# Get rid of Android Wear's frickin' icons?



## FrankFlapjack (Apr 29, 2016)

Greetings,

I have a cheap Android Wear watch that I just want to use as a watch with customized faces. That's it. I don't want to get my mail on the watch, I don't want to use it as a fitness tracker, I don't want to make or answer phone calls with hand gestures, etc - I just want to use it as a watch, enjoy the watch faces that come with Android Wear, enjoy the custom watch faces that others have designed, and possibly even design a few myself.

The problem is that whenever the watch is out of range from my Android tablet (to which it is associated) an annoying "broken cloud" icon appears, which in turn blemishes the watch's face.

Putting the watch into "Airplane Mode" (which has the side benefit of extending battery life) makes the cloud icon disappear, only to be replaced by an only-slightly-less annoying "plane" icon. Which also proceeds to blemish the watch's face.

Does anyone know of a way to suppress these icons, short of having to carry my tablet around everywhere I might want to wear the watch?

Regards,

Frank


----------



## Wolfsatz (Jun 27, 2016)

that issue is there even on the most expensive Android wear watches. 
Best solution. Wear a real watch!


----------



## FrankFlapjack (Apr 29, 2016)

Wolfsatz said:


> that issue is there even on the most expensive Android wear watches.
> Best solution. Wear a real watch!


Already got plenty of those. Variety is the spice of life!

Or in this case. the vinegar...


----------



## Wolfsatz (Jun 27, 2016)

Yeah... it woud be a very easy solution for Andriod to solve. But it is very rooted in the OS itself. 

many have tried to hide it. I am not aware of any one succeeding.


----------



## FrankFlapjack (Apr 29, 2016)

FrankFlapjack said:


> Greetings,
> 
> I have a cheap Android Wear watch that I just want to use as a watch with customized faces. That's it. I don't want to get my mail on the watch, I don't want to use it as a fitness tracker, I don't want to make or answer phone calls with hand gestures, etc - I just want to use it as a watch, enjoy the watch faces that come with Android Wear, enjoy the custom watch faces that others have designed, and possibly even design a few myself.
> 
> ...


Re-bumping this now that Android Wear 2.0 has been released. I FINALLY received AW2.0 on my Huawei watch, but was disappointed to discover that this problem still exists. Has anyone discovered a way to suppress these annoying icons in AW2.0? (Or alternately, a way to move them to a less interfering/obnoxious location than high noon?)

Frank


----------



## FrankFlapjack (Apr 29, 2016)

PARTIAL ANSWER!

For: alternately, a way to move them to a less interfering/obnoxious location than high noon?

Less than an hour after re-ranting about this, someone pointed out to me that the latest version of Watchmaker Pro (Build #4.2.4, and possibly builds before this) have a feature that allows use to reposition the icons. Select your desired watch face, and navigate to Customize Watch > Indicators. You can toggle the icon background on/off (off is infinitely better IMHO) and select from a limited grid of new positions. For almost every watch face that I have, relocating the icons to the center position makes them less noticeable (and the icons all but disappear if your watch hands are white). The middle position is hit-or-miss depending on any text/decorations/complications that might be present in that space. But the results are almost always better than high-noon placement....

Frank


----------



## yankeexpress (Apr 7, 2013)

https://theintercept.com/2017/11/24...cket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits


----------



## kramer5150 (Nov 15, 2007)

Seems like someone at Google was listening to this thread. My moto 360 on the latest android wear is defective... in that I no longer receive any notifications. I just leave bluetooth radio turned on in the background. It is still connected to my phone and I do not have any cloud icon on the watch face. Yet its as dumb as a knob on a door, since it no longer receives any notifications.

Its a good thing because my watch no longer buzzes and vibratres like crazy during a text conversation, or a group text session. Its bad in that I can miss incoming texts.

shrug


----------



## joseferreira_ms (Apr 11, 2021)

Nop Google Issue Tracker


----------



## BarracksSi (Feb 13, 2013)

joseferreira_ms said:


> Nop Google Issue Tracker


Since Google hasn't changes this in... let's see... _five years_... then don't call it a "bug".

So let's break down why Google calls this "expected behavior" in that issue tracker thread:

1. If the watch is connected to the internet (aka "cloud"), then everything will work normally.
2. If the watch is connected to the phone (and in turn, the internet/cloud), everything will work normally.
3. If the watch is not connected to the internet or its phone, then it won't work normally.

So, then, which behavior would work better for the user for case number 3?

Option A: Indicate on the main screen (the "face") that it doesn't have a data connection, so the user quickly knows that not all functions are available;
Option B: Don't indicate anything on the main screen, so the user won't know until it's too late that not all functions are available.

Aesthetics aside, Option A makes more sense.

And in that Issue Tracker thread, the snarky comment, "...that's why Apple is ahead!", does not make sense - because the Apple Watch will add an indicator_ in every watch face_ to show whether it's in Airplane Mode or it lost its data connection.


----------

