To change your Apple Watch face, touch and hold the current face, swipe left or right to another face and tap it. To add a new face, open the Watch app on your iPhone, tap Face Gallery, pick a face, customise it and tap Add to Watch.
Your watch face is the part of the Apple Watch you see most, so it's worth setting up a few that suit different parts of your day: a clean one for meetings, a data-heavy one for workouts, a photo face for the weekend. Switching takes a second once you know where to press, and building new faces is easiest from your iPhone. Here's how to do both.
Switch to another face on the watch
- With the current face showing, touch and hold the display.
- Swipe left or right through your saved faces.
- Tap the one you want.
Want it even quicker? On the watch, open Settings, Clock, and turn on Swipe to Switch Watch Face. Then a swipe from the edge of the screen moves straight to the next face, no long press needed. Leave it off if you find yourself switching by accident.
Add a new face from your iPhone
- Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
- Tap Face Gallery.
- Browse a category such as Health and Fitness, Photos or Data Rich, or scroll down for all faces.
- Tap a face, then Get or choose an option.
- Pick its colour and style, and choose complications.
- Tap Add to Watch. It becomes your current face straight away.
The iPhone is the easier place to design faces, because you see a large preview that updates as you change each option.
Add a face on the watch itself
No iPhone handy? Touch and hold the current face, swipe left all the way to the end and tap the add button. Choose a collection, tap Get next to the face you like and tap Add. You can then customise it on the watch.
Choose complications you'll use
Complications are the small boxes of information on the face: weather, next meeting, activity rings, battery and more. In the Face Gallery, tap a position such as Top Left, Top Right or Bottom, then pick what goes there. To clear a position, scroll to the top of the list and tap Off. A good rule is to keep only what you'd otherwise open an app to check. If you never look at it, it doesn't need a slot.
| Face style | Good for |
|---|---|
| Data Rich faces | Busy days: calendar, weather and activity at a glance |
| Health and Fitness faces | Workouts and step goals |
| Photos faces | A family or holiday picture each time you raise your wrist |
| Simple analogue faces | Meetings and evenings, when you want less on show |
Manage your collection
In the Watch app, tap My Watch and swipe through My Faces. Tap Edit to drag faces into the order you want, or to remove ones you never use. On the watch, touch and hold the face, swipe to one you don't want and swipe up to remove it. A shorter collection makes switching faster.
Change faces automatically
You can set a face to appear on its own. In the Shortcuts app on your iPhone, create a personal automation, for example at a time of day or when you arrive at work, and add the Set Watch Face action. Focus modes can also link to a face, so turning on a Work focus brings up your meeting face. It saves switching by hand every morning.
When a face won't change
- Press firmly but don't hold too long, or you'll open the customise screen instead of the switcher.
- If faces you added on the iPhone don't appear, check the watch is connected to the iPhone and give it a minute to sync.
- Restart the watch if the gallery won't load.
Once your faces are set, add the notifications worth seeing; my guide to Snapchat notifications on Apple Watch covers one app, and WhatsApp on a smartwatch covers another.
Make a photo face
Photos faces are the ones people enjoy most. In the Face Gallery, choose Photos, then pick a single photo, an album or a set of recent memories. Each time you raise your wrist, a different picture shows. Choose photos with space at the top for the time, or the clock will sit over someone's face. You can also make one from the Photos app on your iPhone: open a picture, tap Share and choose Create Watch Face.
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Faces for different times of day
I'd suggest three: a morning face with calendar and weather, a working face with as little as possible so it doesn't distract in meetings, and an evening face with a photo or simple dial. It's a small change, but you'll check your wrist less when the face only shows what matters for that part of the day. If you're building good habits around notifications too, keep the ones that help and silence the rest.
And don't be afraid to delete faces; you can always add them back from the gallery later.
My verdict
Touch and hold to switch, the Face Gallery on your iPhone to build new faces. Set up three or four for different parts of your day, trim the complications to the ones you look at, and turn on Swipe to Switch if you change faces often.
Frequently asked questions
How do I change my Apple Watch face?
Touch and hold the current face, swipe to another one and tap it.
How do I add a new watch face?
In the Watch app on iPhone, open Face Gallery, choose a face and tap Add to Watch.
How do I swipe between Apple Watch faces?
Turn on Swipe to Switch Watch Face in Settings, Clock on the watch.
How do I remove a complication?
In the face settings, tap the position, scroll to the top and tap Off.
Can my watch face change automatically?
Yes. Use a Shortcuts automation or link a face to a Focus mode.
