You just spent five hundred bucks on a Fenix or a Forerunner. It’s a beast of a machine. But let’s be real—the stock watch faces Garmin ships are usually "fine" at best and "clunky" at worst. They’re functional, sure. You get your steps and your heart rate in that classic, jagged Garmin font. But it doesn't feel like yours. That is why the Garmin Connect IQ Store watch faces exist. It is the wild west of data visualization.
Most people open the app, get overwhelmed by 5,000 options, download something called "Ultra Sport Pro," and then wonder why their battery died in two days.
I've spent years digging through the store. I've seen the masterpieces and the total junk. To actually get value out of your Garmin, you have to understand that a watch face isn't just an aesthetic choice; it’s a data strategy. If you choose wrong, you're just squinting at tiny numbers while your battery drains faster than a phone in a blizzard.
The Battery Drain Myth vs. Reality
Let's address the elephant in the room. Does a custom face kill your battery?
The answer is: sort of.
Garmin’s native faces are optimized at the code level. They use a system called "partial updates" to refresh only the seconds every second, while the rest of the screen stays static. When you grab something from the Garmin Connect IQ Store watch faces library, you’re running third-party code. If the developer was lazy, that code is constantly pinging the processor.
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If you want your watch to last two weeks, look for faces that mention "High Power Mode" or "AOD Optimization." Avoid faces that are constantly calculating complex weather trends or GPS-based sun positions every single second. Honestly, do you really need to know the exact millisecond of sunset while you're sitting in a windowless office? Probably not.
I’ve found that the best developers—guys like MHR or SHN—actually build in "power saving" toggles. These let you turn off the heart rate sensor on the watch face itself, which is a massive win for longevity.
Why "Big Data" Faces Are Actually Terrible for Most People
There’s this trend on the store right now for "Data Heavy" faces. You know the ones. They look like the cockpit of a Boeing 747.
They show:
- Body Battery
- Stress Levels
- Moon Phase
- Weekly Running Distance
- Altitude Trend
- Next Calendar Event
- Humidity
It’s too much.
When you’re mid-run or just glancing at your wrist during a meeting, you can’t actually read any of that. Your brain takes about 200 milliseconds to process a simple analog clock. It takes nearly three full seconds to find a specific "Body Battery" percentage buried in a sea of twenty other icons.
Real experts look for hierarchy. A good Garmin Connect IQ Store watch face uses font size and color to tell you what matters. Your heart rate should be bigger than your step count if you're a fitness junkie. Your "Time to Recovery" should be front and center if you're overtraining.
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Look at the "Glance" style faces. They’re popular for a reason. They mimic the new Garmin UI found on the 255/265 and 955/965 series. They use clean lines. They don't try to be "cool." They just try to be legible.
The Pay-to-Play Problem
You’re going to see a lot of "Payment Required" or "Pro Version" tags. This confuses people. The Connect IQ store doesn't have a native payment system like the Apple App Store.
Instead, developers use third-party services like KiezelPay.
Basically, you download the face, and after an hour, a giant "TRIAL EXPIRED" code appears on your wrist. You have to go to a website, enter a code, and pay two or three dollars.
Is it worth it? Often, yes.
Free faces are great, but they’re usually passion projects that get abandoned. When Garmin releases a firmware update that breaks everything—which happens more than they’d like to admit—the "Pro" developers are the ones who actually push an update. If you find a face you love, just pay the three bucks. It’s less than a coffee, and it keeps the developer from deleting the project out of frustration.
The Weather Bug That Everyone Complains About
If you look at the reviews for almost any Garmin Connect IQ Store watch faces, you'll see a one-star review saying: "Weather doesn't work! Junk!"
Here is the secret: It’s almost never the watch face's fault.
Garmin has a weird way of handling weather data. It requires the Connect app to be running in the background on your phone, and it needs a recent GPS lock. If you haven't started an outdoor activity in three days, the watch has no idea where you are, so it stops showing the temperature.
