Getting WatchMaker and other watch faces onto your Android Wear watch with iOS
- Thread starter wkevinw
- Start date
Workaround to Kevin's original instructions
Many thanks to Kevin for getting me started with an Android Watch paired to my iPhone 6. I waited until reading this post before getting a (Huawei) watch precisely because I wanted to have a multitude of watch faces, not the limited faces (or square shape) of the Apple Watch. Now that I’ve successfully managed to get WatchMaker faces onto my Huawei watch, I couldn’t be happier with the watch. Thanks Kevin!
The problem I found in transferring the `BeautifulWatches’ parent folder containing the subfolders using the command prompt as written by Kevin, is that it creates a second `BeautifulWatches’ folder containing all updated watches inside a `BeautifulWatches' parent folder on the watch. Thus, when looking inside the `SDCard’ on the watch, the `BeautifulWatches’ folder can be seen, with the only sub folder being another `BeautifulWatches’ folder, which contains the subfolders.
I’m now officially tired of typing, `Beautiful Watches’.
Consequently, Watchmaker on the watch can’t see all the watches. If only the the sub folders from the Desktop are pushed to the watch, using the `push’ command as written below, the command creates the one 'BeautifulWatches' parent folder needed and places all subfolders into that folder, which is what is wanted. Not being a programmer, I tested this several times with my gear to assure myself that it works. So far, so good.
What follows, then, is my workaround from Kevin’s original instructions for transferring watch faces from an Android emulator (BlueStacks in my case) to the (Huawei) watch paired with an Iphone 6 working with Windows 10. Hopefully it works for those still not able to see all their WatchMaker faces on their watch.
After making, modifying or downloading faces in Watchmaker on the android emulator, follow instructions for AirDroid to select the subfolders within 'BeautifulWatches'' in the AirDroid windows browser, click on download - which will download the subfolders as a Zip into the Windows 'downloads' folder. Click 'show in folder'. Open 'files downloaded by Airdroid.zip'. Move the sub folders (without a 'BeautifulWatches' parent folder as it won't be necessary) to some desktop folder named anything but `Beautiful Watches’ (I name my desktop folder 'watches', for example).
Then, as Kevin wrote, “Using Windows explorer, or command prompt commands, delete the following folders: 'export', 'preview', 'preview_dim' and 'preview_mini'. Then rename 'preview_small' to 'preview_mini'.”
Connect the watch to the computer with the USB cable.
EMPTYING WATCHMAKER FACES FROM THE WATCH AND RELOADING WATCH FACES BACK
If you’ve previously put Watchmaker watch faces on your watch, successfully or not, you can see those by typing in a Windows command prompt:
'Adb -d shell ls -al /sdcard'
'Adb -d shell ls -al /sdcard/BeautifulWatches'
After the second command, you may see the second `BeautifulWatches' folder as explained above (and you've not been able to access your watch faces), or, you'll see the above sub folders if your previous watch push was successful.
Kevin wrote: “....... it's a good idea to purge your watch of all (BeautifulWatches) files before loading a changed collection from the computer back onto the watch.” So, to delete Beautiful watches from the watch, I used the following command (may be different from Kevin's):
'ADB -d shell rm -r /sdcard/BeautifulWatches'
Then reboot the watch with, 'ADB -d reboot'
To `push' the new watches to the watch from the desktop, 1st point the Windows command prompt to the folder containing your `BeautifulWatches’ subfolders, (`watches’ folder for me), example:
`cd desktop’
`cd watches’
Then push the subfolders onto the watch:
'ADB -d push . /sdcard/BeautifulWatches'
Then check the watch (I've not rebooted as it doesn't seem necessary):
To change watch faces, press down for a second or two on the watch face, you will see WatchMaker Premium with a little settings icon. Press the settings icon briefly to your WatchMaker faces. Scroll left or right to select the one you like.
Hope it works and solves problems for some who have posted. Thanks!
Many thanks to Kevin for getting me started with an Android Watch paired to my iPhone 6. I waited until reading this post before getting a (Huawei) watch precisely because I wanted to have a multitude of watch faces, not the limited faces (or square shape) of the Apple Watch. Now that I’ve successfully managed to get WatchMaker faces onto my Huawei watch, I couldn’t be happier with the watch. Thanks Kevin!
The problem I found in transferring the `BeautifulWatches’ parent folder containing the subfolders using the command prompt as written by Kevin, is that it creates a second `BeautifulWatches’ folder containing all updated watches inside a `BeautifulWatches' parent folder on the watch. Thus, when looking inside the `SDCard’ on the watch, the `BeautifulWatches’ folder can be seen, with the only sub folder being another `BeautifulWatches’ folder, which contains the subfolders.
