I tried the new Apple Watch faces in watchOS 26 and there’s a clear winner

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New faces are coming to the Apple Watch

Apple Watch Ultra 2 face
(Image credit: Future)

The Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3 have launched and are bringing a raft of new features with them, including hypertension tracking, satellite connectivity and longer battery life.

Hardware upgrades are great, but I always get just as excited about the new watch faces that arrive with any Apple Watch launch, and there are four coming to the Apple Watch Ultra with watchOS 26.

One of those is a Hermès exclusive, but I’ve tested the other three faces using the watchOS 26 beta on an Apple Watch Ultra 2, and I have a lot of thoughts on them, with Waypoint being the standout of the trio in my view.

Waypoint

Image 1 of 2
Apple Watch Ultra 2 face
(Image credit: Future)

This is an Ultra-only watch face, which is a shame for those using a Series watch as it’s the best of the new faces. It’s a data rich face that shows where you are in relation to places you’ve saved, which rotate around the watch face on a ring.

It almost reminds me of the Weasley clock from Harry Potter, which showed the location of the various Weasleys, but instead shows places and, you know, isn’t magic.

At the moment the face is a little redundant for me as I’m not traveling, though dropping a pin to show where I parked the car is handy, but the Waypoint face makes me want to go camping in particular, just so I can log all sorts of useful spots to make navigation a little easier.

You can customize four complications on the face, including the big circle in the corner, which you can have on the right or left or get rid of entirely.

It’s the most useful and attractive of the new watch faces in my opinion, and the only one I’d consider swapping out my default pick of Modular Ultra for.

Flow

Apple Watch Ultra 2 face

(Image credit: Future)

Flow is a simple watch face that just shows the time in big numbers, in a similar vein to faceas like Flux or Numerals Duo. You can decide if you want a background and also pick the color on the face, but you can’t add complications.

The liquid effect on the face is quite interesting and responds to your movements when the watch face is activated. It really leans into the Liquid Glass features of watchOS 26 in general, but I don’t like the lack of data you can show on the Flow face, and if I wanted a simple face to show the time I prefer the look of the Flux face myself.

Exactograph

Image 1 of 2
Apple Watch Ultra 2 face
(Image credit: Future)

This a modern take on a regulator watch that shows you hours, minutes and seconds separately to provide more exact time. You can customize the face to show the time in rings or on lines, and if you have rings you can pick four complications for the corners.

When you have the time showing on lines this looks cool, though the speed at which the seconds fly by is a little disconcerting. The three rings don't look great in my opinion though, because you have two rings with the same 0-60 dial for minutes and seconds.

It’s quite a busy face in general and since my preferred version of it doesn’t allow for complications, it’s not one I expect to use a lot myself.

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Nick Harris-Fry
Nick Harris-Fry
Senior Writer

Nick Harris-Fry is an experienced health and fitness journalist, writing professionally since 2012. He spent nine years working on the Coach magazine and website before moving to the fitness team at Tom’s Guide in 2024. Nick is a keen runner and also the founder of YouTube channel The Run Testers, which specialises in reviewing running shoes, watches, headphones and other gear.


Nick ran his first marathon in 2016 and became obsessed with the sport. He now has PBs of 2hr 25min for the marathon and 15min 30sec for 5K. Nick is also a qualified Run Leader in the UK.


Nick is an established expert in the fitness area and along with writing for many publications, including Live Science, Expert Reviews, Wareable, Coach and Get Sweat Go, he has been quoted on The Guardian and The Independent.

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