[Q] Android Wear - Themes and Watchfaces - Wear OS Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi everyone,
I have not found this info so far, so I'm asking here:
Can Android Wear Smartwatches be equipped with custom watchfaces out of the box, like the Pebble? I know that Motorola is planning something like this, but I'd like to know, whether we'd be stuck with whatever Samsung, LG or whoever made the device allows, or if we can install Watchfaces from the Playstore/other sources? This would be a big factor for different screentypes, AMOLED could benefit greatly from Black and White watchfaces for example.
The same goes for the general theme/style. Is that alway "stock" Google Now look, or can we adjust it to fit our needs and/or to conserve power on AMOLED screens?
Thanks.

You can find Google I/O prese.tation on youtube and just find Android Wear presentation. It shows watchfaces, wallpapers etc.
Short answer - Yes you can change everything.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app

skraam said:
You can find Google I/O prese.tation on youtube and just find Android Wear presentation. It shows watchfaces, wallpapers etc.
Short answer - Yes you can change everything.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks,
I was aware of the wallpapers, but not sure about watchfaces, since those are, according to what I read, the only things manufacturers (eg. Samsung, Sony et al) are allowed to customize. Now, just because Sammy is allowed to customized doesn't mean they'll allow me to customize...
I'll rewatch it and see what exactly they say...
UPDATE: I watched the presentaion again, but did not find any concrete evidence either way. Apps can have a custom UI, but I found nothing on 3rd party watchfaces.
Another question just popped up in my brain: What happens when the watch is not connected to the phone? How much functionality remains?
Also, can you actually answer a call on the watch? I'd assume not, since it has no speaker...

CommanderROR said:
Thanks,
I was aware of the wallpapers, but not sure about watchfaces, since those are, according to what I read, the only things manufacturers (eg. Samsung, Sony et al) are allowed to customize. Now, just because Sammy is allowed to customized doesn't mean they'll allow me to customize...
I'll rewatch it and see what exactly they say...
UPDATE: I watched the presentaion again, but did not find any concrete evidence either way. Apps can have a custom UI, but I found nothing on 3rd party watchfaces.
Another question just popped up in my brain: What happens when the watch is not connected to the phone? How much functionality remains?
Also, can you actually answer a call on the watch? I'd assume not, since it has no speaker...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regarding 3rd party watchfaces, that functionality isn't available today but has been promised in an upcoming release. Wear devices currently run Android 4.4W so I would assume it will roll out with L (if not before).
Just tested the functionality of the LG watch when not connected to a phone. It has limited functionality. No voice commands (because it normally uses the internet through your mobile device) but you do have access to the basics: steps, agenda, timers, timers alarms, stopwatch, etc and apps that don't require internet.
When you receive a call can answer/decline or decline & send a text (with preset and on the fly voice I think) straight from the watch but I believe you will need to use your phone or another Bluetooth device to actually talk the the person on the other end.
Hope this helps.

Thanks. That does help!

Android Wear watch face
CommanderROR said:
Hi everyone,
I have not found this info so far, so I'm asking here:
Can Android Wear Smartwatches be equipped with custom watchfaces out of the box, like the Pebble? I know that Motorola is planning something like this, but I'd like to know, whether we'd be stuck with whatever Samsung, LG or whoever made the device allows, or if we can install Watchfaces from the Playstore/other sources? This would be a big factor for different screentypes, AMOLED could benefit greatly from Black and White watchfaces for example.
The same goes for the general theme/style. Is that alway "stock" Google Now look, or can we adjust it to fit our needs and/or to conserve power on AMOLED screens?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont see any watch face yet for Android Wear but there are already watch faces in the Android Wear itself available for you..

Custom Watch Faces for Android Wear
Yes I dont see any watch faces yet hope they will have an app for editing and creating your own watch face for Android Wear..:cyclops:

senseijuan said:
Yes I dont see any watch faces yet hope they will have an app for editing and creating your own watch face for Android Wear..:cyclops:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Custom watch faces for Android Wear start appearing in the Play Store

Related

Anything similar to Pebblekit JS?

The Wear SDK doesn't appear to have anything similar to the Pebblekit JS Framework. Does this mean that any watch app that wants to access the internet (such as a simple weather app) will need a dedicated companion phone app? Or am I missing something?
The Wear emulator technically looks like Android, but on a small screen, and with a different "launcher".
You can run many existing Android apps on it. I tried one of mine, and it worked, more or less, but the UI was squished as would be expected.
This is why it's called "Android Wear". It's just an Android variant. There may be some "normal" Android APIs it won't support, and there will be watch specific APIs I'm sure.
IMO, it makes sense and is smart of Google to do this. I don't want to deal with 10 different smartwatch OS's.
NOW is the time for a bigger, richer smartwatch OS, because it's now possible to put enough ARM compute power in a watch sized device.
I presume that Google Play will support watch apps at some point. And I'm looking forward to seeing custom watch ROMs. I hope there won't be too much locking down of devices, or at least a Nexus watch or 2 that can be unlocked.
I agree with all of your comments, but I also think the cool thing about pebble is that I can write a watch app that will, for example, get weather from a JSON source on the internet without requiring the user to install another phone app. I don't think you can do that with Wear.

