Should Apple allow third-party manufacturers to create faceplates for the Apple Watch?

November 13, 2018

Since the release of the Apple Watch Series 4 and watchOS 5, the Apple Watch community has shifted its attention to the debate over whether Apple should allow third parties to create facades for the Watch.

You think it's time for Apple to let developers create their own inspirations for the Apple Watch.

With Apple Watch Series 4 and watchOS 5, Apple revealed a plethora of new "faces" that users will be able to choose from, including Infograph faces that carry information density, as well as more visually appealing options such as fire and water patterns. Despite the new designs, however, the ability to create faces for the Apple Watch remains a locked ecosystem, meaning third-party developers can't create their own designs.

In response to growing calls for support to "open up" the ability to design third-party faces, developer Steve Troughton-Smith has created an Xcode project that uses Apple's SpriteKit framework to allow the creation of custom faces for the Apple Watch. Using Troughton-Smith's tool, other developers like David Smith are presenting their own creations for the Apple Watch.

I guess the time has come when Apple should allow third-party creators to realize their own ideas for the Apple Watch. Opening up the process to developers and designers will undoubtedly result in some great ideas for the Apple Watch background. On the other hand, however, Apple would in such a case have to apply a fairly strict approval process for new implementations before they reach users.

For example, many classic watch face designs carry the trademarks from their original creator, and Apple should keep all the balances in place by ensuring that third-party creations for the Apple Watch do not infringe on any of these designs.

We've embedded some of SpriteKit's creations below and, as you can see, it's clear that developers are able to design facades for the Apple Watch that rival even Apple's early designs.

With the above opinions we present to you, we don't want in any way to insult Apple or to say that the facades it offers for the Apple Watch are not enough. However, we do feel that opening up to third-party designers would give the watch a different "vibe", something that consumers would certainly appreciate. What the company's intentions are, we don't know. What we do know is that Apple is a company that keeps its distance and is "tight" on such openings. As it has appeared so far, it hasn't done it any harm. As far as this particular case is concerned, the future will show the company's intentions.