When Apple released watchOS 10 it got rid of a handy feature that Apple Watch wearers loved. This feature allowed a user to switch the watch face on his timepiece by swiping on the display. The removal of this feature seemingly upset Apple Watch owners enough that Apple felt compelled to return it to the watchOS 10.2 beta 3. This comes from an “X” subscriber @aaronp613 who posted some code strings from the beta, including one that reads “Swipe to Switch Watch Face.”
To use this feature, once you have watchOS 10.2 beta 3 installed or once Apple releases watchOS 10.2, go to Settings > Clock. From there you can set which method of changing watch faces you prefer. So if you have watchOS 10.2 beta 3 on your Apple Watch, you can return this feature. If you don’t have the beta installed, you’ll have to wait until the release of the final version of watchOS 10.2, which will be pushed out later this year.
You can set up watch faces to swipe to by going to the Watch app on your iPhone, tapping the Face Gallery tab, and creating alternate watch faces. You can make several different watch faces for various occasions, including some functional faces with plenty of complications for the workday, a more formal watch face for upcoming holiday parties, and other watch faces for other events, including your workouts.
With a quick swipe, you can change your watch face to have a watch to fit any occasion without having to own more than on timepiece. By setting your Apple Watch to enable “Swipe to Switch Watch Face,” you can quickly go through the watch faces you’ve set up by swiping your Apple Watch display.
It isn’t clear why Apple decided to do away with the feature in the first place since swiping the screen in watchOS 10 doesn’t do anything. However, the company must have received enough feedback from Apple Watch users who are missing this quick and easy way to change the watch face on their smartwatch.