[Q] Watch Face Development

Any ideas how to make new watch faces for Android Wear? Doesn't seem to be something I can find in the docs/sdk.
development
sgd2z said:
Any ideas how to make new watch faces for Android Wear? Doesn't seem to be something I can find in the docs/sdk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check with the android developer website for any new sdks
I did a quick look at the files i dumped from my watch. Samsung and LG use some com.google.android.clockwork.wearable library that doesn't seem to be public. So as of now I dont think there is a way to make watch faces just yet.
Watch Face for Androidwear
sgd2z said:
Any ideas how to make new watch faces for Android Wear? Doesn't seem to be something I can find in the docs/sdk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far more on notification for Androidwear I did not see any watch face sample app for Androidwear, but if you see one please send us some info.
As for now Android Wear doesn't support Custom Watchfaces but I'm pretty sure they will include SDK and other stuff to develop them.
Android Wear is still not fully finished product and they will add more features within weeks or months.
no watch faces code
senseijuan said:
So far more on notification for Androidwear I did not see any watch face sample app for Androidwear, but if you see one please send us some info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes your right, when Android Wear was announced I was so excited about the possibility of watch faces, and tweak the UI but Google wont allow it, and the watch faces is still out of reach

Why isn't there a PC app with Wear API support?

I live in a rural area where my best chance of getting service relies on having my phone shoved in a window. However, I carry a Samsung Gear Live on a daily basis, and it's very convenient and capable.
Because of where my phone is placed, I often have no access to it, and I do a lot of things at home that don't warrant wearing a watch, not to mention it's not exactly comfortable. Because of this, I've searched for various solutions to the problem of using my phone when I'm away from the phone. Thus far, there's obvious options like AirDroid, but that's unappealing since you need to leave this tab open at all times.
Yappy was an idea, but what made it most painful is it hardly ever sent my texts, and there was no configuration or history for the notifications when it passed through. Apparently, Microsoft's Cortana can integrate with the phone to allow notifications and texting from the PC.
What just baffles me is... why is there no app or extension that just uses the Wear API? Am I missing something, or is there just nothing out there that can connect via the Wear API, to offer as many features as a Wear watch, and not need to do much more than that? I imagine a simple app that connects like that would work just fine. I do understand the case of there being Wear apps that it would wanna use, but I also know that 4.4W was very rudimentary. So rudimentary, I couldn't even install much more than a Wear Bottle Spinner app. No new watch faces, no Skype or Music integration. It's so simple, I could imagine someone using the basic 4.4W framework to create an app to connect to Android Wear.
I'm unimpressed by the existence of apps that do their own thing, like Desktop Notifications, or Yappy, that ask you to use their apps together to achieve the best results. A Chrome extension, a Windows application, something simple that just connects with Android Wear over Wi-Fi. I think it's so simple, but so capable.
Have I just not searched enough? Am I missing something, a core aspect that makes it impossible to use the API in a simple Chrome extension, or has there just been no one who wanted to do it?
UltimaXtreme said:
I live in a rural area where my best chance of getting service relies on having my phone shoved in a window. However, I carry a Samsung Gear Live on a daily basis, and it's very convenient and capable.
Because of where my phone is placed, I often have no access to it, and I do a lot of things at home that don't warrant wearing a watch, not to mention it's not exactly comfortable. Because of this, I've searched for various solutions to the problem of using my phone when I'm away from the phone. Thus far, there's obvious options like AirDroid, but that's unappealing since you need to leave this tab open at all times.
Yappy was an idea, but what made it most painful is it hardly ever sent my texts, and there was no configuration or history for the notifications when it passed through. Apparently, Microsoft's Cortana can integrate with the phone to allow notifications and texting from the PC.
What just baffles me is... why is there no app or extension that just uses the Wear API? Am I missing something, or is there just nothing out there that can connect via the Wear API, to offer as many features as a Wear watch, and not need to do much more than that? I imagine a simple app that connects like that would work just fine. I do understand the case of there being Wear apps that it would wanna use, but I also know that 4.4W was very rudimentary. So rudimentary, I couldn't even install much more than a Wear Bottle Spinner app. No new watch faces, no Skype or Music integration. It's so simple, I could imagine someone using the basic 4.4W framework to create an app to connect to Android Wear.
I'm unimpressed by the existence of apps that do their own thing, like Desktop Notifications, or Yappy, that ask you to use their apps together to achieve the best results. A Chrome extension, a Windows application, something simple that just connects with Android Wear over Wi-Fi. I think it's so simple, but so capable.
Have I just not searched enough? Am I missing something, a core aspect that makes it impossible to use the API in a simple Chrome extension, or has there just been no one who wanted to do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