I’m now officially tired of typing, `Beautiful Watches’.
Consequently, Watchmaker on the watch can’t see all the watches. If only the the sub folders from the Desktop are pushed to the watch, using the `push’ command as written below, the command creates the one 'BeautifulWatches' parent folder needed and places all subfolders into that folder, which is what is wanted. Not being a programmer, I tested this several times with my gear to assure myself that it works. So far, so good.
What follows, then, is my workaround from Kevin’s original instructions for transferring watch faces from an Android emulator (BlueStacks in my case) to the (Huawei) watch paired with an Iphone 6 working with Windows 10. Hopefully it works for those still not able to see all their WatchMaker faces on their watch.
After making, modifying or downloading faces in Watchmaker on the android emulator, follow instructions for AirDroid to select the subfolders within 'BeautifulWatches'' in the AirDroid windows browser, click on download - which will download the subfolders as a Zip into the Windows 'downloads' folder. Click 'show in folder'. Open 'files downloaded by Airdroid.zip'. Move the sub folders (without a 'BeautifulWatches' parent folder as it won't be necessary) to some desktop folder named anything but `Beautiful Watches’ (I name my desktop folder 'watches', for example).
Then, as Kevin wrote, “Using Windows explorer, or command prompt commands, delete the following folders: 'export', 'preview', 'preview_dim' and 'preview_mini'. Then rename 'preview_small' to 'preview_mini'.”
Connect the watch to the computer with the USB cable.
EMPTYING WATCHMAKER FACES FROM THE WATCH AND RELOADING WATCH FACES BACK
If you’ve previously put Watchmaker watch faces on your watch, successfully or not, you can see those by typing in a Windows command prompt:
'Adb -d shell ls -al /sdcard'
'Adb -d shell ls -al /sdcard/BeautifulWatches'
After the second command, you may see the second `BeautifulWatches' folder as explained above (and you've not been able to access your watch faces), or, you'll see the above sub folders if your previous watch push was successful.
Kevin wrote: “....... it's a good idea to purge your watch of all (BeautifulWatches) files before loading a changed collection from the computer back onto the watch.” So, to delete Beautiful watches from the watch, I used the following command (may be different from Kevin's):
'ADB -d shell rm -r /sdcard/BeautifulWatches'
Then reboot the watch with, 'ADB -d reboot'
To `push' the new watches to the watch from the desktop, 1st point the Windows command prompt to the folder containing your `BeautifulWatches’ subfolders, (`watches’ folder for me), example:
`cd desktop’
`cd watches’
Then push the subfolders onto the watch:
'ADB -d push . /sdcard/BeautifulWatches'
Then check the watch (I've not rebooted as it doesn't seem necessary):
To change watch faces, press down for a second or two on the watch face, you will see WatchMaker Premium with a little settings icon. Press the settings icon briefly to your WatchMaker faces. Scroll left or right to select the one you like.
Hope it works and solves problems for some who have posted. Thanks!
Question?
Okay. Here's what I've been doing for the past days.
First of first, thank you kevin and others for this amazing thread. I have an Iphone 6, and when I saw and read this thread I immediately bought the Huawei Watch. (Well of course like all of disappointed iWatch users, it's all about the watch face. It's always about that for me.)
So, by using kevin's method, I succeeded installing the watchmaker wear app to the watch. On the iPhone's android wear app, it's already there (the watchmaker face icon) and on the watch, when long pressed the face, it's there (again, the watchmaker icon) and when i selected it, it change to steel blue (default). I have to do that for the directory creation thing right?
At this point, I pulled the BeautifulWatches folder and subfolders from my friend's android phone - Mi3 (which is paired with his huawei watch) and it has different list of directory folders with kevin's stated.
In my case it's like this :
/BeautifulWatches/.temp
/BeautifulWatches/featured
/BeautifulWatches/fonts
/BeautifulWatches/fonts_bm
/BeautifulWatches/gifs
/BeautifulWatches/images
/BeautifulWatches/preview
/BeautifulWatches/preview_small
/BeautifulWatches/scripts
/BeautifulWatches/watches
It doesn't have 'maps' and 'wallpaper_bg' folder. And I changed the 'preview_small' to 'preview_mini'. The others like 'exports', 'preview_dim' etc isn't there so i can't even delete it.
First try, I checked the watch directory to see it's there
adb -d shell
cd /sdcard/BeautifulWatches
Then within directory of the /BeautifulWatches on pc, I pushed it to the watch
adb -d push . /sdcard/BeautifulWatches
Then it was pushed successfully 6131 files etc etc. So I rebooted the watch using adb -d reboot.
When I looked at the watch, long pressed the face, I can see the watchmaker premium icon, but WITH NO LITTLE SETTING GEAR ICON. This is wrong right?
