Apple Watch · Personalization

Customize watch faces and complications

Watch faces are the customizable home screen of Apple Watch, each supporting different complications — small widgets like weather, activity rings, or calendar events. Faces can be edited, added, and swapped from the watch or the Watch app.

How to open Watch Faces

  1. On the watch, touch and hold the display, then swipe to the end and tap the + to browse faces.
  2. Tap a face to add it, then tap Customize to change colors, style, and complications.
  3. Tap each complication slot to choose what data it shows, then press the Digital Crown to save.

What you should know

  • Swipe left or right on the watch face to switch between saved faces, or firmly press (or touch and hold, depending on model) to enter edit mode.
  • Complications pull live data from apps like Weather, Activity, Calendar, and third-party apps that support them.
  • The Watch app's Face Gallery lets you browse and add new faces from your iPhone, then customize colors and complications before adding them.

Why it matters

The watch face is what you see dozens of times a day — getting complications set up right turns quick wrist glances into useful information instead of just the time.

Best practices

  • Keep 2-3 favorite faces active and remove ones you don't use to keep swiping fast.
  • Add a battery complication to at least one face so you can check charge level at a glance.

Common problems and fixes

A complication shows "--" or no data
Open the source app on the watch or iPhone once to let it sync, and check the app has permission to run in the background.
Can't find a specific face from an older watchOS version
Some faces are tied to specific watch models or were retired in later watchOS releases and won't appear in the gallery.

Tips and tricks

  • You can share a customized watch face with someone else via Messages, or discover ones shared to you, then tap Add to use it instantly.

Frequently asked questions

Can I have unlimited watch faces saved?

You can save many faces to your collection, but only the ones you've added appear when swiping — remove unused ones from the edit screen to keep the list manageable.