Apple Watch may soon get more watch faces from third-party developers

NEW DELHI: It looks like Apple is opening its ecosystem gates further for third-party Apple Watch (watchOS) developers. The firm that is usually known to keep its software platforms rather closed, has not yet made any public announcement but seems to have given a hint about third-party watch faces coming in future. The hint, as revealed by 9to5Mac, was spotted in watchOS 4.3.1 codes.

It is worth adding that for now Apple is the only one who can provide watch faces in its watchOS devices. Disney and Pixar are a few exceptions.

As mentioned in the report, a long message is found inside one of the components in NanoTimeKit framework, which is responsible for watch faces. The message says “This is where the 3rd party face config bundle generation would happen.” This also confirms that Apple has not yet implemented this feature in watchOS but it sure is planning to make it happen in future.




The new ability for third-party developers is said to arrive in the next major version of watchOS, probably watchOS 5. The new version is likely to arrive at the upcoming WWDC 2018 conference. The conference meant for developers will be taking place from June 4 through June 8. Apple will be holding the event at the McEnery Convention Center, San Jose, US.

Apple Watch came into the news late last month as well when noted KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the upcoming Apple ‘Watch Series 4’ will have larger display along with better health monitoring. The new wearable device is also said to feature a “15% larger display and a more trendy form factor design.”

In the last couple of years, Apple has been dominating the smartwatch space. It has been reported that Apple could end up selling about 22-24 million Apple Watch units in 2018.