So I assumed I push the subfolders to the wrong directory.
Later on I uninstalled, purge and remove all the BeautifulWatches folder within /sdcard of the watch. And try reinstalled, pushed again and purge remove blablabla again and again with different methods, still nothing. Can't change faces and no gear setting icon.
Until finally I tried to direct pull the /sdcard/BeautifulWatch from my friend's watch, it was even more confusing because it only have :
/BeautifulWatch/.temp
/BeautifulWatch/fonts
/BeautifulWatch/fonts_bm
/BeautifulWatch/images
/BeautifulWatch/scripts
/BeautifulWatch/watches
FYI, watchmaker app on my friend's watch and his Mi3 works flawlessly, it has around 300 faces, switching them all like nothing.
I tried to push that onto MY WATCH using adb push command. Again, it was succeeded but still no success changing the face. On the watch, it still doesn't have that little gear icon.
If I'm doing it right, why can't I see that little gear setting icon on the watch? Where is it for the love of GOD.......
So, the question is where did i do wrong guys? Did i missed anything? Why the folder list on my friend's phone and watch is different with kevin's?
Today I'm gonna test bcactus method. But I'm all ears for those who can help me.
Thank you.
TD.
Okay. Here's what I've been doing for the past days.
First of first, thank you kevin and others for this amazing thread. I have an Iphone 6, and when I saw and read this thread I immediately bought the Huawei Watch. (Well of course like all of disappointed iWatch users, it's all about the watch face. It's always about that for me.)
So, by using kevin's method, I succeeded installing the watchmaker wear app to the watch. On the iPhone's android wear app, it's already there (the watchmaker face icon) and on the watch, when long pressed the face, it's there (again, the watchmaker icon) and when i selected it, it change to steel blue (default). I have to do that for the directory creation thing right?
At this point, I pulled the BeautifulWatches folder and subfolders from my friend's android phone - Mi3 (which is paired with his huawei watch) and it has different list of directory folders with kevin's stated.
In my case it's like this :
/BeautifulWatches/.temp
/BeautifulWatches/featured
/BeautifulWatches/fonts
/BeautifulWatches/fonts_bm
/BeautifulWatches/gifs
/BeautifulWatches/images
/BeautifulWatches/preview
/BeautifulWatches/preview_small
/BeautifulWatches/scripts
/BeautifulWatches/watches
It doesn't have 'maps' and 'wallpaper_bg' folder. And I changed the 'preview_small' to 'preview_mini'. The others like 'exports', 'preview_dim' etc isn't there so i can't even delete it.
First try, I checked the watch directory to see it's there
adb -d shell
cd /sdcard/BeautifulWatches
Then within directory of the /BeautifulWatches on pc, I pushed it to the watch
adb -d push . /sdcard/BeautifulWatches
Then it was pushed successfully 6131 files etc etc. So I rebooted the watch using adb -d reboot.
When I looked at the watch, long pressed the face, I can see the watchmaker premium icon, but WITH NO LITTLE SETTING GEAR ICON. This is wrong right?
So I assumed I push the subfolders to the wrong directory.
Later on I uninstalled, purge and remove all the BeautifulWatches folder within /sdcard of the watch. And try reinstalled, pushed again and purge remove blablabla again and again with different methods, still nothing. Can't change faces and no gear setting icon.
Until finally I tried to direct pull the /sdcard/BeautifulWatch from my friend's watch, it was even more confusing because it only have :
/BeautifulWatch/.temp
/BeautifulWatch/fonts
/BeautifulWatch/fonts_bm
/BeautifulWatch/images
/BeautifulWatch/scripts
/BeautifulWatch/watches
FYI, watchmaker app on my friend's watch and his Mi3 works flawlessly, it has around 300 faces, switching them all like nothing.
I tried to push that onto MY WATCH using adb push command. Again, it was succeeded but still no success changing the face. On the watch, it still doesn't have that little gear icon.
If I'm doing it right, why can't I see that little gear setting icon on the watch? Where is it for the love of GOD.......
So, the question is where did i do wrong guys? Did i missed anything? Why the folder list on my friend's phone and watch is different with kevin's?
Today I'm gonna test bcactus method. But I'm all ears for those who can help me.
Thank you.
TD.
Last edited:
Hi all, I am failing to push to the watch, it is almost as if the BeautifulWatches folder isn't being found. I do have watchmaker successfully installed and managed to pull successfully but everytime I try and push, I just get the help script come up in terminal. and using adb shell ls commands I can navigate to sdcard/BeautifulWatches
So near I can almost taste it any help to get me over the line will be much appreciated
So near I can almost taste it any help to get me over the line will be much appreciated
Last edited:
ADB install problem
Hi,
Everything has worked great so far but when I go to install the wear.apk file to the watch I get
error: no package specified
above which it states: pgk: null
Any ideas on how to fix this?
