8 Apple Watch complications for your watch face

The Apple Watch is one of the most versatile smartwatches currently on the market, and that is due in no small part to the wide array of customization options available to make any given Apple Watch fit your daily needs. One of the most robust customization features at your disposal for making your Apple Watch more personal is complications.

Complications are essentially widgets for your watch face. The kinds of complications you can place depend on the watch face you’re using. Generally speaking, there are three variants of any complication: a smaller sub-dial complication, a slightly larger corner complication, and an even larger center screen complication. The complications available to you generally change depending on the apps you have on your iPhone, as well as the model of Apple Watch you own. There are some complications that come with the Apple Watch by default. Whether it be for the sake of fun, convenience, or maybe something else entirely, there are plenty of great complications you can stick on your Apple Watch right now.

1 Weather

At-a-glance daily temps

• Where to download: Pre-installed on Apple Watch

Keeping the current temperature on your watch face can be an insanely beneficial convenience. If you’re ever wondering whether to grab a jacket on your way out of the house, a simple flick of the wrist will give you all of the information you need. If you’re wondering whether it may rain later, you can keep that info at arm’s reach as well. As for specific weather complications, the default Weather complications from Apple’s Weather app work perfectly. They can give you all of the info you want, and they look fantastic alongside any watch face in any size.

2 CARROT Weather

A little more fun with the weather

• Where to download: CARROT Weather is on the Apple App Store (free to download, but it’s $19.99 peer year for Premium).

However, if you want to have a little more fun with your weather display, one of the best available apps is CARROT Weather. CARROT Weather is a great weather app, which while good enough on its own, isn’t the true appeal of the app. CARROT Weather is also snarky, and that snarkiness carries straight into the complications on your watch face. Within the app itself on your phone, you can adjust how snarky the app will be depending on a few factors. However, to use CARROT’s watch complications, you will need to pay for CARROT Premium, which will run you $19.99 yearly.

3 WaterMinder

Stay on track for hydration

• Where to download: WaterMinder is on the Apple App Store (free to download, but $29.99 per year for Premium)

One of the greatest functionalities of the Apple Watch is the various ways it can help you stay healthy. At the very least, Apple themselves are very happy to tout the health features of the watch. If you want an extra piece of wellness help on your watch that isn’t available by default, WaterMinder is perfect to help you stay on track for hydration. As the name implies, the app helps you remember to drink your water as needed throughout the day. The various complications give you meters or rings that tick toward your daily intake goal.

4 Fitness Rings

Close your rings

• Where to download: Pre-installed on Apple Watch

On the subject of Apple’s various health functionalities, the greatest on-deck health function is the Fitness Rings. Keeping up with your rings and closing them every day can be a great way to stay active every day, and the easiest way to stay on top of your rings is to keep them right on your watch face. The good news is, that your Fitness Rings can fit in any complication size. So no matter what watch face you are using, it’s a great idea to add this complication to your watch face and try to close your rings.

5 Reminders

Stay on top of your to-dos

• Where to download: Pre-installed on Apple Watch

Apple’s Reminders app has received some much-needed improvements over the past year, and the Apple Watch complications for the Reminders app can be great for staying on top of your to-do list for the day. With the larger center-face complication, you can be shown a task on your docket for the day. Tapping into the complication will allow you to open your full list for the day, as well as tick off items.

6 Things 3

Reminders alternative

• Where to download: Things 3 is on the Apple App Store (for $9.99)

If you’re in the market for something a little more robust, or you just don’t like Apple’s Reminders app, Things 3 can be a great alternative offering, particularly for its Apple Watch complications. Whereas the complication for Reminders will show you one task from your day, Things 3 can show you three tasks on your list for your day, which can be much better for staying on top of your daily tasks. You can’t quite tick the items directly from the complication, but given that that very feature only just came to widgets on the iPhone with iOS 17, it may not be too much further out of reach.

7 HeartWatch

See your highs and lows throughout the day

• Where to download: HeartWatch is on the Apple App Store (for 5.99)

Perhaps one of the most well-known features of the Apple Watch is its built-in heart rate monitor. While the feature is impressive and can work wonders for helping to keep an eye on your heart during any number of activities, the complications for the Apple Watch’s Heart Rate app are lackluster, to say the least. The built-in complication is only able to show you your current heart rate at any given time, with you needing to tap into the app to view a chart for your heart rate throughout the day. Enter HeartWatch. HeartWatch allows you to put a complication on your watch face that will show your highs and lows throughout the day. For a large center-face complication, you’ll get an actual line graph of your heart rate over the past few hours. With a corner complication, you’ll get a gauge similar to the temperature gauge from weather apps, showing you your current rate nestled between your lowest and highest.

8 Sports Alerts

Stay up to date with your fave team

• Where to download: Sports Alerts is on the Apple App Store (free with in-app purchases)

One final complication that can be infinitely useful is Sports Alerts. Just as the name says, this complication is to help you stay on top of scores and times for various sporting events. With integration for a wide range of sports and teams, the complication is bound to be able to help you keep up to date with your favorite team no matter where you are. The complication will update with scores as a game proceeds to stay up to date with the current action, and tapping into the app will give you more details after the game has ended.

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FAQ

Q: What is an Apple Watch complication?

An Apple Watch complication is a small widget on the watch face that shows useful information or provides quick access to apps. It’s like having mini-displays for things like the date, weather, your fitness progress, or even shortcuts to your favorite apps. The idea comes from traditional watches, where “complications” meant any extra feature beyond showing the time. On the Apple Watch, they’re a handy way to get information at a glance without digging through menus.

Q: Are there other complications to try?

Yes. Don’t forget to experiment. There are plenty of apps out there that offer complications on the Apple Watch. If there’s something that would be extremely convenient for you to have present on your watch face, chances are you can. You’ll just need to explore any apps you have that already serve that purpose, and see if they offer complications for your Apple Watch. You may have complications on your watch that are waiting to be placed that you don’t even know about yet, so it’s definitely worth checking out everything available to you in your Watch app or on your watch itself.