apps for KW88

Hi,
I'm looking to create an app for a KW88 (KingWear) smartwatch I've purchased and awaiting it to be shipped to me.
As this smartwatch has a sim card, it may double as a phone. Therefore, I wonder, if I create a standalone app for the smartwatch (It is supposed to show the pictures of contacts and then, on press, call them), do I need to make a normal android app or an Android wear app?
(Implying it is possible to have a third party app completely standalone on the KW88 watch in the first place.....)
many thanks for the answers!
Regards,
Wattah
Wattah said:
Hi,
I'm looking to create an app for a KW88 (KingWear) smartwatch I've purchased and awaiting it to be shipped to me.
As this smartwatch has a sim card, it may double as a phone. Therefore, I wonder, if I create a standalone app for the smartwatch (It is supposed to show the pictures of contacts and then, on press, call them), do I need to make a normal android app or an Android wear app?
(Implying it is possible to have a third party app completely standalone on the KW88 watch in the first place.....)
many thanks for the answers!
Regards,
Wattah
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Careful, Wattah!
The KingWear KW88 runs on Android 5.1 and not Android Wear - which means it doesn't support apps made for Android Wear at all...
This standalone app you meantioned won't be integrated and run only if you open it manually. Native support in terms of using this app instead of the built in app will be difficult to work around. (see launcher apks on Google+ forums)
Hope that finds you well
Best regards,
Daniel
Welp, sorry, apparently I've never said anything back.
Thanks for the answer, as it actually made things a lot easier. I've now programmed an app and using a app called Always on, the app is nearly always on. What I intend to create is a skin over the KW88 device which will make it much more usable for elderly people.
What I noticed is that sometimes, using the physical button, the app will close and display the watch face. For us it is easy to navigate through the watch face, but I need it to be as easy as it can ever be and so, i need the face removed.... Is there any way to either: remove the face alltogether or have this app be incorporated in the face (it needs to be able to handle calls and use GPS)....
Royal_D said:
Careful, Wattah!
The KingWear KW88 runs on Android 5.1 and not Android Wear - which means it doesn't support apps made for Android Wear at all...
This standalone app you meantioned won't be integrated and run only if you open it manually. Native support in terms of using this app instead of the built in app will be difficult to work around. (see launcher apks on Google+ forums)
Hope that finds you well
Best regards,
Daniel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi guys, what a about use kingroot to root it and then use no frill cpu to set cpu as lower frequency to save battery, might be work?