Thanks!
Hi,
Everything has worked great so far but when I go to install the wear.apk file to the watch I get
error: no package specified
above which it states: pgk: null
Any ideas on how to fix this?
Thanks!
I am stuck exactly where you are. Did you get this to work or can you advise what I am doing wrong?
Problems
Good afternoon.
I was following your process to put my own Watchfaces on my Huawei Wear, but, when I get a developer on the watch, it doesn't appear on my computer. I have a Mac and I don't know if I need additional tools so the computer can read an Android device in a USB. Can you please help me with that? Do you know if I need any program or something like that to read my wear on my computer?
I'll be very grateful if you answer me
Regards
Good afternoon.
I was following your process to put my own Watchfaces on my Huawei Wear, but, when I get a developer on the watch, it doesn't appear on my computer. I have a Mac and I don't know if I need additional tools so the computer can read an Android device in a USB. Can you please help me with that? Do you know if I need any program or something like that to read my wear on my computer?
I'll be very grateful if you answer me
Regards
On a quick read of your difficulties, it MAY be that because you are pushing from a folder named `BeautifulWatches' on your computer, you may be creating a `BeautifulWatches' folder with another `BeautifulWatches' folder inside that contains all your watches. A couple of suggestions, A) make sure you delete the current `BeautifulWatches' folder and contents on the watch before pushing your updated watches, B) On your computer, move the subfolders into a folder NOT named `BeautifulWatches' (I use `watches' on my desktop), then, in the command prompt, point to that folder by typing `cd desktop', then `cd watches' (your folder name); when you use the push command `adb -d push . /sdcard/BeautifulWatches', it neatly creates a folder named `BeautifulWatches' on the watch and puts the subfolders (from your computers folder) inside it, where they should be. Reboot the watch and see if it works.
Hopefully that works! If so, you'll start loving that Huawei watch as I do.
Installation
Can you create this into an application. I'm terrible with adb and I'm using an iPhone 7. Stupid Samsung recall, I loved my watch faces on my Moto 360 2nd gen.
Can you create this into an application. I'm terrible with adb and I'm using an iPhone 7. Stupid Samsung recall, I loved my watch faces on my Moto 360 2nd gen.
It's not really as hard as it looks, just work with it once or twice and you will get the gist. And unfortunately, adb is a command line process, so you can't easily create an app. But you can create a .cmd batch file in windows with all the commands and then run the .cmd file to repeat the adb commands. Here is an example I use to reload my applications if I reset the watch:
----- installapk.cmd -----
adb -d install -i com.phonephreak.extendedlight com.phonephreak.extendedlight.apk
adb -d install -i com.pskstudio.elegancewatchfacefree com.pskstudio.elegancewatchfacefree.apk
adb -d install -i jh.dev4android.eaglewatchface jh.dev4android.eaglewatchface.apk
adb -d install -i martymcfly68.mickeymouseanimated martymcfly68.mickeymouseanimated.apk
adb -d install -i slide.watchFrenzy.premium slide.watchFrenzy.premium.apk
adb -d install -i rocketstartups.wearcalculator rocketstartups.wearcalculator.apk
adb -d install -i rocketstartups.weartaskmanager rocketstartups.weartaskmanager.apk
adb -d install -i org.videolan.vlc org.videolan.vlc.apk
adb -d install -i com.trainday.androidapps.beelink com.trainday.androidapps.beelink.apk
adb -d install -i com.google.android.apps.maps com.google.android.apps.maps.apk
adb -d install -i com.jeremysteckling.facerrel com.jeremysteckling.facerrel.apk
adb -d install -i com.estrongs.android.pop com.estrongs.android.pop.apk
adb -d install -i wearablesoftware.wearcalendar wearablesoftware.wearcalendar.apk
I put this file in the same folder that I have my .apk's for sideloading onto the watch. Similarly you could create a file with the commands to erase and reload the BeautifulWatches folder structure.
Kevin
Good afternoon! I am trying to connect the MacBook and Huawei Watch. But it turns out. What is the problem?
Terminal
Last login: Wed Nov 9 20:39:59 on ttys000
MacBook-Pro-Igor:~ igorkudryavtsev$ sudo ~/downloads/android/ADB-Install-Mac.sh
This will install ADB and Fastboot on your computer.
Root Permissions required. Please type your password.
