Create and distribute a watch face on Google Play

This page describes the basic steps required to publish a watch face created using the Watch Face Format on Google Play.

You can use Play Console to create and manage multiple releases for all of your different watch faces, and update each watch face when needed.

What is a watch face? 

The Watch Face Format allows you to create custom watch faces that can represent time in original ways by taking advantage of the display and interaction capabilities of smart watch devices.

The watch face is one of the most visible ways that users can express themselves on their Wear OS devices. Creating a watch face is a great way for you to showcase your brand and ideas to users on Wear OS.

Create and distribute your watch face

To publish a watch face on Google Play, you first need to create a Google Play Developer account. If you don't have one already, follow these steps to register for a Google Play Developer account. If you already have a registered account and an app, go to Part 2: Create a comprehensive store listing.

Step 1: Create your app

Follow these steps to create and set up your app. When specifying whether you're creating an app or a game, select app.

Step 2: Create a comprehensive store listing

Creating a comprehensive store listing will make your watch face more discoverable on Google Play and helps users understand what to expect before they download it. You can manage your watch face's store listing on the Main store listing page (Grow users > Store presence > Main store listing) in Play Console.

Here are some ways in which you can ensure that you have a high-quality store listing:

• Learn how to choose a category and tags for your watch face.
• Ensure that you add preview assets to showcase your watch face.
• Understand best practices for your watch face’s store listing.

Step 3: Create a Wear OS track

As your watch face will only be available for Wear OS, you can create a Wear OS track and create a Wear OS release:

1. Open Play Console and go to the Advanced settings page (Test and release > Setup > Advanced settings).
2. Select the Form factors tab, and click Add new form factor.
3. Select Wear OS.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to:
   • Upload a Wear OS screenshot; and
   • Upload a Wear OS app bundle (.aab file) that you created (or that a tool such as Watch face studio created for you) to a test track.
5. Return to the Advanced settings page and click Manage on Wear OS.
6. Opt in to distribution and Terms of Service. 

Once you opt in and publish your app, our team will review your app to help ensure that it follows the Wear OS app quality guidelines. You can also opt out should you change your mind later.

Step 4: Publish your watch face

We recommend testing your watch face before preparing and rolling out a release on your watch face's production track to make it available to users on Google Play. To prepare and roll out a release on your watch face's production track and make it available to Google Play users:

1. Open Play Console and go to the Production page. 
2. At the top right of the page, select Wear OS only from the form factor drop-down.  
3. Click Create a new release and follow the on-screen instructions to create your production release.
   • Tip: You can visit this Help Centre article for guidance on creating a release.
4. On the 'Preview and confirm' screen, make sure that there aren't any issues with your release before rolling it out to users.
   • Note: If you see any errors, warnings or messages, click Show more to review the details and resolve any problems. 
5. If you're updating an existing watch face, select a rollout percentage.
   • If you're rolling out your first release, you won't see the option to select a rollout percentage.  
   • For details on how to target a staged rollout to specific countries, go to release app updates with staged rollouts.
6. Select Start rollout.
   • If you're rolling out your watch face's first release on production, clicking Start rollout to production will also publish your watch face to all Google Play users in the countries that you selected.

After Google has reviewed and approved your submission, your watch face will be available to users on Google Play.