Some faces use OpenWeatherMap instead of Garmin Weather. These require an "API Key." It sounds techy and annoying because it is. You have to go to a website, sign up for a free account, copy a long string of random letters, and paste it into the Garmin Connect IQ settings on your phone.
If you want weather that actually works without the headache, stick to faces that specifically say "Uses Garmin Weather." It’s more seamless, even if it’s slightly less accurate than professional meteorological data.
Designing Your Own (Without Being a Coder)
Most people don't realize Garmin released a tool called "Watch Face Builder." It’s not an app; it’s a web-based tool.
If you’re picky—like, "I want my steps on the left but only in a specific shade of teal" picky—this is your best bet. You can drag and drop elements. You can choose your fonts. It’s remarkably powerful.
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The downside? It’s a rabbit hole. You’ll spend four hours moving a battery icon three pixels to the right.
But it solves the biggest issue with the Garmin Connect IQ Store watch faces: the clutter. You can build a face that has exactly three things: Time, Date, and Training Readiness. Nothing else. No distractions.
Aesthetics vs. Functionality on MIP vs. AMOLED Screens
This is where the community is currently split.
If you have a Fenix or an Enduro with a Memory-in-Pixel (MIP) display, you need high contrast. White backgrounds with black text actually look better in direct sunlight. Dark backgrounds can look "washed out" indoors.
However, if you have an Epix or a Venu with an AMOLED screen, everything changes.
On AMOLED, black pixels are literally turned off. They consume zero power. So, for these watches, you want a "True Black" background. This isn't just about looking sleek; it’s a literal battery-saving technique. A bright, colorful watch face on an Epix will nukes the battery in a fraction of the time a dark one would.
Also, watch out for "Screen Burn-in." Modern Garmins have protections against this, but a well-designed AMOLED face will subtly shift the pixels every few minutes so the "Always On Display" doesn't ghost into the hardware.
How to Curate Your Experience
Don't just download the "Top Rated" list. Those are usually the oldest faces that have accumulated likes over five years. They might not even be optimized for the latest sensors like the Elevate Gen 5 heart rate monitor.
Instead, filter by "Recent." Look for developers like Renato de Paiva or Frink_Work. These guys are building for the modern Garmin ecosystem. They understand that we want "Body Battery" and "Recovery Time" integrated into the design, not just basic step counters.
Actionable Steps for a Better Wrist Experience
- Check your "Glanceable" Needs: Spend one day noticing how often you actually look at your watch. If it's just for the time, go for an analog "clean" face. If you’re checking it for notifications, prioritize faces with a clear "Unread Notification" icon.
- The "API Key" Ritual: If you choose a face that requires an OpenWeatherMap key, do it on a desktop computer. Trying to copy-paste a 32-character hex code on a smartphone is a recipe for a bad afternoon.
- Audit Your Battery: Install a new face and check your battery percentage. Check it again 24 hours later. If you lost more than 10-15% (on a non-AMOLED watch), that face is poorly coded. Delete it. There are thousands more.
- Manage via Computer: Use the Garmin Express desktop app to manage your Garmin Connect IQ Store watch faces. The mobile app is notoriously slow and prone to "Sync Failed" errors. The desktop version is rock solid.
- Less is More: Try a "Minimalist" face for 48 hours. You’ll be surprised how much less stressed you feel when your watch isn't constantly screaming that you've only hit 40% of your step goal by noon.
The store is a tool. Use it to make the watch serve you, rather than you serving the data. Your Garmin is a tool for performance, and the right face is the dashboard that makes that performance possible. Find something that balances the raw data of the sensors with the simple reality that, at the end of the day, it's still just a watch.
Choose a face that looks as good in a coffee shop as it does on a muddy trail. They exist; you just have to stop looking at the "Most Popular" tab and start looking at the "Most Functional" ones.