Your new Wear OS 5 smartwatch may not support your favorite watch face

Summary

• Wear OS 5, which makes its debut on the Galaxy Watch 7, may not support all watch faces, only those meeting performance and quality standards.
• Watch Face Format (WFF) is a new standard for watch faces, eliminating executable code for better performance. It’s believed that support for this is the primary requirement to meet Google’s new watch face quality standard.
• Existing watch face compatibility may be an issue when upgrading to a new smartwatch with Wear OS 5. However, existing watches will likely be unaffected.

When you buy a new smartwatch, you might assume you’re going to get all the latest software to go with your hardware. This may be the case if you’ve preordered the Galaxy Watch 7, but you could end up disappointed if you value customization. The Galaxy Watch 7 is expected to debut with Wear OS 5, but early signs now suggest that it may not support some watch faces.

Wear OS 5 will specifically support watch faces that are built with the Watch Face Format (WFF), as we reported in May. However, in a post earlier today, Google says that with Wear OS 5, “you’ll only have access to watch faces that have met our performance and quality standards,” which seems to indicate WFF will be a requirement for watch faces going forward (via 9to5Google). To further support this interpretation, Google goes on to cite WFF as one of its Wear OS app quality standards, and says that it’s making the change “To ensure the best possible experience for our users, we’re focusing on watch faces that meet these quality standards.”

It seems as though if you are utilizing an older watch face that was not created according to WFF standards, it will presumably be unusable on newer devices that ship with Wear OS 5. However, Google didn’t explicitly state this in its announcement today, instead framing the situation around how it will affect users. To that end, the company clarified that this change won’t affect existing Wear OS users, but will become an issue if you upgrade to a new watch that ships with Wear OS 5 or higher installed:

• 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.

What is Watch Face Format?

WFF was developed in partnership with Samsung. The goal was to eliminate the need for executable code, as well as code within the watch face APK – watch faces developed according to WFF standards are now housed on the co-processor of the device. If you’re attached to your current, older watch face, you can still use it if you’re willing to wear a watch operating with an older Wear OS. Otherwise, it’s safe to assume your old watch face will be incompatible with your new watch.

While plenty of hype came from the launch of the Galaxy Watch 7 itself, some were excited over the new Wear OS alone. The smartwatch will notably be the first to feature Wear OS 5, and Google isn’t expected to roll it out until its Pixel Watch 3 launch. It remains unclear if Samsung will eventually make Wear OS 5 widely available to its older smartwatches. That being said, there are several reasons it could be worth the splurge (if you’re willing to part with your watch face). Aside from refined fitness tracking features, the Galaxy Watch 7 and Ultra have better battery life and a faster processor – not to mention, you may be able to trade in your existing watch to offset the cost.

Thanks: Armando