- Old watch faces not designed with the Watch Face Format are not supported by Wear OS 5.
- Users on older Wear OS builds can keep their existing watch faces for the time being.
- Upgrading an older watch to Wear OS 5 will break compatibility with older faces.
Listen, change is hard. Whether that’s starting up at a new school, a new job, or in a new city, it’s only human to want to keep what you can of what’s familiar to you. But for Wear OS smartwatch users, change is coming whether you like it or not, and your older watch faces may end up left by the wayside.
Google announced Wear OS 5 back at Google I/O 2024 in May, and today we saw Samsung launch its Galaxy Watch 7, the first hardware we’re seeing arrive running the new software (with One UI Watch 6.0 on top). That won’t just be joined by other new smartwatches, but also by older devices receiving software updates over the months to come. And while Wear OS 5 promises to offer plenty to like, including privacy enhancements and performance improvements, it’s also going to break support for older watch faces.