How to install Pixel Watch 5 watch faces on Pixel Watch 4
Pixel Watch 4 owners who feel left out of the Pixel Watch 5 launch have a reported workaround. According to Android Authority, Reddit user m0rr0ng0 found that sideloading a newer build of the Pixel Watch Faces app unlocks five watch faces tied to the Pixel Watch 5: Weave, Chronograph, a Steph Curry edition, Multicolor Reveal, and Multicolor Modular. This guide walks through how to install Pixel Watch 5 watch faces on Pixel Watch 4 using that reported method, and it's upfront about where the reporting stops short of a full answer.
The Android Authority report doesn't describe this as a Google-distributed update. It documents one Reddit discovery, not multi-device testing, and the installation runs outside Google Play entirely, over wireless ADB with a phone app standing in for a command line. Two questions the reporting leaves open matter more than the five new faces themselves: where to find a trustworthy copy of the file, and what happens if the installation fails partway through. This guide treats both as real problems, not footnotes.
What you'll need, and the APK problem worth solving first
- A Pixel Watch 4.
- A phone able to connect to the watch through GeminiMan WearOS Manager, the sideloading app the reported method uses for wireless ADB pairing (Android Authority).
- Comfort digging into Developer Options and ADB debugging. This isn't a one-tap install (Android Authority).
The file needed is the Pixel Watch Faces app, version 5.0.231.924930285 (Android Authority). That version number is the detail that makes the whole method work, and also where the trail runs cold. The report names the version but doesn't link to a vetted download source or provide a checksum to confirm any given file matches the original. A version string that matches confirms the label is right. It says nothing about whether the contents have been altered.
This guide won't hand over a download link, and that's deliberate. Anyone searching for Pixel Watch 4 exclusive watch faces and expecting a plug-and-play file should know that nothing in the current reporting establishes a source solid enough to recommend. If a trustworthy copy isn't already at hand, waiting costs nothing beyond five faces not yet available.
Whether an existing Pixel Watch Faces installation needs to come off first isn't addressed anywhere in the reporting on this specific method. The safer default is to try installing the new version without touching the old one, and only uninstall the current app if the new version refuses to go on. There's no confirmed rule either way here, so don't take unnecessary steps on a guess.
Turn on Developer Options and wireless debugging on the Pixel Watch 4
- Open Settings > System > About > Version on the watch and tap Build number seven times. This unlocks Developer Options (Android Authority).
- Inside Developer Options, turn on both ADB Debugging and Wireless Debugging (Android Authority).
- Under Wireless Debugging, tap Pair new device. The watch generates a pairing code and an IP address; both are needed for the next step (Android Authority).
This pairing flow is comparable to what XDA used in 2023 to sideload Pixel watch faces onto Wear OS 3 hardware, also over wireless ADB (XDA Developers, 2023). That earlier method skipped the app entirely and ran through raw commands: connecting with adb -s [IP address] install filename.apk and watching for a "Success" message in the terminal (XDA Developers, 2023). GeminiMan trades that terminal for a tap-through interface, but the wireless ADB connection underneath is the same idea, just aimed at a Pixel Watch 4 instead of third-party Wear OS 3 hardware.
How to install the Pixel Watch Faces APK on Pixel Watch 4 with GeminiMan WearOS Manager
- Install GeminiMan WearOS Manager on both the phone and the watch (Android Authority).
- Get the Pixel Watch Faces APK, version 5.0.231.924930285, onto the phone from a source already trusted (Android Authority).
- Open GeminiMan WearOS Manager on the phone and enter the pairing code and IP details from the previous step. The app should show the watch as connected before you move on (Android Authority).
- Select Install APK file, choose the downloaded file, and GeminiMan WearOS Manager pushes it to the watch over wireless ADB (Android Authority). Once the transfer finishes, the Pixel Watch Faces entry on the watch updates to the new version.
The cited report is specific about what success looks like: GeminiMan installs the APK, and the five faces then show up in the watch face picker, ready to be set as active. It's much less specific about failure. There are no error codes documented, no described recovery steps, and no guidance for a transfer that stalls partway through. Re-pairing under Wireless Debugging and repeating the push is a reasonable first move if the connection drops, but that's an inference, not a documented fix. Nothing in the current reporting describes a way to downgrade back to a previous Pixel Watch Faces build if this one causes trouble.
What's confirmed, and what still needs testing
Confirmed by the cited report: opening the watch face picker on the Pixel Watch 4 turns up all five names, Weave, Chronograph, the Steph Curry edition, Multicolor Reveal, and Multicolor Modular, and selecting one sets it as the active face (Android Authority). That's the full extent of what's actually verified. How the faces render day to day, whether complications populate correctly, and whether always-on display keeps them updated, none of that is addressed in the report.
Worth checking anyway, purely as precaution: complications and always-on display. Neither is confirmed broken here, but the 2023 XDA sideload of Pixel watch faces onto Wear OS 3 hardware ran into similar territory, noting that complications sometimes didn't work as intended and that watch faces occasionally failed to update in always-on display mode (XDA Developers, 2023). That case involved different hardware and an older watch-face package, not this exact APK on a Pixel Watch 4, so treat it as a short checklist to run through, not a documented defect.
Once the faces check out, turn Wireless Debugging and ADB Debugging back off. The 2023 XDA guide flags this as more than tidiness: leaving ADB debugging enabled drains the watch's battery over time (XDA Developers, 2023). There's no reason to leave it running once the transfer is done.
When to proceed, and when to wait
Proceed if a trustworthy copy of the APK is already at hand and the missing rollback path doesn't change the calculus. Wait if that copy isn't in hand yet. Grabbing the first file a search turns up defeats the point of caring about provenance in the first place.
Sideloaded workarounds like this one also depend on how much room Google leaves for installs that don't go through Play. That tolerance can shift without much warning, and nothing in the current reporting says a compatibility change is coming for this specific method. Still, confirming the faces install cleanly and behave normally before repeating the process on a second watch is a small, sensible habit, not a documented requirement. Five faces built for a newer watch, running on hardware they weren't officially made for, is a workaround worth treating with a bit of caution even after it works the first time.
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