Set up your Apple Watch face the right way

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There's a lot of utility in this watch face. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
There's a lot of utility in this watch face. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

There are 10 Apple Watch faces to choose from, and each one comes with a crazy amount of options. The moon phases widget is pretty neat, but do I really want to clutter up my watch’s minimalist look?

The cool thing is that you can almost have it all. Apple makes it pretty easy to pick your preferred Apple Watch face and then tweak the specific options you want to add to (or delete from) your wrist.

Here’s how.

Color matters. Screengrab: Rob LeFebvre
Color matters. Screengrab: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
You’ll get the default face Apple calls Modular when you first unlock your Apple Watch. It’s got a digital time area, the date, your calendar events, the temperature and a world clock. Tap the watch screen and then press a little harder, performing what Apple calls a “Force Touch,” and you’ll feel a satisfying vibration as the current watch face shrinks a bit into the center of your screen.

Now you can swipe left or right to pick one of the other 10 included faces, like Utility, Simple, Motion, Astronomy, Color, Solar, Chronograph, Mickey and X-Large. There’s also a big Plus button for a New watch face, but that’s probably for later functionality.

Various extras can be customized, too. Screenshot: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Various extras can be customized, too. Screenshot: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Once you choose a an Apple Watch face, you can tap the Customize button to mess around with that specific face. Tap on each editable section, swipe to the left to see the different pages of options, and use the Digital Crown to change settings. I chose Utility, then added the moon phase in the upper left, a timer at the bottom, and changed the color of the second hand to match my Kermit the Frog green band.

Each specific Apple Watch face offers its own set of customizations; the Chronograph one lets you add the date, a calendar section, the moon phase, time of sunrise/sunset, weather, stocks, activities, alarms, timers, battery charge and a world clock, just for giggles.

The best watch face will be the one that pleases you aesthetically with just the right amount of information for your personal needs. If you want all the great info above, use Utility, Modular or Chronograph. If you just want the time and nothing else, try out Motion or Astronomy. Heck, Solar has a nice look, too. It’s up to you.

https://youtu.be/N6ezjg6-0hU

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