Features available for watch faces that use Watch Face Format
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All versions of the Watch Face Format offer the following capabilities:
Style editing: Customize the watch face, including its color, background
image, and font.
Groups and complications: Group components so that you can control or
move those components with a single action. You can also handle an entire
complication as one group.
Tag expressions: Add tags with date, time, battery, step count
information, and more.
Features added in version 4
Version 4 of the Watch Face Format adds several capabilities, including the
following:
Features added in version 3
Version 3 of the Watch Face Format adds several capabilities, including the
following:
To view features from version 3 in the XML reference, check that the
Version 3 button is selected at the top of the documentation page.
Features added in version 2
Version 2 of the Watch Face Format adds several capabilities related to data
visualization, weather forecasts, and system data source types.
Highlights include the following:
- Flavors: Preset configurations for your watch face that users can
browse in a companion app.
- Goal progress complication type: Useful when users can exceed a goal
such as step count.
- Weighted elements complication type: Useful for showing discrete subsets
of data.
- Weather conditions: Show the current weather, as well as forecast
conditions for hours or days into the future.
- A new heart rate system data source for complications.
To view features from version 2 in the XML reference, check that the
Version 2 button is selected at the top of the documentation page.
Content and code samples on this page are subject to the licenses described in the Content License. Java and OpenJDK are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-05-20 UTC.
[null,null,["Last updated 2025-05-20 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Features available for watch faces that use Watch Face Format\n\nAll versions of the Watch Face Format offer the following capabilities:\n\n- **Style editing:** Customize the watch face, including its color, background\n image, and font.\n\n- **Groups and complications:** Group components so that you can control or\n move those components with a single action. You can also handle an entire\n [complication](/training/wearables/design/complications) as one group.\n\n- **Tag expressions:** Add tags with date, time, battery, step count\n information, and more.\n\nFeatures added in version 4\n---------------------------\n\nVersion 4 of the Watch Face Format adds several capabilities, including the\nfollowing:\n\n- Support for [user-selected photos](/training/wearables/wff/personalization/photos).\n- [Transitions](/training/wearables/wff/transform) when entering and exiting ambient mode.\n- Support for [color transformations](/reference/wear-os/wff/common/transform/transform#transformable) on most elements and [color tinting](/reference/wear-os/wff/user-configuration/color-configuration) on grouped elements.\n- A new [`Reference`](/reference/wear-os/wff/common/reference/reference) element that lets you single-source your transform configurations.\n\nFeatures added in version 3\n---------------------------\n\nVersion 3 of the Watch Face Format adds several capabilities, including the\nfollowing:\n\n- [Auto-sizing text](/reference/wear-os/wff/group/part/text/text).\n- More capabilities for combining graphical objects, including [blend mode](/reference/wear-os/wff/common/attributes/blend-mode).\n- Support for weighted constraints on [line elements](/reference/wear-os/wff/group/part/draw/shape/line).\n- Several additional [data sources](/reference/wear-os/wff/common/attributes/source-type), primarily related to time zones.\n\nTo view features from version 3 in the [XML reference](/reference/wear-os/wff/watch-face), check that the\n**Version 3** button is selected at the top of the documentation page.\n\nFeatures added in version 2\n---------------------------\n\nVersion 2 of the Watch Face Format adds several capabilities related to data\nvisualization, weather forecasts, and system data source types.\n\nHighlights include the following:\n\n- [Flavors](/reference/wear-os/wff/user-configuration/flavor): Preset configurations for your watch face that users can browse in a companion app.\n- **Goal progress complication type:** Useful when users can exceed a goal such as step count.\n- **Weighted elements complication type:** Useful for showing discrete subsets of data.\n- **Weather conditions:** Show the current weather, as well as forecast conditions for hours or days into the future.\n- A new **heart rate** system data source for complications.\n\nTo view features from version 2 in the [XML reference](/reference/wear-os/wff/watch-face), check that the\n**Version 2** button is selected at the top of the documentation page."]]