Changed directory to /Users/igorkudryavtsev/downloads/android
Moving ADB
mv: rename Mac/adb_Mac to /usr/bin/adb: Operation not permitted
ADB Moved to /usr/bin/adb
moving Fastboot
mv: rename Mac/fastboot_Mac to /usr/bin/fastboot: Operation not permitted
Fastboot moved to /usr/bin/fastboot
You may now run Android Debug Bridge and Fastboot commands
Have a nice day.
MacBook-Pro-Igor:~ igorkudryavtsev$ adb devices
-bash: adb: command not found
MacBook-Pro-Igor:~ igorkudryavtsev$
Terminal
Last login: Wed Nov 9 20:39:59 on ttys000
MacBook-Pro-Igor:~ igorkudryavtsev$ sudo ~/downloads/android/ADB-Install-Mac.sh
This will install ADB and Fastboot on your computer.
Root Permissions required. Please type your password.
Changed directory to /Users/igorkudryavtsev/downloads/android
Moving ADB
mv: rename Mac/adb_Mac to /usr/bin/adb: Operation not permitted
ADB Moved to /usr/bin/adb
moving Fastboot
mv: rename Mac/fastboot_Mac to /usr/bin/fastboot: Operation not permitted
Fastboot moved to /usr/bin/fastboot
You may now run Android Debug Bridge and Fastboot commands
Have a nice day.
MacBook-Pro-Igor:~ igorkudryavtsev$ adb devices
-bash: adb: command not found
MacBook-Pro-Igor:~ igorkudryavtsev$
Last edited:
Thanks Kevin and everyone for this amazing tutorial! I love Apple products but went with the Huawei too for the style factor.
Before getting my watch, I prepared and downloaded everything I could, following the steps you outlined. I run macOS and I got the apks for Watchmaker and Staylit, even downloaded all the watchfaces I wanted and fixed the directories.
But when I finally got my watch today and started installing everything I prepped, I am getting stuck on the first part! Every time I try to adb install the APKs, terminal keeps saying "-bash: ./adb: No such file or directory"
I tried restarting, made sure I have the drivers, adb tools, etc. Tried various sources for APKs as well, to no avail. I already allowed adb debugging on my watch, and set it to allow a connection with my computer.
Any one can help with this? Thank you!
Before getting my watch, I prepared and downloaded everything I could, following the steps you outlined. I run macOS and I got the apks for Watchmaker and Staylit, even downloaded all the watchfaces I wanted and fixed the directories.
But when I finally got my watch today and started installing everything I prepped, I am getting stuck on the first part! Every time I try to adb install the APKs, terminal keeps saying "-bash: ./adb: No such file or directory"
I tried restarting, made sure I have the drivers, adb tools, etc. Tried various sources for APKs as well, to no avail. I already allowed adb debugging on my watch, and set it to allow a connection with my computer.
Any one can help with this? Thank you!
I was stuck on the push part for the longest time as well. This is what I did (on a Mac):
I followed bcactus' steps, up to the push part. I did notice that my Huawei watch's file directory had less folders than what Kevin listed, so I deleted those folders on my mac prior to pushing. Then I went on terminal, then typed: 'cd Desktop/Android/Mac' and hit enter
Afterwards, I typed "./adb push " and then I dragged the watches folder that bcactus recommended containing my folder directories into the command prompt line on terminal. I then added a space and typed '/sdcard/BeautifulWatches' and hit enter.
Voila, it worked! I was so happy and couldn't believe that it finally worked after countless tried and headaches. Hope this helps! Thanks to everyone here with their hard work and insights.
Hi, I've followed the instructions using an old S5, and its almost worked - except when I try to change the watch face and of to Watchmaker settings I only have Steel Blue and Retrospecto - none of the others show. when doing the push I only had 9 files skipped which were all empty - 7 .tmp folders and the gifs and share folders.
I'm using Watchmaker free at the moment as I need to setup a VPN for Play store for the full version - could that be why?
Cheers
---------- Post added at 09:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:38 AM ----------
I'm using Watchmaker free at the moment as I need to setup a VPN for Play store for the full version - could that be why?
Cheers
---------- Post added at 09:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:38 AM ----------
D'oh.. had Beautiful watches folder inside Beautiful watches!!!
Cool tutorial...
That is awesome Kevin,
But is there nothing for Moto 360 2nd Gen with Iphone??????
That is awesome Kevin,
But is there nothing for Moto 360 2nd Gen with Iphone??????
Hello friends! I don't want to open a new topic, but I have a question. I have an Iphone 7 and a Moto 360 Gen 2. I wonder if there is any solutions to copy a face.watch on Moto 360 gen 2 and connect it to Iphone?
For now I am connected to the watch with my Iphone but I have only the classic watch faces from Android Wear. I know that Watchmaker is not available on iOS and if I put some watch faces from android phone on my watch, I must do a factory reset of the watch to connect to the Iphone again, so there will be no faces after that...
