Apple Watch Hacked to Display Custom Watch Faces

Tuesday August 18, 2015 3:06 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Apple doesn't allow developers to create custom watch faces for the Apple Watch, preferring to maintain control over the general look of the device, but that hasn't stopped iOS developer Hamza Sood from tinkering with the Apple Watch and getting a custom watch face uploaded onto the device.

In a tweet posted this afternoon, Sood shared a video of a custom animated watch face with multiple color options.

After some haxx... Custom watch faces on Apple Watch! Watch face source code is on GitHub: https://t.co/7ZvOz8nK34 pic.twitter.com/nQGJKlp6kt — Hamza Sood (@hamzasood) August 18, 2015

The watch face source code that was used to create the custom watch face has been made available on GitHub and will require watchOS 2. Earlier this summer, Sood also joined several other developers in efforts to hack watchOS 2 to run truly native apps like Canabalt and a Flappy Bird clone.

customwatchface
It is not clear if Apple has plans to allow third-party developers to create watch faces for the Apple Watch in the future, but it's possible that as watchOS and the Apple Watch mature, Apple will be less restrictive. For now, hacks like Sood's are the only way to get custom watch faces on the device.

Popular Stories

Crackgate? iPhone Duo Owners Report Screens Breaking Along the Hinge

Friday October 23, 2026 11:05 am PDT by Juli Clover

Some iPhone Duos are already experiencing hinge issues that cause display cracks, based on photos shared on Reddit and the MacRumors forums. Almost all of the display faults are right along the hinge, and most result in a line of bright pixels across one side of the screen. An iPhone Duo owner in Australia said his device cracked after being opened fewer than 20 times, and there was no...

• 487 comments

Apple Music Has a Hidden iPod You Can Play With

Friday October 23, 2026 7:11 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple Music has a 404 page easter egg on the web: a functional iPod that appears when you load a page that does not exist, such as music.apple.com/macrumors. "Page Not Found," says Apple. "Give this a spin instead." Apple is clever with this. If you navigate to music.apple.com/ipod instead, the page says "Looking for something?" instead of "Page Not Found." The easter egg is only...

• 82 comments

Apple Pulls Keynote, Pages and Numbers From App Store [Update: Back]

Thursday October 22, 2026 11:01 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple has temporarily removed Keynote, Pages, and Numbers from the App Store, just after releasing an update that added iPhone Duo support and a new Intelligent Assistant. It is not clear if the apps were removed intentionally, or if it is a bug. Apple has not said when the apps will be reinstated, but if it was in error, they should return soon. Update: The Mac versions are back without...

• 72 comments

Top Rated Comments

magicschoolbus

146 months ago

Why they did not launch this with customizable watch faces you could download from app store for a fee is beyond me.

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

xlost6

146 months ago

Finally! Now that watch OS2 is about to release!

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Rogifan

146 months ago

Maybe Apple launched the Watch six months too soon. The fact that they announced it in September 2014 and launching it 7 months later probably means they decided not to wait any more to reveal it — maybe because of the competition?

We know Apple takes its time — look at the App Store on Apple TV —, but maybe for the Watch they felt they couldn't wait any more to reveal it.

The real Apple Watch experience will be with watchOS 2 — The actual logic of running the app on the iPhone is probably a compromise Apple came up with to be able to launch the device in Spring 2015 rather than the end of the year.

As an Watch owner I can say 3rd party watch faces are not on the top of my list for things I want. Native apps, 3rd party complications, 3rd party access to hardware, podcast support are all things I care more about than third party watch faces. Maybe some people want a skeuomorphic Rolex face on their watch. I don't.

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Pakaku

146 months ago

I'm really not sure Apple would ever let developer install watch faces without some severe, severe curation on their part - keeping the Apple Watch Apple Watch-like and all.

I wonder how long Apple can keep up the facade that this is a luxurious jewelry piece that requires pristine curation. Yes, it's good to keep a quality standard, but come on.

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)