a day ago
After Facer, Pujie and WatchMaker announce Wear OS 6 support
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR After Facer, watch face distribution apps Pujie and WatchMaker are extending support for Wear OS 6.
The updated versions comply with Google's mandate to switch to the new Watch Face Format.
While Pujie is separating development into two apps (for new and old watches), WatchMaker is likely to continue using just one.
With Wear OS 5, Google introduced a new standard to make watch faces more power-efficient. And, to ensure watch face designers and developers running distribution apps like Facer, Pujie, or WatchMaker make the switch to Watch Face Format (or WFF), it effectively blocked support for legacy watch faces on newer Wear OS versions. Starting 2026, legacy watch faces cannot co-exist with WFF ones on these distribution apps, which is why Facer recently announced an updated phone app that works with Wear OS 6 watches. That will include support for the Watch Ultra and the newly launched Galaxy Watch 8 — with many more to follow.
Now, other apps, Pujie and WatchMaker, are also making the switch, bringing similar solutions with Wear OS in mind. Pujie is bifurcating its efforts into two apps: one to apply watch faces to smartwatches running Wear OS 6 and future versions, and another to support watches running Wear OS 4 or older versions. This separation ensures that the older app continues to support legacy watch faces while the newer version works only with WFF.
Pujie's approach differs from Facer's, which does not require you to download two separate apps if you have two different smartwatches. However, you need to select the smartwatch within Facer's Android app where you wish to apply a new watch face, and the app dynamically refreshes to support only one of the two kinds — legacy or WFF — faces. To put it simply, Facer is running two versions of the apps in a broader environment.
In contrast, Pujie's approach might make sense for its use case, since it allows extensive customization of watch faces, including a system where you can create your own watch faces using different building blocks. Among other changes to the new app, it introduces a real-time simulator to reflect changes immediately and supports animation preview and will also let you transfer watch faces between two versions of the app.
Meanwhile, WatchMaker did not clarify in its blog post which approach it is taking, although it appears to be proceeding in the same manner as Facer. This approach is suggested by a single app listing on the Google Play Store by WatchMaker's publisher, 'androidslide.' Additionally, WatchMaker's blog post notes that more than 130,000 watch faces have already been adapted to support WFF, and all you need to do to use those is sync them to the new watch again.
What's with Google's Watch Face Format?
Google's Watch Face Format takes a modular approach, where designers and developers only need to work on the front end and upload the details in a lightweight XML file, while the Wear OS system automatically handles the execution. Although this allows for lighter watch faces that are quicker to sync and consume less battery, it also limits visual effects such as depth or shadow, rendering very artificial-looking visuals.
This approach can be especially detrimental to watch faces that simulate analog watches, and has also resulted in enthusiasts, including my colleague Rita El Khoury, lamenting these limitations.
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