Any ideas?
p.s. I have no USB cable to connect my watch to pc, is a Moto 360 gen 2
Thank you!
For now I am connected to the watch with my Iphone but I have only the classic watch faces from Android Wear. I know that Watchmaker is not available on iOS and if I put some watch faces from android phone on my watch, I must do a factory reset of the watch to connect to the Iphone again, so there will be no faces after that...
Any ideas?
p.s. I have no USB cable to connect my watch to pc, is a Moto 360 gen 2
Thank you!
Last edited:
Bought an Android!! Good luck for anyone else in my shoes. Thanks apple for me going to the other side.
Make a watch with a real clock faces and a phone that works with other watch's.
-----------------------
I also have an Iphone and no android. I have ADB working right now and like to side load some faces but they all have a .watch file. Can I put the application of Facer or WatchMaker on the watch and then adb a .watch file? Need a way to make this work and I know there are a-lot of smart Tech Cats out there!! Please Help
Cant find any .APK of nice watch faces or even Rolex Mov and others!
Make a watch with a real clock faces and a phone that works with other watch's.
-----------------------
I also have an Iphone and no android. I have ADB working right now and like to side load some faces but they all have a .watch file. Can I put the application of Facer or WatchMaker on the watch and then adb a .watch file? Need a way to make this work and I know there are a-lot of smart Tech Cats out there!! Please Help
Cant find any .APK of nice watch faces or even Rolex Mov and others!
Last edited:
Can someone help me out? Got an iPhone 6 with Android Wear and a Fossil Q Marshal and would like other watchfaces etc. Is this even possible because the watch doesn't have a USB layout, just the magnet charger on the back? Can't even connect to the computer, adb keeps saying 'no devices'.
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15OK - this will be a relatively long post, but if you are interested in using more than the supplied watch faces when using your Android Wear watch with iOS, you will be (hopefully) rewarded at the end.
First, I have many Apple devices (phones, tablets, etc.), so I am comfortable in that environment. But for me buying an Apple Watch, especially a version 1 device, for over $350 didn't make sense to me, especially since I don't think I ever spent more than about $40 for a watch. Ever! Even for my Casio scientific watch back in the day. But I have always worn a watch and I use them for what they were originally intended - letting me know what time it is without having to pull out my phone. When the Apple watch did come out, I was intrigued, not about most of the functions, but because of the ability to design and change watch faces. But the Apple watch has very little flexibility here. So then I started to explore the other smart watch offerings, and found the Android Wear eco-system. And the customizations were and still are very open. With sites like WatchaWear and Facerepo, you can see that the sky is pretty much the limit. And with Facer and WatchMaker you can make extensive designs even if you can't develop Android Wear apps. But again, the early devices were almost as expensive as the Apple watch and also very large (I have moderate size wrists). That was the other thing I think Apple got right - two different sizes. But for round two of the Android Wear devices we see that the Moto 360 V2 and the ASUS Zenwatch 2 now come in two sizes. And both are quite reasonably priced, especially the ASUS offerings. I am not a fan of the flat tire on the MOTO's for aesthetic reasons. But for Black Friday the ASUS could be had for as little as $129, so I took the plunge. For a stainless steel Apple watch I would have paid over $550, plus I got a nice watch band for under $25 which would have cost me at least $50 on the Apple side, up to $149 for a nice metal band. So we are looking at $155 vs. up to $700 - quite a difference. Yes - I did spend an additional $40 as I had no other Android devices, but that was for the functionality of making beautiful watch faces. Since then I have learned about another option - AMIDuOS - an Android emulator. WatchMaker and Google Play work just fine in this emulator, and it is only $15 for the Lollipop (5.0.1) version.
I had done a reasonable amount of research and knew about some of the issues of working with the Android Wear offering while using iOS, so I purchased a cheap ($40) no contract phone (see tip above about AMIDuOS as another option) to set up the watch and run WatchMaker to design/modify watch faces. And with Android Wear now supporting connectivity over WiFi, I figured I could take the Android phone aroung to the places I visit most often just one (you need the phone to pair the watch to WiFi if it is protected and requires a passphrase), and then I could leave it home after that. And I really didn't care about most of the other functionality - I just wanted to be able to swap watch faces for different environments.
So I purchased WatchMaker premium from the Google Play store and away we went. I prepared may different watch faces and downloaded them to the watch and we were all set.
But there were a few functions that were nice to do from the watch when paired to the phone, and when I was in the car most of the time I would lose connectivity unless I bothered to set my iOS phone to tether, and even then I wouldn't get any notifications on the watch about my calendar events, messages or emails. And as it turns out some of those are quite nice to have on the watch.
