shrink slightly, and an “Edit” button will appear beneath it.
- Swipe all the way to the left until you see a large Plus (+) button labeled “New”. Tap it.
- Use the Digital Crown (the dial on the side of the watch) to scroll vertically through the massive list of available face styles (e.g., Chronograph, Modular, Portraits, Mickey Mouse).
- When you find a style you like, tap Add.
- The watch will now allow you to customize the new face. Swipe left or right to change the color, dial style, or the “Complications” (the small widgets that show weather, battery, etc.). Use the Digital Crown to scroll through the options for each section.
- When you are finished customizing, press the Digital Crown inward once to save and exit.
How to Manage Faces Using Your iPhone (The Easier Way)
Customizing tiny widgets on a small watch screen can be tedious. It is much easier to build, customize, and rearrange your watch faces using the large screen of your iPhone.
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
- Make sure the My Watch tab is selected at the bottom left.
- At the top of the screen, you will see a horizontal list called “My Faces.” These are the faces currently loaded on your watch. You can tap Edit here to delete ones you don’t use or drag them to change their swiping order.
- To create a new face, tap the Face Gallery tab at the very bottom center of the screen.
- Browse through the categories. When you find one you like, tap it.
- Here, you can easily select the primary color, adjust the dial style, and choose exactly which Complications (widgets) you want in each corner.
- When you are happy with the design, tap the blue Add button at the top right. The new face will instantly sync to your Apple Watch and become the active display.