DM98 Smartwatch Help

Hi i just got my DM98 smartwatch and had a few questions for anybody that has the answers.
1.) I got the watch synced to my phone and i wanted to be able to send and receive text messages, make and receive phone calls, and use the internet.
Question: is there an app or trick to make this possible or am i just S.O.L. ?
2.) I have read that it is possible to create your own clock faces.
Question: Is there a guide that details how to do this?
3.) Question; if i want to do anything do i need to root?
These are all the questions i have at the moment. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
Dfire87 said:
1.) I got the watch synced to my phone and i wanted to be able to send and receive text messages, make and receive phone calls, and use the internet.
Question: is there an app or trick to make this possible or am i just S.O.L. ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The trick is simple - go to the play market and look for notification software with a set of features you want.
Dfire87 said:
2.) I have read that it is possible to create your own clock faces.
Question: Is there a guide that details how to do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The guide is simple - you should write your program. It's the most flexible way. Second option - you can go to the market and look for face designer or similar application. It' limited, of course, but you can try it. Third option - get watch face that you like and go into it's folder. There you'll find some pictures and may be fonts. Now you can delete the pictures and replace them with your own (with same name, of course), then restart your watch face application and you'll see your pictures instead of removed. It's most limited customization, but it's simplest.
Here is one watch face application.
Dfire87 said:
3.) Question; if i want to do anything do i need to root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you really want to do ANYTHING you in fact need a lot of money first.
chinesesmartwatch said:
The trick is simple - go to the play market and look for notification software with a set of features you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
let me clarify a little bit.... i want to do this all through bluetooth. i have tried a bunch of apps and none see my DM98 Smartwatch as a bluetooth headset or anything of the like so i am a little confused with the explanation.
Dfire87 said:
let me clarify a little bit.... i want to do this all through bluetooth. i have tried a bunch of apps and none see my DM98 Smartwatch as a bluetooth headset or anything of the like so i am a little confused with the explanation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It shouldn't be a headset. It should be something like phone or smartphone with the ability to transfer any data. To connect to DM98 first turn bluetooth on on both devices (DM98 and your phone), next make one of the devices available to connection requests, then the device will advertise itself and second device should see it. When it's seen just touch it and select "pair". Only after this you can start your notification software and use it's communication features.
In short - you should pair devices BEFORE any third party application can do something for you. The pairing is performed using Android's bluetooth settings, no third parties should be involved.
chinesesmartwatch said:
It shouldn't be a headset. It should be something like phone or smartphone with the ability to transfer any data. To connect to DM98 first turn bluetooth on on both devices (DM98 and your phone), next make one of the devices available to connection requests, then the device will advertise itself and second device should see it. When it's seen just touch it and select "pair". Only after this you can start your notification software and use it's communication features.
In short - you should pair devices BEFORE any third party application can do something for you. The pairing is performed using Android's bluetooth settings, no third parties should be involved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
still not 100% sure what your saying. i want the dm98 smartwatch to function like the samsung gear s (the only smartwatch i have used that does what i like) as in while it bluetoothed to my phone everything (calls, sms, and data) can be pushed from my phone to the watch. it has a nano sim card slot available but i dont need this because i always have my phone on me.
Dfire87 said:
still not 100% sure what your saying. i want the dm98 smartwatch to function like the samsung gear s (the only smartwatch i have used that does what i like) as in while it bluetoothed to my phone everything (calls, sms, and data) can be pushed from my phone to the watch. it has a nano sim card slot available but i dont need this because i always have my phone on me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are talking about communication software. Chinese smart watches usually have just a subset of such functionality. It means you won't get everything pushed. But you can try to look for such software at the market. Search for key words like "notification" "smart watch" and so on.
chinesesmartwatch said:
You are talking about communication software. Chinese smart watches usually have just a subset of such functionality. It means you won't get everything pushed. But you can try to look for such software at the market. Search for key words like "notification" "smart watch" and so on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well if that if the case i have tried many different apps and nothing works so i guess i am s.o.l. and need to return the watch so i can find one that does what i want. i really like this watch though because it is running full android 4.4 with full access to any app in the play store.
Dfire87 said:
2.) I have read that it is possible to create your own clock faces.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
look here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/sm...evelopment-t3510348/post73395168#post73395168
how to install whatsapp? keep popping prompt shown security alert n can't even turn off d prompt,
Dm 98 stuck in layout mode
I was an idiot was messing with developer options and got it stuck in layout out mode can't close the down to get to main screen the edges are past the pinch to make smaller. With one button can't do hard reset it's not rooted so it doesn't show up when I plug it into computer is there any way to fix this or am I stuck with basically a brick. I really love this device. Can you guys help.
my watch not opening. when i press power button there is nothing happen. what can i do? is there anyway to reset with a button on this watch?
Hi, I have a question, how we do for have the sms on the watch via bluetooth?
Reset
Have you ever tried resetting the smartwatch there's like a small pin hole in the very back of it take something to stick in it the watch will shut off and you just restart the watch back up and that should have fixed the issue
No 1, you can try these aps to enhance your dm98
1. Watch android phone
2. Android control panel
3. Heads up notifications
4. Rotation control
[SOLVED] Still getting used to the tiny keyboard, I had a typo.
I just got the Dev C14 (Bluetooth reports it's actually the DM98) and when I try to log into the Playstore with my existing account, I get past the email and password, but then it says to "Type in the text you see here" with a prompt but I don't see the text. Can anyone help please?
Cannot connect DM98 to Galaxy S8 Active
Hello fellow smartwatch owners. I have the DM98 like the size memory WiFI but cannot get it to connect to my Samsung Galaxy S8 Active. The phone shows the watch and vis a versa, they both are paired, but when they connect the connection is lost right away. Please help if you can
Chuck
Dfire87 said:
let me clarify a little bit.... i want to do this all through bluetooth. i have tried a bunch of apps and none see my DM98 Smartwatch as a bluetooth headset or anything of the like so i am a little confused with the explanation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For downloading software use wifi. Start with Google play, etc. Best for installing software is to do it from your computer: just log in to Google Play windows.
---------- Post added at 10:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:07 AM ----------
Donkeyloco said:
Hello fellow smartwatch owners. I have the DM98 like the size memory WiFI but cannot get it to connect to my Samsung Galaxy S8 Active. The phone shows the watch and vis a versa, they both are paired, but when they connect the connection is lost right away. Please help if you can
Chuck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally I use the much more stable Droid Phone and Droid Watch, on Google Play.

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