With Wear OS 5, Google and Samsung are doubling down on the Watch Face Format (WFF) introduced during the 2023 iteration of Google I/O.
As we advance, new watches with Wear OS 5 pre-installed will only have access to watch faces that Google has approved, reports 9to5 Google. In a blog post, Google says that only watch faces that "have met our performance and quality standards" will be useable on devices like the recently released Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra.
Built through a partnership with Samsung, the WFF is called a declarative XML format in coding, which means that there is no executable code or code embedded in the watch face Android Package Kit (what Google uses to distribute and install apps). Apparently, this means that developers don't have to worry about battery performance or code optimization because the watch faces are rendered on the watch's processor.
Here's what this means for you from Google:
- If you're already using a watch: For now, you can continue to use your existing watch faces on watches running Wear OS 2 or later.
- If you're getting a new watch: When you set up a new watch that comes with Wear OS 5, select watch faces may not be available to download on your new watch, even if they were available on your previous watch.
- If you’re transferring to a new watch: If you back up your current watch and restore to a new watch with Wear OS 5, some older watch faces from your previous watch may not transfer over.
According to the report, the tech company says WFF is required to access most complications and that by 2025, all new watch faces published on the Google Play Store will have to use the Watch Face Format.
If you are unaware, a complication is a tool on a smartwatch that integrates with apps. An example would be the symbols that show goal progress, such as a colored ring around a percentage for activity goals. It could also be the iconography that displays weather information. One way to think about this is that complications are the widgets you interact with on your smartwatch when you look at it for information. Why tech companies use the word complication in these instances is beyond my ken. Here's a developer-focused explainer from Apple if you're curious.
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