MD326 3D Modern Watch Face

Review by eFreeware

A watch face is one of the few things on a smartwatch you look at dozens of times a day, and the stock options rarely fit everyone. Some people want a clean analog dial, others want steps, heart rate and weather visible without swiping anywhere. MD326 3D Modern Watch Face, from developer Matteo Dini MD Watch Faces, is aimed at the second group: a digital face for Wear OS watches that carries a fair amount of information and lets you adjust both what it shows and how it looks.

It sells for $2.49, carries no ads and offers no in-app purchases, so the cost is settled at checkout rather than spread across the experience. More than 50,000 installs and a 4.7 average from 1,618 ratings suggest a settled audience rather than a novelty. The face first appeared in August 2023 and was updated in June 2026, the most recent change being a companion app update.

What shows up on the dial

The core readout is digital time, and whether it appears in 12- or 24-hour format follows the phone's own setting rather than a separate switch inside the face. Around that, the face displays the date along with the day and month, so the calendar context is there at a glance. It also reports battery level and step count, two figures many people check often enough that having them permanently visible makes sense.

Heart rate is included as well, together with intervals, which points to a face built for someone who wants a quick pulse reading without opening a separate app. The developer lists all of this as standard behavior, so the appeal is breadth rather than one standout metric.

The face supports Always On Display, and there is an optional minimal style for that state. Having a quieter variant available is a sensible touch. Hands can also be hidden, which suggests the design mixes analog elements with the digital readout and lets you strip them back when you prefer a plainer look.

Shortcuts and complications

Three app shortcuts come preset: calendar, battery and a heart rate measurement. Those cover the tasks most people reach for repeatedly, and they save a trip through the app drawer. On top of that, two further shortcuts can be assigned to whatever you prefer, which is where the face starts to feel personal rather than fixed.

The three customizable complications are the more interesting part. The developer describes these as slots where you can place the data you care about, naming weather, barometer, UV index and chance of rain as examples. In practice that means the face can be shaped around your priorities: someone who spends weekends outdoors might want rain probability and UV index, while someone tracking a health goal might prefer different fields entirely.

The developer does note that not every feature will work on every watch, which is a fair caveat for a platform where sensors and software versions vary. It is worth treating the complication list as what the face can display when the watch itself supports the data source.

Colors, bezel and background

Beyond data, the face offers color changes for the time, the bezel, the background and general elements. That is a reasonable amount of control for a paid face: enough to match a strap, a mood or a particular watch body without turning customization into a project.

Customization happens on the watch itself. You touch and hold the display, then tap the customize option. The developer keeps this instruction prominent because of a specific problem on Samsung hardware, discussed below.

The combination of hideable hands, an optional minimal always-on style and separate color controls means the same face can look quite different from one wearer to the next. For a $2.49 purchase, that range is the main argument in its favor.

Requirements and the Samsung wrinkle

It needs Wear OS 4 or newer, which the developer ties to API Level 33. Named examples include the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 through 9 and the Ultra and Ultra 2, along with Pixel Watch models.

Galaxy Watch owners get a warning too: the Samsung editor can struggle with faces this complex. The note is explicit that this is not a fault in the watch face, and the recommended workaround is to customize directly on the watch until Samsung addresses it. Anyone on Samsung hardware may find it easier to do their setup on the wrist rather than through the phone.

An installation and troubleshooting guide is available, which is useful given that watch face installation on Wear OS is not always as simple as tapping install once. Between the API requirement and the Samsung editor caveat, the practical takeaway is that this face asks a little more of you at setup time.

Who this face is built for

The design leans toward people who want information density on their wrist. If you like seeing steps, battery, heart rate and a couple of data fields without swiping, the layout here is built around that habit. The preset shortcuts to calendar, battery and heart rate reinforce the same idea: quick access to the things you check most.

It also suits tinkerers. Three complications, two assignable shortcuts and color controls for the time, bezel, background and general elements give you room to make the face your own. Someone who sets a face once and never touches it again will still get a capable dial, but the adjustable parts are where the value sits.

The price is a single $2.49 with no ads and no in-app purchases, so there is no ongoing cost to weigh. For a Wear OS 4 or later watch owner who wants a customizable, data-rich digital face and does not mind setting it up on the watch itself, this is a straightforward purchase to consider.

A considered buy for data-heavy wrists

MD326 3D Modern Watch Face does a specific job well: it puts time, date, battery, steps and heart rate on screen, adds three complications and a pair of assignable shortcuts, and lets you recolor the main elements. The Always On Display with an optional minimal style and hideable hands round out the package.

The trade-offs are stated plainly by the developer. You need Wear OS 4 or later, and Samsung owners may find it easier to customize on the watch because the phone-side editor struggles with complex faces. Neither is a flaw in the face itself, but both shape the experience.

I would point this at Wear OS 4+ owners who want a face they can tune and who value having several metrics visible at once. At $2.49 with no ads or purchases, and with a 4.7 average across 1,618 ratings behind it, it reads as a reasonable buy for that group.

What's new

Companion App updated