Apple quietly got rid of four Watch faces in watchOS 11, and furious users want them back

Absent faces include an original icon from the first-generation

News By Stephen Warwick published 20 September 2024

Apple this week released its watchOS 11 software to the public, and the surprise absence of several old Watch faces has got enthusiasts up in arms over their removal. 

Users noticed the move earlier this week after watchOS 11 rolled on Monday for all of the best Apple Watch models. One poster on Reddit noted that the Chronograph and Explorer Watch faces had been removed, with commenters quickly pointing out that Numerals had also been removed, along with the Siri face. 

"I'm super disappointed that they've taken away both the Explorer and the original Chronograph faces," the user lamented. "These were my two favorite, and quite a bit more functional than most of the new faces that have been introduced over the last couple of years." 

watchOS 11 arrives with a slew of new health and fitness features, but there was the expected sprinkling of new Watch faces too. Apple has updated the Photos face, which now features AI-powered recommendations to give you the best results possible. There's also a new Flux face that takes advantage of the new 1Hz display of the Apple Watch Series 10, and a new Reflections face to complement the finish of the new titanium version. 

These news faces don't seem to be landing with enthusiasts though, who are more concerned about getting some of their old favorites back. In fact, users in the Apple Watch subreddit are filling in feedback at Apple.com, asking for the return of the removed faces. 

watchOS 11 strikes a cruel blow

There doesn't seem to be any technical or functional reason as to why Apple would remove these Watch faces. So it's likely that Apple has made this shift to refresh and enhance the overall aesthetic and design language of watchOS, which is certainly more artsy and abstract than it used to be. 

The removal of the Chronograph face seems to have especially irked some users, given that it was one of the original faces that debuted when the Apple Watch was launched in 2014. 

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