So I looked around to see if there was any way to make WatchMkaer faces available by somehow allowing WatchMaker to run on the watch when paired to an iPhone. So after a couple of weeks and some hints and tips from the "Android Wear and iOS connectivity" thread, I have come up with a guide to allow you to run WatchMaker on the watch and select as many faces as you care to download. I will also explain how to get other watch faces that are available to run on the watch.
Kevin7The process (continued)
You will need an Android device to run WatchMaker on, and almost all other watch face apps. You can buy just about any Android phone that runs at least KitKat (4.4). I am not sure if it runs on Android tablets. You can also use the AMIDuOS emulator on Windows or the Andy emulator on Windows or Mac (I haven't actually tried the Windows version, but I have tested the Mac version and it works fine,). Make sure the Google Play Store app is installed on your device. Then purchase WatchMaker premium and install it. Then, if you want to control how long you watch face stays in the "bright" mode, purchase and install StayLit. (Note - I have no affiliation with any of these companies - just think their apps are what you need to make the most of using your watch as a watch).
Now apparently the apps that have companions that run on the watch automatically try to download the watch app (.apk files) that are included in their .apk file. So we need to extract those .apk's from the main app. I used a free program called AirDroid on the phone. You then open up a browser on your computer that's on the same network as your android phone and browse to the address listed in the AirDroid app. Then browse the Apps, and you should see both WatchMaker and StayLit. On your browser a down arrow will appear as you hover to the right of the app. Click on it - this will download the main .apk file. Save both of these to some folder on your PC. If you are using AMIDuOS, the process is just slightly different. You will need to put the emulator in Developer mode. You click on the Settings app, scroll down to the About Phone, and click on that. Then, as with the watch, click on the Build Number at the bottom 7 times until it says that you are a developer. This will add a new option to the settings - Developer options. Look for the USB debugging option in the Debugging section, and enable it. After that, you now need to open a command prompt. Make sure you have installed the Android SDK tools. Now, type ADB forward tcp:8888 tcp:8888. Do this until you don't get any errors. Now you can bring up AirDroid on the emulator. Then in a browser, you can open a session to http://localhost:8888. This will allow you to use AirDroid to download the .apk files from the emulator.
Now, open those .apk's with WinZip or 7Zip or equivalent. Inside each one, look inside sdk/raw. There will be another .apk with wear or wearable. Extract those files - you will be "sideloading" those into the watch.
Open a command prompt, and navigate to where you stored the wear .apk files.
First, type: ADB -d devices - you should get back a list with your watch serial number. If not, search the web for solutions.
To install WatchMaker, type: ADB -d install -i slide.watchFrenzy.premium android_wear_micro_apk.apk
And again, if you don't get Success - search the web for solutions.
If you purchased StayLit. install it with: ADB -d install -i com.phonephreak.extendedlight wearable_app.apk
At this point, if you check your Android Wear app on your iPhone, you should see WatchMaker Premium in gray available under watch faces. We're almost there. If you now go to the watch and press the middle of the face, you can select new faces - one of them should be the red WatchMaker Premium selection. If you select that, you should get the default Steel Blue face.
You can change how long the screen stays bright by swiping from right to left at 3 o'clock, then scroll down to the StayLit app. Tap on it and it will give you many choices - select the one you want by tapping on it and you're set (I like 30 seconds - you can always cover it with your hand if you want to manually dim it). But you need it to be longer than the default 5 seconds if you want to enjoy your selection of faces or for others to notice - after all, isn't that the reason we care about watch brands or faces? Otherwise, we could all wear an ugly cheapo and be done.
OK - now all that's left is to download our WatchMaker creations.5The process
First, you will need a smartwatch with a USB interface running Android Wear 5.1 or later.
Next, download the Android Wear app from the App Store (requires at least iOS 8.4 or above). Then follow the setup process for pairing your watch and iPhone.
After that, try out a few of the supplied watch faces and make sure everything is working correctly.
Now, on the watch, get to the Settings app (right-to-left swipe at 3 o'clock) and tap on it to open. You need to scroll all the way down to the About entry. Tap on that, then scroll down until you see the Build Number. Tap on that 7 times and you will become a "developer". Now swipe right, and you will see a new option under About - Developer options. Tap on that, then scroll down to ADB debugging. It will probably be disabled. Tap on it and it will give you a confirmation prompt - click on the green checkmark to accept. Now you watch is ready to be connected to your computer.
My environment is Windows (7 and 10), but I understand this is very similar on OS/X.
Search the internet for and download the Android SDK.
Install it, making sure you select the USB drivers - especially for Windows 7 (Windows 10 seemed to find them automatically).
