Since watchOS 26, watch face sharing has stopped working completely. I tested the following: Sharing via CLKWatchFaceLibrary Other public APIs Sharing via iMessage In all cases, the watch face cannot be reinstalled after being shared. This issue is not limited to my app. Large third-party apps such as Facer and other major watch face platforms are also affected, which suggests this is a system-level change or bug. Everything worked correctly before watchOS 26. Has Apple officially acknowledged this issue? Is there a recommended place to report or track this bug?

On the California watchface (white) there are two complication slots. The upper one is seemingly not a standard slot and limited to a few Apple-owned apps (Calender, Time, …). It adopts the (default white) background of the watchface, so the date is neatly and cleanly displayed on the watchface backdrop. The other lower circular complication makes up for a fat black bubble now on the clean face, which doesn‘t look too pretty (of course depending on the complication…). I would like to create a complication with rather minimalistic content, and it would look great if it could also share the white background and just produce that content on top of it. While the documentation sounds like it would be possible to make the widget background adopt the context colors (which I would understand as using the same background color), for the life of me I can‘t get anything else than black for the circle. Has anyone achieved that? How would I do that? (Image below shows the temperature widget…mine would have way less and smaller content….)

When we use AppIntents to configure WidgetKit complications, the description we provide in IntentRecommendation is ignored after applying a .watchface file that includes those intent configurations. In the Watch app, under Complications, the labels shown next to each slot do not match the actual complications on the face—they appear to be the first strings returned by recommendations() rather than the selected intent configuration. Steps to Reproduce Create an AppIntent used by a WidgetKit complication (e.g., .accessoryRectangular). Provide multiple intent recommendations with distinct descriptions: struct SampleIntent: AppIntent { static var title: LocalizedStringResource = "Sample" static var description = IntentDescription("Sample data") @Parameter(title: "Mode") var mode: String static func recommendations() -> [IntentRecommendation<Self>] { [ .init(intent: .init(mode: "A"), description: "Complication A"), .init(intent: .init(mode: "B"), description: "Complication B"), .init(intent: .init(mode: "C"), description: "Complication C") ] } func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult { .result() } } Add two of these complications to a Modular Duo face (or any face that supports multiple slots), each with different intent configurations (e.g., A in one slot, B in another). Export/share the face to a .watchface file and apply it on another device. Open the Watch app → the chosen face → Complications. Expected Each slot’s label in Complications reflects the specific intent configuration on the face (e.g., “Complication A”, “Complication B”), matching what the complication actually renders. Actual The labels under Complications do not match the visible complications. Instead, the strings shown look like the first N items from recommendations(), regardless of which configurations are used in each slot. Notes The complications themselves render correctly on-watch; the issue is the names/labels displayed in the Watch app UI after applying a .watchface. Filed Feedback: FB20915258

I am looking for a way to hide sensitive information on my Complication, basically whenever the user does not actively look at it. That includes Always-On state Locked State (e.g. Watch not on wrist) I could observe differences in behavior between Preview, Simulator and Real Device. In general it looks like the .privacySensitive() modifier does not do anything for my purpose (except if the user enables redaction in settings). For the always-on state I could use @Environment(\.isLuminanceReduced) to conditionally apply .redacted(reason: .placeholder). This works most of the time. @ViewBuilder func preservePrivacy(_ isLuminanceReduced: Bool) -> some View { if isLuminanceReduced { self .redacted(reason: .placeholder) } else { self } } However I still cannot hide the information when the Watch is locked completely (via PIN-Code). I still believe that .privacySensitive() should take care of it, but apparently it doesn't. So the question is: How can I hide sensitive information when the Watch is locked? This is my widget: Text("1234") .privacySensitive() .preservePrivacy(isLuminanceReduced) .widgetCurvesContent() .widgetLabel { Text("PIN") .widgetAccentable() .foregroundStyle(.secondary) } .containerBackground(.teal.gradient, for: .widget) (I included the whole story, because possibly my whole approach is wrong.)

