The smart watch killer app

23 November 2022 by Lincoln Ramsay

I have come to realise that being able to create my own watch face is the killer app for a smart watch. I’m kinda sad it took me so long to get around to it.

  • Custom themed UI with fancy animations? Sure! I’ll even throw in a bonus screen that puts the animations in the foreground!
  • Fully custom display of complication data? Sure!
  • Filled all 3 fitness bars? Here’s a little animation for motivation!
  • Passive display of notifications and currently playing music? Sure!
  • Album art in the background? Sure! I’ll even throw in a bonus screen that puts the art in the foreground!
  • MediaSession won’t send over the album name? Just encode it into the album art (I also wrote the media player on my phone, so I can do this) and I’ll pull it out again to display it!
  • The watch goes to ‘ambient’ mode a little too quickly? I can fix that!

Even though my watch is ancient and slow, none of the above have caused it performance or battery issues. Since I previously had to use separate, non-passive screens to get to fitness data or music controls, it’s arguably improved the performance of the watch.

It’s also gone from a device I don’t hate, but don’t really use much except to look at the time, to something that excites me.

I’d love to share this with the world, but … there’s some legal things I should check on first. Stay tuned…