In this post, we’ll show you how to change your Apple Watch watch face based on what you’re doing or where you are. Because owing to the power that Apple has placed into its Shortcuts app, it’s feasible to have the watch face on your Apple Watch automatically change dependent on the time of day or your location. To find out how, keep reading.
When it comes to the Apple Watch, you can choose from a wide variety of watch faces that can be customised to suit your needs. For example, you may make some faces more informative or useful for certain reasons and then swipe to them when you need them. It’s possible to have a watch face with work-related complications on it when you go to work, for example. When you’re winding down for the night, you could switch to a simple watch face.
If you have a habit of using multiple watch faces on your Apple Watch, you may want to think about automating the process in iOS so that you don’t even have to lift your wrist to change the watch face. The Shortcuts app makes it possible.
If you’ve never established a shortcut before, don’t panic — the instructions below show you how simple this specific automation is to put up. Remember that if you want your Apple Watch to switch to a different watch face after an interval of time (such as after your workday ends), you’ll need to set up a second automation specifically for this.
The same holds true if you’d rather just use the watch face while you’re at a certain area, but you don’t want to get into the intricate realm of Shortcuts, you’ll need another automation.
How to Automatically Change Your Apple Watch Face At a Certain Time
- On your iPhone, open the Shortcuts app.
- Slightly lower down on the screen is a shortcut for Automation.
- Select Create Personal Automation from the Create menu.
- Select a Day of the Week.
- After selecting either Sunrise or Sunset, you will be given the option to define a specific time around these solar events, or you can use the Time of Day option to specify any time. (Note the Repeat choices include Daily, Weekly, and Monthly.) Then press the Next button.
- Tap the Add Action button and type “Watch” into the search area.
- Select “Set Watch Face” from the list of watch activities that appear after the search.
- On the Actions screen, tap the word Face in blue immediately below “Set active watch face to.”
- Select the watch face you’d want to use at the time you’ve set for it to change. Apple’s official names for watch faces are used in this list, so there may be some duplications.
- There are no surprises here; the list is just an extension of what you see when you swipe left on your Apple Watch to the first (leftmost) watch face.
- Tap Next when the Actions screen returns, then choose Don’t Ask at the popup and flip off the option next to Ask Before Running.
- When you’re done, just press the Done button.
After creating the automation, you should now see it on the Automation screen. There’s nothing else you need to do; your watch face should now change at the time you specified.
How to Automatically Change Your Apple Watch Face Based on Location
- Launch the Shortcuts app on your iPhone.
- Right-click and choose “Automation.”
- Click Create Personal Automation.
- If you want the watch face to change when you arrive or leave, select Arrive or Leave.
- Tap Next after selecting a location.
- Then, in the Add Action window, type “Watch” into the search box.
- To set the watch face, choose Set Watch Face from the watch activities list.
- Tap the blue word “Face” on the Actions screen, just below the text “Set active watch face to”.
- When you arrive at or leave the designated area, choose the watch face you’d want to change to. Note that this list utilises Apple’s official titles for its watch faces, so there may be some overlap. You see the top watch face in the list when you swipe to the first (leftmost) face on your Apple Watch, which matches to the current watch face arrangement on your watch.
- Tap Next when the Actions screen returns.
- To conclude, click Done on the last screen.
When you return to the Automation screen, you should see the newly created automation. Your watch face should now automatically change when you leave or arrive at the area you specified. There’s nothing more you need do.
The Shortcuts app is capable of so much more than these two simple automations demonstrate. Use preset shortcuts to generate actions and then combine them into more complicated automations that include all sorts of circumstances and factors to determine when your watch face should change. In the end, how much time and effort you’re willing to put into discovering what’s possible is the only limit on the complexity of your automations.