Discover the top platforms and faces you can use to customize your smartwatch
If you’re a proud owner of a Wear OS smartwatch, there are thousands of watch faces to install onto your device if you don’t like the pre-loaded ones.
You can find those new watch faces on the Google Play Store through apps or individual downloads, and many are free to download. The problem? It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the huge selection—and that’s why we’ve highlighted the best ones in this guide.
Below, you’ll find four top watch face apps we recommend, along with 16 faces our editors prefer while testing an Android watch. So, if you’re ready to change up your look, let’s get started.
The best Wear OS watch face apps to download
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 these apps are downloaded to your Android phone, you can browse the extensive catalog each app offers, edit the content, and then send it 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 500,000 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; there are plenty of free faces, and you can even create more 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 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. To help narrow down the choice, we’ve listed some of our favorites from testing over the last few years.
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.
- Free | Facer
Rutherford Basic
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 watch face installed. See your heart rate, step count, watch’s battery level, and more on a classic racing car design.
- 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 instead of numbers, doing so by ‘layering’ different colored blocks (or maybe that’s meant to be paper) on top of each other. We also like Citrus, a similar face by the same maker.
- Free | Facer
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
Weather for Wear OS
An information-rich weather app that provides extensive real-time data, including satellite images to see when rain is coming, along with nice forecast home screens.
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.
- £9.49 a year | Google Play
h018 Happy Simple Digital
A watch face that tells you what it’s all about in the name. This face keeps things to the basics. See the time? Tick. Losing track of the date or the day? Tick as well.
This design is reminiscent of early Fitbit Versa watch faces. Although it seems intended for a more angular watch style, it has worked well on both the Google Pixel Watch 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8.
There’s a handful of color combinations to pick from, and it won’t clutter your screen to let you focus on the simpler things.
- Free | Google Play
AD Nothing Dots Basic
Now, who doesn’t look like looking at a dot matrix-style watch face for touch or retro watch nostalgia? This is one of the cleanest dot matrix watch faces we’ve found that also does a slick job of integrating those Wear OS watch complications without breaking that otherwise great look.
You do have to scope to adjust colors of the face, and it will also give you a pick of always-on display looks to mix things up when that screen isn’t fully illuminated.
- Free | Google Play
Triad Watch
This watch face has zero to do with an organised crime syndicate and everything about spreading the time and your favourite bits of smartwatch data across a face that splits things into thirds.
You can adjust the colours of those segments, though it mainly lets you adjust the more greyscale tones you’d typically associate with staring at an e-reader. It’s the kind of palette that likes to keep that watch look a little more low-key.
- Free | Google Play
Digital Rapter Watch Face
Another strong digital-style option that fills your watch screen with the time and displays additional metrics and information around it.
There’s plenty of colors to choose from and the ability to keep track of daily step counts, heart rate, and how much battery life you have left to play with. This is also one that works if you have your watch’s always-on display mode enabled.
- Free | Google Play
Pixel Style Watch Face
You’ll likely find a lot of Pixel-style watch faces simply because the UI elements and the color pallette associated with Google’s flagship smartwatch are a good match.
This digital option tries to channel that Pixel feel by keeping things uncluttered and making it easy to glance at the complications and data you care about the most.
This is definitely for Wear OS watch owners who like a face that does its primary job of displaying the time first and tucks away the extras below that.
- Free | Google Play
Azari
There is a lot of analog watch faces lurking on the Play Store, but Azari is by far one of the cleanest we’ve found. Putting the focus firmly on time telling and adding colour to the hands, it’s one that also looks great when your watch is set to always-on display mode.
Especially on AMOLED screens with rich, deep black levels. You can add up to two complications if you’d like, but we believe this is a watch face designed to keep things simple.
- Free | Google Play
RZ Spring Flowers Watch Face
This face is all about color and is designed for both round and Samsung’s squircle-style smartwatches.
It opts to keep the complications simple in favour of focusing on giving you a vibrant look and analog face that, together, makes for one of the most fun yet stylised Wear faces available.
You’ll need to download Facer to get it, but once you’ve done that, it’s free to install onto your Wear watch.
- Free | Facer
Neo Lunar
If you’re interested in tracking the moon phase, that’s the main reason to download this on your Wear watch. Moon phase aside, there’s room for six complications, and you can adjust the colors of the different bars featured in the face design. It’s one of our favourite digital faces that makes good use of the available screen estate.
- Free | Google Play
Retro Analog Watch Face
If you’ve picked up a Nothing smartwatch, then this watch face may be familiar. Channelling the brand’s more minimalist approach to watch design, you can now enjoy one of the best non-Wear OS watch faces on Wear. There are 20 color themes to choose from, and three minor, unobtrusive complications to show off additional data without cluttering up that clean watch face.
- Free | Google Play
Round Pixel
A really bold Wear OS watch face that uses bright colours to striking effect and works in always-on display mode, too. There’s scope to customise color themes and complications, and we’ve found it looks good both on fully round and squircle-shaped case designs.
- Free | Google Play