Hello everyone, I am facing a critical and blocking issue regarding watchface sharing on iOS/watchOS 26 and would appreciate any immediate guidance or updates from the community or Apple. The Problem: We are unable to share watchfaces containing any complications from our app in TestFlight and App Store distribution environments. The operation fails with an error indicating the app and complications are unavailable. However, the exact same functionality works perfectly in all development builds (both Debug and Release schemes). This issue was not present on iOS/watchOS 18. We have testing, including: Successfully sharing the watchface in development environments. The failure occurs consistently across TestFlight and App Store builds. Exporting the watchface configuration from a TestFlight/AppStore build on iOS, transferring it to a paired watch, and finding it still shows as "Unavailable". We suspect this may be related to the dual-target architecture of Watch apps. Any guidance or updates would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and support!

I've encountered a major issue with the iOS 18.1 RC and watchOS 11.1 RC. It appears that complications running on WidgetKit cannot be synced as .watchface to these new release candidates. The error message indicates that "the Watch Faces app and complication are not available," which is affecting all apps utilizing WidgetKit. This issue renders all WidgetKit-based complications unusable on watchOS 11.1 RC. It’s a serious problem for those of us who rely on these complications for our apps and for users expecting consistent functionality. APPLE, PLEASE FIX THIS ISSUE ASAP! This bug is a significant setback for developers and users alike, and any guidance or updates would be greatly appreciated.

We are having an issue with our app after upgrading to WatchOS 26. After some time our complication disappears from the watch face. If you go to add it back, our app shows up with an empty icon placeholder and you are unable to tap it to add it back. Sometimes restarting the watch will bring it back, sometimes it does not. Has anyone experienced this? What should we be looking at to figure out why this is happening? Or could this be a bug in WatchOS 26?

Hi everyone! My Apple Watch app has relied for years on the WKApplication.scheduleBackgroundRefresh(...) method to keep the app updated in the background. The system would reliably trigger WKApplicationDelegate.handle(_:), where I would then schedule the next refresh task (usually 15 minutes later). As stated in the documentation, as long as there is a complication on the watch face, these background tasks should run at a relatively stable frequency. However, this approach seems to have stopped working on watchOS 26. I no longer receive any WKApplicationRefreshBackgroundTask at all. Has anyone else experienced this issue?

Hello, everyone! I'm seeking some guidance on the App Store review process and technical best practices for a watchOS app. My goal is to create an app that uses HealthKit to continuously monitor a user's heart rate in the background for sessions lasting between 30 minutes and 3 hours. This app would not be a fitness or workout tracker. My primary question is about the best way to achieve this reliably while staying within the App Store Review Guidelines. Is it advisable to use the WorkoutKit framework to start a custom, non-fitness "session" for the purpose of continuous background monitoring? Are there any other recommended APIs or frameworks for this kind of background data collection on watchOS that I should be aware of? What are the key review considerations I should be mindful of, particularly regarding Guideline 4.1 (Design) and the intended use of APIs? My app's core functionality would require this kind of data for a beneficial purpose. I want to ensure my approach is technically sound and has the best chance of a successful review. Any insights or advice from developers who have experience with similar use cases would be incredibly helpful! Thank you!

I'm trying to update data displayed in my Watch Complications (WidgetKit). I have an iOS app that sends data to the Apple Watch using WCSession.default.transferUserInfo. However, the data only updates on the complications or widgets after I open the watchOS app manually. Ideally, I'd like the Watch widget/complication to reflect the updated data as soon as it's sent from the iPhone, without requiring the user to open the Watch app.

I am experiencing an issue with my watchOS app. My application updates a shared file, accessible by both the main app and the WidgetKit extension, during a WatchConnectivity background task. Following this update, I call reloadAllTimelines(). This functionality worked as expected on watchOS 10, even without Developer Mode enabled. However, after updating my device to watchOS 11.5, this API appears to be broken. My reasons for believing this API is broken are threefold: The functionality worked reliably on watchOS 10. On watchOS 11.5, enabling "WidgetKit Developer Mode" (found under Settings > Developer) resolves the issue, and my complications update correctly. When I enter watch face edit mode, the snapshot/preview displayed (which utilizes the same underlying logic as the timeline API) shows the correct data. This indicates that the data has been successfully received from the phone, and the widget is indeed reading the updated shared file. Despite this, the actual widget view during its resting phase never updates. It's worth noting that TimelineReloadPolicy functions as expected, but I cannot rely on this for my use case. My widget requires immediate updates upon receiving new data. Apple, please investigate this behavior.