I highly recommend adding the ...sdk/tools and ...sdk/platform-tools to your system PATH environment variable (search the internet for examples on how to do this).
Now, with Device Manager open, attach your watch to your computer with your USB cable. If the device doesn't show any errors in device manager, you are all set. If you get the yellow triangle indicating the driver wasn't installed, you will need to search the internet for solutions to this problem. I don't think you need to do any of this stuff on OS/X.
At some point after you have everything connected properly, you will get a prompt on the watch for permission to connect to your computer. I would suggest the option which says to always trust this connection so you won't continue to get prompted.
OK - we now have everything we need (almost) to start installing WatchMaker and other watch faces.5Process - last step
The simple version:
The WatchMaker folder structure on the watch is very close to the structure on the design (host Android phone or emulator) device. Here is the structure on the host:
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/,temp
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/export
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/featured
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/fonts
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/fonts_bm
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/gifs
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/images
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/maps
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/preview
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/preview_dim
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/preview_mini
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/preview_small
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/scripts
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/share
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/wallpaper_bg
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/watches
and on the watch:
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/,temp
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/featured
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/fonts
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/fonts_bm
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/gifs
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/images
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/maps
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/preview_mini
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/scripts
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/wallpaper_bg
/sdcard/BeautifulWatches/watches
Case and spelling is extremely important - if any on the watch are not correct WatchMaker on the watch will not work correctly.
The contents of all of the folders on the watch is the same as that on the host with one exception - the .../preview_mini on the watch are closest to preview_small on the host.
So the short version is after getting the .apk file loaded onto the watch, just replicate the host folder structure onto the watch, minus the export, preview, preview_dim, preview_mini and share folders and renaming preview_small to preview_mini.
The detailed version:
OK - now this is the complicated part. After loading and selecting WatchMaker on the watch, it will create a directory structure /sdcard/BeautifulWatches
First, using either an Android device or the AMIDuOS emulator, create/download/modify all the watch faces that you want to use. Scripts and the WatchMaker LUA's do work, but there are a few functions that can't be used on iOS - basically anything obtained from the phone; so no weather status, no phone battery status, no WiFi or Bluetooth status. Watch battery status and phase of the moon do work.
Next, it turns out that the directory structure on the editing device is very close to that on the watch. So all we need to do is extract the files from the editing device, change/delete a few, and then send the modified structure back to the watch.
So open a command prompt on your computer, then navigate to a folder where we are going to mirror our structure (I recommend having the final branch being BeautifulWatches). Empty it first. Then seed it by entering: ADB -e pull /sdcard/BeautifulWatches. (The -e flag says to direct the command to the emulator). If you are using an actual Android device either use AirDroid to obtain the files or enable Developer mode on the android device and use a USB cable. If you use the USB cable, only connect either the design device or the watch at one time. In this case, use the -d option instead of the -e option - it says to use the USB device.
This will copy all of the necessary files/folders that we will need to our PC. Leave this command prompt open as we need to push our files back when we are done.
Using Windows explorer, or command prompt commands, delete the following folders: export, preview, preview_dim and preview_mini. Then rename preview_small to preview_mini.
And now, all we need to do is put the files back. Connect the watch to the computer with the USB cable. Then, from the same command prompt (or at least from a command prompt whose current directory is the ...\BeautifulWatches shadow location), type:
ADB -d push . /sdcard/BeautifulWatches
It's probably a good idea to now restart your watch. You can do this with ADB -d reboot.
Now, after "changing" watch faces by pressing down for a second or two on the watch face, you will see WatchMaker Premium with a little settings icon. Press this icon briefly and you will see all of your WatchMaker faces. Scroll left or right and select the one you wish to use.
From time to time, especially after deleting a lot of watches or making major changes to your watch face collection, it is probably a good idea to purge your watch of all the files before loading them from the computer. You can do this with a few commands from a command prompt:
ADB -d shell
cd /sdcard/BeautifulWatches/
rm -rf *
rm -rf .*
exit
Then push back your shadow folder and reboot your watch..
Kevin4Other watch faces
If you wish to install other watch faces that come packaged as .apk files, if they are installed on the Android phone (such as the animated Mickey watch face app) you can use basically the same process as the WatchMaker or StayLit app extraction. Install the app on your phone, download the .apk file, look inside for res/raw and see if there's another wear .apk file in there. Then just use the ADB install example_wear_apk.apk command to load the watch portion into your watch (the -i option isn't required and I just included it before because I happened to know their names). If you care you can use the command ADB shell PM list packages to get a list of packages installed before installing a new one, look for the one that wasn't there before, ADB uninstall by that service name, and then re-install using the -i xxxxxxxxx option.
If the .apk is already the wear .apk, just use the ADB install command to install it directly.
Kevin
