How can I get the old Modular Watch face back?

Posting here is only posting to other users. Posting here is NOT to Apple. Apple changes things. They have in the past. They will in the future. But if enough people provide feedback through the link which has been posted over and over and over, maybe Apple will change their position on this. They have on occasion done so.

If you want Apple to listen to you, use the link. Otherwise, you're wasting your time complaining here.

I already did that as did countless others over the past few months. Would love just one example of Apple changing things...over a decade later of using Apple products exclusively (MacBook, iPhone, iPad and all the accessories) and I haven't seen that to be the case, myself. Maybe you know better. Having said that, my solution is to go back to my original Apple Watch that has the interface I need and return the new one I just bought and will buy a continuous O2 monitor as that is the only reason I wanted the new watch, and that will save me about $300! (Good continuous O2 monitors run in the $150 range.)

And anyway, here's a news flash: the O2 monitor on the Apple watches requires one to be perfectly motionless for 15 seconds - difficult to do when one is heaving/panting with low O2 levels. So it's back to my SE 1st gen, I'm sure I'll be happy with it for quite a while longer: I was perfectly happy with my original (used) Series 1 for years. Fortunately I'm not one to always need the latest, greatest, most up-to-datedness tech! ;-)

Hope everyone else can find a solution that works for them!

canderson16 wrote:

I have read way far past the first post and what I see is that for over 2 months with countless people posting feedback to apple, nothing has changed. Thick I’ll try the Watch app others have mentioned

Using the tools that are available is always a wise move.

canderson16 wrote:

I already did that as did countless others over the past few months. Would love just one example of Apple changing things.

The most recent example is the battery percentage on phones with the notch. Apple added it in iOS 16 after a lot of feedback. However, people didn't like the way it looked and there was more uproar. Apple changed it again.

I'd guess that the kind of change that people are asking for in the Modular face is exactly the kind of change that Apple is most likely to make. They aren't going to, for example, stop requiring 2FA even though people have asked for that.

I don't think he's refering to changes in general. In fact, your comment makes the point @canderson16 is making...

Apple will change things because they feel like it or because it's "new" and "cool" causing a user interface problem for many people, and then they rarely change it back. As if they always know better.

I tried WatchSmith as suggested above and it's world time froze today. I use this all day at work, so I had to go back to the microscopic Apple complication with it's microscopic little sun and moon, and reading glasses...

My comment was that Apple changes things. They always have and they always will. They suggested in all these years, they didn't recall changes. I answered the question as I believe it was framed. I could be wrong however.

If we want to limit it to things Apple changed, then changed after user complaints a great example would be how messages are deleted on iPhone when iOS 16 was released. When iOS 16 was released, Apple made it a multiple step process to delete a message, where you forced to decide if the message should be reported as spam. People complained aplenty and soon after, an update was released removing the requirement, giving back a simpler "delete" option for messages.

lobsterghost1 wrote:

If we want to limit it to things Apple changed, then changed after user complaints a great example would be how messages are deleted on iPhone when iOS 16 was released. When iOS 16 was released, Apple made it a multiple step process to delete a message, where you forced to decide if the message should be reported as spam. People complained aplenty and soon after, an update was released removing the requirement, giving back a simpler "delete" option for messages.

That's another great recent example!

I guess I should amend my comment to say that I've never experienced a change BACK to what previously worked with Apple, once they make the changes they want. Not in any meaningful way to this Non-tech, regular consumer anyway. I just end up adapting to the new interface or whatever as best I can, and sometimes that means returning the $500 watch and sticking with my trusty 1st gen (or whatever gen was working for me) as long as I can. I am super busy in the real world and dealing with Long Covid for over 2 years now, trying to get my life back together and I just don't have time to struggle with a bad watch interface that just makes me more miserable when there are other options - like wearable O2 monitors that actually work, etc. and will save me $100's in the process. I did love the always-on feature working in Healthcare, but there are other options for that as well when counting respirations and heartbeats for a full minute in a newborn for instance.

Why don't I just give up on Apple all together you ask? Well, the answer is really simple actually. 1. All the tech companies do the same thing. 2. The other options are MS Windows (hate it!!!) and Android/Google. Hate that as well. I have a Samsung phone for my business and it's awful and not nearly as intuitive as the iPhone.

Maybe someday by the time my Apple Watch SE 1st gen quits working, Apple will have returned the good modular interface to the Apple Watch, but I don't have the time or energy to struggle with it now so I will do what I have always done: find another solution that works for me.

Good luck to all and again, I hope everyone finds the best solutions for them.

P.S. Tried the Watch Smith app and didn't like that interface either! ;-)

My husband and I are no longer going to use our Apple Watches because we can’t read new modular face…even with our glasses and we’re only in our 60’s. No other face offers that set of legible complications.

I’m so outraged by this removal. This was the most elegant and most enduring watch face. As others mentioned the larger text available in some of its unique complications were valuable to some of us. I also cannot stand the bright white time of Infographic Modular, which they simply renamed to Modular to replace the original, superior Modular…. Give back the original Modular, Apple!

I liked having the temp/conditions in the middle like it was before - the current one with the city one is in. Now it is a blow-by-blow of every hour's worth of temp/conditions for 5 hours and it makes the whole thing so busy and distracting that it's hard to figure out what is what and what is where. It was really elegant before but now it's just a mess. I put sunrise/sunset in the middle which is decent but more info than I want or need but it's less busy and gives the city - sometimes.

[Edited by Moderator]

Hi Lobster -

Apple definitely reads these. I just posted six different ways we can contact them, and they apparently don’t like us discussing that, so they just deleted my post. Now let’s see if I get deleted for meta-commentary. Suffice to say, the repeated mantra that Apple does not read these forums is a lie.

I posted one of the first posts indicating that the removal of visible easy to read complications on the Modular face was an accessibility issue my post was removed an I was scolded.

There is something called the American disability act that is supposed to keep this kind of thing in check. For good reason people with disabilities shouldn’t suffer unnecessarily. Poor vision is in fact a disability Yea it’s a legal thing!!!

Yes i know tell Apple . I did!

[Edited by Moderator]

I appreciate your comment, because many of the smaller complications are not legible to me most of the time (exception being when I use close readers). I definitely mentioned accessibility when I submitted feedback to Apple on this, which I did via several avenues. Apparently the only avenue they allow us to mention here is the feedback form, but people should be resourceful.

You're welcome. I hope everyone can use this fix. I can finally enjoy the simplicity and clarity of my Series 7.

Hopefully Apple will fix this problem in their iPhone Watch app in the next WatchOS release. I spoke with two second level support people (Ronnie & David) on this problem & fix and they were receptive and going to bring it forward.