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Apple Watch Hacked to Display Custom Watch Faces

Tuesday August 18, 2015 4:06 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.

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.

[ 96 comments ]


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magicschoolbus
45 months ago
Why they did not launch this with customizable watch faces you could download from app store for a fee is beyond me.
Rating: 9 Votes
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xlost6
45 months ago


Finally! Now that watch OS2 is about to release!
Rating: 7 Votes
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Goldfrapp
45 months ago
Would be cool to run FCP on the watch.
Rating: 6 Votes
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Rogifan
45 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.
Rating: 6 Votes
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Pakaku
45 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.
Rating: 6 Votes
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keysofanxiety
45 months ago
…which firmly confirms why you shouldn't, at least if that's the picture you choose.

[USER=256215]@AngerDanger[/USER], you know what to do :D
Rating: 6 Votes
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Four oF NINE
45 months ago
If that's the best they can come up with, I'm not missing anything
Rating: 5 Votes
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AnthonyHarris
45 months ago
I know its very early and coding takes time, but I'd have tried to do something... less crap... before sharing this 'ability', even knowing theres a race to hack the thing.
Rating: 5 Votes
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FloatingBones
45 months ago
The Wolfram App ('http://blog.wolfram.com/2015/04/28/instant-apps-for-the-apple-watch-with-the-wolfram-language/') has allowed users to display a clock with arbitrary faces since April; it never got much attention. The app allows for some truly beautiful or truly atrocious watch faces:

The Pi Clock is just bizarre:
Rating: 4 Votes
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nigerson
45 months ago

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

That way they can announce this as some sort of exclusive new break through in watch face technology in the apple watch 2.
Rating: 4 Votes

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