Top Apple Watch Dial & Complications: Perfect Faces for Every Day and Event

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The best Apple Watch face is the one you like looking at the most. That said, there are some clear winners when complications, workout information, or personalization are most important to you. Here are our favorites.

The Best Apple Watch Face for Complications

Complications appear on your Apple Watch face as snippets of information, dials, and shortcuts to useful functions. They display things like weather conditions, upcoming appointments, and the current moon phase. You can use them to quickly launch a workout, see your Move goal progress , or find your bearing on a compass.

If you want the maximum number of complications, pick the “Infograph” analog watch face. This face includes eight total slots for complications with four in the corners of the display and four inside of the clock face. The complication in the “north” position on the clock face shows extended information, making it ideal for Weather or Calendar.

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If you’re not a huge fan of analog watch faces, the closest digital equivalent is the “Modular” face (previously known as “Infograph Modular”). It has room for six complications plus the date, with a larger complication in the middle of the face that can show extended information.

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Other options with four complication slots plus the date include the “Simple” analog face, “Nike Hybrid” with its digital and analog options, and the “Count Up” analog Watch face that is designed to track elapsed time.

The Best Watch Face for Fitness

Unfortunately, no Apple Watch face displays detailed Workout information right there on the face. During a workout, your Watch will switch to your current tracked session by default so this isn’t a huge issue. You can customize this behavior using the Watch app on iPhone under General > Return to Clock.

The “Activity” face is built to make it easy to track your activity rings. It’s available in analog and digital flavors, with the digital face being arguably easier to read during a frantic workout. There are three complication slots available, with one extended readout that’s perfect for displaying your latest heart rate reading or current-elapsed Workout time.

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Any Watch face that displays activity rings is a good candidate for fitness enthusiasts. Some, like “Chronograph” and “Chronograph Pro” are specifically designed for measuring time in increments of your choosing. “Count Up” is also good for tracking elapsed time.

The Best Minimalist Apple Watch Face

Whether you’re heading to dinner, a business meeting, or you simply like that clean look; Apple includes some solid minimalist Watch faces. If all you want are hands on a solid background, pick “Color” and set the dial to “Rectangle.” You can also do the same with “Gradient” for a slightly fancier look.

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There are three “Numerals” faces to choose from, with “Duo” and “Mono” variations. You can choose the color and style of clock, with the basic “Numerals” face also offering space for a single (optional) complication.

For something a little left of field, check out “Contour” which fuses simplicity with readability. The numerals on the outside of the dial change to highlight the current hour, making it easy to quickly tell the time at a glance.

The Best Personalized Apple Watch Face

All Apple Watch faces offer some degree of customization, but for a truly personalized Watch face why not use photos that you have shot yourself? There are only two watch faces that do this, and both are digital.

“Photos” lets you pick an album, a selection of images, or automatic highlights from your recent memories to showcase your Photos library each time you raise your wrist. You can choose to place the time at the top or the bottom of the face, with room for two complications.

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“Portraits” is a little different in that it relies on photos you have taken with Portrait mode on your iPhone . Subjects are highlighted so that the time appears slightly behind them (in a readable) fashion, and can include people, pets, and any other object that triggers the Portrait mode depth effect.

The Best Digital Apple Watch Face

Digital watch faces are easy to read, and none is easier than the “X-Large” face. As the name suggests, this simple watch face uses all available space to show you the time in large digits. The background and colors can be adjusted, and you can even add a single complication if you want.

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For more complications, look at “Modular” with its six slots and a date stamp. “Modular Duo” is a variation on the theme, with two spaces for larger complications and a single smaller complication.

For a slightly more stylish choice, “Nike Digital” offers large numerals and three complication slots, plus customizable colors and your choice of three clock styles. “Pride Threads” is perhaps the most unique digital watch face, with shimmering threads that move when you tap on the face.

The Best “Smart” Apple Watch Face

There’s only really one “smart” Watch face, and that’s “Siri.” This Watch face uses Siri Suggestions to surface useful information and shortcuts throughout the day. There’s also a digital clock, today’s date, and room for a single complication. By default it summons Siri, but you’re better off using the “Siri” voice command instead.

You might see the weather, an upcoming Calendar appointment, your activity rings, or even the news headlines. Scrolling the digital crown will reveal more suggestions.

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You can’t add this sort of functionality to any other Watch faces, which is a bit disappointing since the Siri face is quite limited and only available in two colors: gray and a gradient called “Siri Color.”

The Best Apple Watch Face for Fidgeting

Love to fidget? There’s an Apple Watch face for that. “Kaleidoscope” is perhaps one of the most satisfying faces to play with. Simply tap the Watch face and then turn the digital crown to modify the kaleidoscope, complete with haptic feedback.

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“Nike Bounce” is another fun watch face that reacts to your movement with a ripple effect. What’s more, you can tap the Watch face to interact with the simulated fluid effect. “Solar Dial” is another interesting Watch face that allows you to track the sun’s position throughout the day using the digital crown.

The Best Apple Watch Ultra Face

The Apple Watch Ultra features all of the Watch faces you’ll find on standard Apple Watch models, plus two extras. Perhaps the standout mode is “Modular Ultra” which expands on the modular formula with seven slots for complications and the ability to show Ultra-specific information like depth or elevation around the outside of the face.

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The other unique Apple Watch Ultra face is “Wayfinder,” a face designed for outdoor pursuits. Tap the outer edge of the face ring to display a compass, or customize the face to show elevation and incline data instead. Both “Modular Ultra” and “Wayfinder” can be customized to use Night Mode, which turns the face elements red to preserve night vision.

Read our Apple Watch Ultra 2 review to find out more.

The Best Apple Watch Face Apps for Creating Your Own Faces

You can’t replace or even add to Apple’s list of included “native” Watch faces. Despite this, some apps promise to allow you to create your own faces and download other custom faces that community members have created. Unfortunately, this comes with some big catches.

You’ll need to head to General > Return to Clock in the Watch app on your iPhone and change your app of choice to “After 1 hour” to get any custom faces to remain active on your screen. Even then, if you don’t raise your wrist within that hour your Watch will return to its native (Apple) clock face.

These apps are also quite limited in terms of what they can do. Complications don’t work and though you can display information like activity rings and weather, you can’t interact with them in the way you’re used to in Apple faces like “Kaleidoscope” or “Solar Dial.” There’s also the small matter of battery life. Having an app open on your Apple Watch at all times is likely to increase battery drain.

Clockology is probably the best-known custom Apple Watch face app, while Facer includes a web app that lets you create your own faces. BuddyWatch and WatchMaker also have their fair share of fans. Be aware that though these apps do include some free content, much of the content requires some sort of in-app purchase.

It’s easy to switch between Apple Watch faces by tapping and holding the face and then swiping to the face that you want. Use the Watch app on your iPhone to organize, customize, and add as many faces as you like, then use them in different situations.

You can even automatically switch Apple Watch faces based on set criteria, like starting a Workout.

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Top Apple Watch Dial & Complications: Perfect Faces for Every Day and Event