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Wear OS 6 Bug Breaks Third-Party Watch Faces on Pixel and Galaxy Watches

The glitch traces to a new Always-On Display fade in Wear OS 6 that can freeze mid-animation, requiring a platform patch rather than changes to individual faces.

Overview

  • Users describe AOD-to-active transitions freezing, leaving semi-transparent ambient elements layered over the live watch face.
  • The problem primarily affects downloaded third-party faces, while pre-installed Google and Samsung faces appear unaffected.
  • Reports span Pixel Watch models and Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and Watch Ultra on Wear OS 6 and 6.1, pointing to a platform-level defect.
  • Analyses link the issue to an opacity-fade animation that can stall before the screen suspends, raising worries about excess power draw and potential OLED image retention.
  • Short-term options include switching to stock faces or developer tweaks like setting transition duration to zero, with Google’s tracker and Samsung acknowledgments indicating a fix is being worked on.