How to share Apple Watch faces with family, friends, and online

Save and Share an Apple Watch Face from iPhone

One of the new features that came with watchOS 7 was the ability to share Apple Watch faces. This is an awesome way to share faces with your friends or family who have similar interests; both in face appearance and functions.

You can share an Apple Watch face with all of the visual elements as well as the complications. So if you create the most amazing face that you know your bestie would love, share it! Along with that, you can share your Apple Watch face online. So if you add it to your blog or show it off on social media, others can see it and then download and use it too!

Here, we’ll cover the basics of sharing an Apple Watch face from your Watch or iPhone along with how to share it online and how to use a shared face yourself.

Sharing Apple Watch faces

Before you share

Note that you and your friend must be using an Apple Watch Series 3 or later or Apple Watch SE. And you must both be using watchOS 7 or later.

If you share a face with a complication for an app the other person does not own, they will see the price for it or “Get” for a free app. They can then tap to purchase or download the app or select Continue Without This App.

Share a face from Apple Watch

Sharing a face directly from your Apple Watch is as easy as a few taps.

1) Make sure you’re viewing the face you want to share on Apple Watch.

2) Press and hold the face and then tap the Share button.

3) Choose Add Contact and then select the contact you want to share with. You can also use the buttons to search for a contact or add a phone number.

4) Tap the name of the Watch face. Then decide if you want to share all complications with or without data, or exclude one from the face. The default is the to share complications with data.

5) Tap Done.

6) Optionally, you can Create a Message and when you finish, tap Send.

Share Watch Face From Apple Watch

Share a face from iPhone

If you are putting together a face on your iPhone, you can share it from there too. Open the Watch app and do the following.

1) Select the face you want to share from the My Watch or Face Gallery tab.

2) Tap the Share button. Depending on the type of face you’re sharing, you may have an additional step. For example, if you’re sharing a Photo face, you’ll be prompted to select the photos you want to share with the face.

3) At the top of the Share sheet that displays, tap Options next to the number of complications on the face if you’d like to adjust them. You can then choose to Include with data or Include without data, depending on the complication, or Don’t include. Tap Done when you finish.

4) Choose your method of sharing and follow the prompts.

Share Watch Face From iPhone

Share a face online

You can create a link to share your Watch face online or grab the file and plop it on your server if you have your own website.

Follow the same Steps 1 through 3 above for sharing the face from your iPhone. But this time in the Share Sheet pick Save to Files and select a location.

Save a Watch Face to Files on iPhone

To get the link, press and hold the file you save and pick Share > Add People. Optionally, tap Sharing Options to adjust who can access the link. Back on the Share screen, swipe to the right of the Sharing options and choose Copy Link (tap More to display this option if necessary). This puts the link on your clipboard, ready for you to paste it where you please.

Copy a Watch Face Link from iPhone

To get the file, simply open it in the Files app where you saved it. Alternatively, you can send it to yourself via email or Messages instead of saving it to the Files app.

Use a shared Watch face

If you see a Watch face online or receive a link from a pal, you can add the face to your available options easily. On the iPhone that’s paired with your Watch, tap the link for the face and select Add to My Faces.

Add a Shared Watch Face From iPhone

Then when you open the Watch app, you should see the newly added face in that section of the My Watch tab. Tap the face to apply it to your Watch. And remember, if the face includes a complication for an app you don’t own, you’ll have the option to get the app or continue without that complication.

Wrapping it up

The ability to share Apple Watch faces is not just convenient for family members but can be a lot of fun for friends. See what you can come up with, whether a photo of you together with an Activity complication to outdo each other or the Stripes face combining your favorite colors with a Messages complication for quick communications, there are tons of possibilities!

What type of Watch face will you create and share? Take a look at how you can make a shareable custom Watch face too!