Apple Watch owners will have access to a handful of watch faces that the company has created so they can pick and choose as they like, but they will certainly be limited in terms of choice. That’s because Apple has laid down the law that it won’t allow watch face applications for the Apple Watch. This means that third-party watch faces will not be given any space on Apple’s first smartwatch.
This was to be expected to be honest, Apple hasn’t always made its software open to customization by third-parties, which is why jailbreaking was so big back in the day. It allowed people to customize their devices the way Apple didn’t want them to.
Apple has updated its App Store guidelines to caution developers that it will not be approving any applications that only have one feature which is to tell the time. The company doesn’t provide any other alternative to install third-party watch faces.
On the other hand this is something that’s more than acceptable on Android Wear. Folks who have Android Wear smartwatches can download third-party watch faces from a variety of sources, but this then leads to quality issues, and Apple isn’t about to have that on its smartwatch.
Does this mean that Apple will never allow people to use watch faces from independent sources? Perhaps the company may launch a program that lets people submit watch faces for the Apple Watch, but this is pure speculation.
Filed in . Read more about Android Wear, Apple Watch, Smartwatches and Wearable Tech.