Do you think Apple will ever allow third-party Apple Watch faces? For those who are still hopeful, Apple provided a rather dissatisfying answer to the question earlier this week.
It’s not like the idea hasn’t crossed Apple’s mind. Rather, the company line is fairly considered.
Apple doesn’t flag concerns with luxury watch face knock-offs or conceding control of how an Apple Watch appears. Internally, those are probably things Apple wants to avoid.
Publicly, Apple says it’s their ability to control how the Apple Watch works that limits what they can do. In Apple’s view, opening the watch face up to complete customization could conflict with how the watch face works as a home screen.
No one expects Apple to let third-party launchers take over the iPhone home screen. If Apple views the watch face like a home screen, maybe we should expect the same for Apple Watch.
On the other hand, Apple makes the case that third-party watch faces wouldn’t guarantee compatibility between watchOS versions. While that’s true, the same argument applies to third-party apps on the iPhone, and the App Store is doing alright.
Top comment by JMO
Perhaps apple could provide an API Kit for creating watches that would conform with their changes and updates.
The watch faces are so limited and VERY long in the tooth.
Apple only makes the appetite for third-party faces grow stronger each time it adds its own new faces. For some, it’s because new watch faces come off as more of the same. For others, it’s because Apple shows what’s possible when you reimagine the watch face canvas.
Of course, Apple isn’t just going to come out and say that it views third-party watch faces as something it should support on the Apple Watch. It’s a great question to put on the record, but Apple is currently in the business of selling watchOS 10 – not watchOS 11 or 53 or 723.
With all that in mind, do you think Apple will ever support third-party watch faces on Apple Watch? I think the majority of readers can agree that Apple should, but do you think they actually will? Vote in our poll and elaborate on your thoughts in the comments!
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