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Here Are the New Watch Faces in watchOS 9

Apple's watchOS 9 update introduces several new watch face options, including Lunar, Playtime, Metropolitan, and Astronomy, in addition to revamping several of the existing watch faces.

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Lunar depicts the relationship between the Gregorian calendar and the lunar calendar that is used in cultures that include Chinese, Islamic, and Hebrew. You can use up to four complications with this watch face.

lunar watch face watchos 9
Playtime is a fun, dynamic Apple Watch face featuring animated numbers, with the face designed in collaboration with artist Joi Fulton. Rotating the Digital Crown changes the background by animating the confetti, and the characters react if you tap on them. You can choose to have a confetti background or a solid background, but there are no complications.

playful watch face watchos 9
Metropolitan is a classic Apple Watch that changes style when the Digital crown is turned. Custom-designed numbers change in style and weight, and rotate to become pills when the wrist is down. Up to four complications can be added with the circular dial, and the colors are customizable.

metropolitan watch face
Astronomy is actually a revamped version of the original Astronomy watch face, but it has been remastered and includes a new star map and current cloud data based on your location. You can set the Earth, Moon, or Solar System as the main view, and customize font. It supports two complications, and turning the Digital Crown lets you fast forward or rewind to see the moon phase/planet location on another day.

astronomy watch face watchos 9
As for existing watch faces, watchOS 9 adds enhanced and modernized complications, along with some design updates. The Portraits face has a depth effect on more photos, including cats, dogs, and landscapes, and Chinese scripts have been added to the California and Typograph watch faces.

watchOS 9 is available on the Apple Watch series 4 and later, and it does exclude the Apple Watch Series 3.

Related Roundups: watchOS 26, watchOS 27
Related Forum: Apple Watch

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Top Rated Comments

fwmireault Avatar
53 months ago
I don’t want new watch faces Apple, I want a watch face store!
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
boss.king Avatar
53 months ago
The Playtime face looks like bowling alley animations. What were they thinking?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️ Avatar
53 months ago
Hopefully, Apple will release more watch faces when they announce the new Apple Watch 8.

The 🌍 one is my favorite one. It looks very nice and sleek.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mavis Avatar
53 months ago

Is there a non-workout watch face that lets you see digital time with seconds?
They added a digital seconds complication in watchOS 8 (only took them six years to do it. Lol). See attached image - bottom right complication is digital seconds.



Attachment Image
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheDailyApple Avatar
53 months ago

The Playtime face looks like bowling alley animations. What we’re they thinking?
I thought they looked stupid before, but now that you say that, I can’t unsee it.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AndiG Avatar
53 months ago
Stupid new watch faces, just focussed on design and marketing. Apple needs to open watch faces to developers, but it failed again.
Developers could build stunning new watchfaces or integrate important data like glucose values from a sensor - no matter if Apple has one.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)