When using my app's complications with either Siri Intents or App Intents after syncing .watchface files, the complications appear without names in the iOS Watch app's complication picker. This leads to complications showing as blank entries without previews in the native watch app selector. I'm using WidgetKit to create Watch complications with both approaches: AppIntents and Siri Intents. We've tried multiple approaches with our WidgetKit watch complications: Switching between IntentConfiguration and StaticConfiguration Using different naming conventions for kind strings Ensuring display names are properly set Testing across different watchOS versions But the result is always the same: after syncing .watchface files, our complications appear unnamed in the Watch app's complication picker. Is this a known limitation with .watchface syncing, a bug in the current implementation, or is there a specific requirement we're missing to maintain complication names during the sync process?

The mentioned way of setting up complications does not work. We can't create the identifier according to the guideline mentioned in the WWDC session. https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2020/10049/?time=1021 Timestamp: 17:04 Error: An attribute in the provided entity has invalid value An App ID with Identifier '.watchkitapp.complication' is not available. Please enter a different string. To clarify - the non masked identifier is not used on another property inside our dev program. Without creating the identifier our tests result in not working push notifications. Error message while testing: discarded as application was not registered. Is the way mentioned in the WWDC session still valid? BR

I just created watchOS app alone a few months ago but I wanted to make a complication extension for my Apple Watch face. Without the aid of existing iOS app

In my Watch app on watchOS 9 I was using .foregroundColor(myColour) to colour the text in a widgetLabel on a corner complication like this: let myColour: Color = functionThatReturnsAColorObjectConstructedLike Color.init(...) // green .widgetLabel { Text(myText) .foregroundColor(myColour) } It worked fine; the widget label was green. Now, in watchOS 10, I see that foregroundColor() is being deprecated in favour of foregroundStyle(), and I can use .foregroundStyle(.green), and - importantly - foregroundStyle() is only available on watchOS 10 and newer. myColour is calculated depending on some other info, so I can't just write .green, and when I use .foregroundStyle(myColour) the widget label comes out as white every time, even if I set myColour = .green. I think I have to use some sort of extension to pick the right combination, something like: extension View { func foregroundType(colour: Colour, style: any ShapeStyle) -> some THING? { if #available(watchOS 10.0, *) { return foregroundStyle(style) } else { return foregroundColor(colour) } } } // Usage let myStyle: any ShapeStyle = SOMETHING? ... .widgetLabel { Text(myText) .foregroundType(colour: myColour, style: myStyle) It doesn't work. I just can't figure out what should be returned, nor how to return it. Any ideas?

I am trying to add complication feature to my watchOS app. I need to add some keys to the Info.plist. Project Navigator - no Info.plist file (as expected) Target watchOS > Build Settings > Info.plist values. I am unable to add a value. Hovering over a row does NOT show small '+' or '-' icons. How do I edit the Info.plist?

After updating to watchOS 11.1, updates using WidgetCenter.shared.reloadAllTimelines() in WKRefreshBackgroundTask stopped working. When the background task is triggered, it gets data from the phone and updates the WidgetKit complications. But now the refresh call WidgetCenter.shared.reloadAllTimelines() does not update the complications.

Hello, since an update in September, the alarm widget on the watch face no longer counts down accurately like it used to. This is extremely frustrating for me because I used it for work so I have know exactly how much time I had in a particular circumstance. So for example, say I have an alarm set for 12:30. Before the update in September, I was able to look at my watch and know immediately that I had 24 minutes before the alarm, or look again and know it was the. 10 minutes before the alarm. Now, if I look at the watch face, it will say I have 24 minutes before the alarm, but it may actually only be 10 minutes before the alarm. I understand for some people this may be trivial, but it is really disappointing for me, and renders one of the most useful features of the Apple Watch useless to me now. I am hoping this is just an oversight during an update, so looking to see if this is something that is currently being worked on? I just installed beta 11.3 and still having the same issue. Now, if I press and hold on the watch face, like I’m going to change watch faces, then click out of it. It does update it. But it is not the same as it used to be. Thank you

Just triple-checking if it's only my Apple Watch Series 8 where the weather widget in the notification area is only showing 'WNW.' I think it's supposed to be showing the weekdays or the temperature.