I switch watch faces on my Apple Watch Series 8 at most thrice a week, and I love how easy it is to inject a level of personality to the smartwatch whenever I want.
If you’re anything like me, you don’t want to shy away from making your Apple Watch look classy.
And one of the ways to do that is to use watch faces that evoke classic and artistic aesthetic, while allowing you to fit as much stats as possible.
Best Watch Faces to Use on Your Apple Watch
With a wide range of watch faces available, from minimalist and formal to health focused and mechanical designs, there’s something suitable for your Apple Watch. Interestingly, you can swap from one watch face to another depending on your moods, events, and current situation.
Here are some of the best ones:
1. Flux
Flux watch face seamlessly blends typography, colors, and movements. The color fills up from the bottom of the screen as seconds count from 0 to 60, and the numbers transform in shape as soon as a minute changes.
With Flux, you get a higher level of consistency in color and numerals, as well as a distraction-free user experience.
2. StepDog
Do you love pets and don’t mind looking at one every time you wake your Apple Watch? You can customize the smartwatch with StepDog.
StepDog virtual pet uses the built-in accelerometer sensor to count your steps in real time based on your step goals. Once you hit your daily step goals, the virtual pet rests until you begin your next set of steps.
3. GMT
GMT displays two different time zones, one in the inner dial and the in the outer dial. The zone in the inner dial shows time in 12-hour format whereas the zone in the outer dial displays time in 24-hour format.
The two dials help you tell the time difference between your current location and your previous location. Additionally, GMT displays information on sunrise and sunset and day and night of your city.
4. Playtime
Playtime is an interactive watch face that features peppy characters that tell you the current time on your Apple Watch.
While Playtime isn’t customizable, you can switch its background colors by simply turning the Digital Crown.
Because Playtime doesn’t support any complication, consider it only if you’re a minimalist who loves the simplicity displayed by the artistic cartoon characters.
5. Infograph
Infograph watch face lets view multiple stats at once on your Apple Watch. It supports up to eight complications at once, including Apple Fitness, Calendar, location, Weather, time, Apple Music, and Compass.
There are no limits to your interaction with Infograph. Feel free to customize it to your liking with different colors and styles.
6. Snoopy
Snoopy is one of the simplest Apple Watch faces that brighten up the screen with an array of animations and movements. Unlike in the Peanuts comic strips, where Snoopy walked on four legs, this famous beagle lives on two legs on your Apple Watch.
While Snoopy doesn’t have room for complications, its hour numbers and background colors are customizable by Peanuts-themed options such as Lucy Blue, Great Pumpkin, Woodstock Yellow, and Blanket Blue.
Snoopy mainly plays with the watch hands, gets active during a workout, reacts to weather conditions, and gets you different moods even when you aren’t in motion. Thanks to the wide range of animations, from surfing to side looking to basketball, you’ll see a different motion each time you raise your wrist.
7. Nike Digital
Nike makes sports attires, they maintain a popular running app, and they’ve developed a few Apple Watch faces, including Nike Digital, which supports up to three of your favorite complications.
Other Nike-themed watch faces are Nike Compact, Nike Bounce, Nike Analog, and Nike Hybrid.
If you have Nike Run Club installed on your Apple Watch, you can launch it directly from this watch face by tapping its widget.
8. Unity Rhythm
Unity Rhythm features custom numerals formed by creatively tangled threads of green, red, and yellow colors. The watch face plays a dynamic animation when you raise and lower your wrist, with a dynamic colors shift from green to red followed by yellow in the transition.
There are only two spots for complications on Unity Rhythm watch face, at the top left and bottom right corners.
You get six color palettes to tweak Unity Rhythm’s look and feel. And the watch face will play a rhythmic chime every half an hour and hour.
9. Wayfinder
Wayfinder for Apple Watch Ultra is a unique watch face for outdoor enthusiasts, especially those who are into using Apple Watch for hiking and diving. Wayfinder uses longitudes, latitudes, and elevation to find ways around locations.
You can add up to 8 complications to Wayfinder for quick access, one at each of the four corners and four at the center of the watch face. The supported complications include music, heart rate, calories burned, and steps.
Wayfinder has a night mode that automatically turns red in the dark to save Apple Watch battery so that you get more runtime.
How Do I Add Faces to My Apple Watch?
There are two ways to add a watch face to your Apple Watch. You can do so on your wrist or use the Watch app on your iPhone.
On your Apple Watch, press and hold the current watch face to access the faces you’ve already saved. Swipe to a watch face and then tap Edit. Swipe to the left or right for face customization options such as complications, colors, and styles and use the Digital Crown to apply your customizations.
For a new watch face, turn the Digital Crown upwards until you see a big plus icon. Tap the plus icon and then turn the Digital Crown to find a face to add to your Apple Watch.
Alternatively, open the Watch app on your iPhone and tap Face Gallery. Choose a face you like from the list, customize it to your liking, and then tap Addto sync it to your Apple Watch.
Can I Keep My Current Apple Watch Face Active All the Time?
Whether you can or can’t keep your watch face on all the time depends on the Apple Watch model that you have, as well as your personal preference.
If you’re rocking an Apple Watch Series 5 or later, or any Apple Watch Ultra, you have access to the always-on display feature.
The always-on feature keeps the watch from going to sleep and, instead, dim the screen, so you can see the current watch face anytime, even if you don’t have your wrist raised.
While always on is a good feature, I recommend you turn it off because it drains Apple Watch battery unnecessarily.
Can I Share Apple Watch Faces?
Yes, you can share a customized watch face with anyone in your contacts.
- Press and hold the current watch face.
- Tap the share icon.
- Choose a contact and share the watch face as a default message.
You can also share the watch face through the Mail app on your Apple Watch with a fully custom message.
What are Complications on Apple Watch?
The phrase complications on Apple Watch refer to the widgets that show more details on the watch face in addition to time.
Built-in and third party watch faces have slots for different kinds of complications.
Keep in mind that how complications appear and how many you can add to the welcome screen depend on the watch face in use.
