Install the legacy editor

Not recommended

Switching to the legacy editor has real downsides — read this before you commit:

  • It will most likely uninstall WatchMaker from your watch when you uninstall the phone app. The watch app is sideloaded from your phone's Google Play install — once that's gone, the watch app loses its anchor and gets removed.
  • Re-installing on your watch without going through Google Play is tricky — Wear OS doesn't accept arbitrary APK sideloads the way phones do, and most users end up unable to put the app back on the watch.
  • The legacy editor receives no new features or fixes. Studio is where everything new lands.

If you're hitting a specific bug or missing feature in Studio, please email us first — there's a good chance we can fix it faster than reverting is worth.

If you've read the above and still want to proceed

The order matters — the legacy editor is a separate app that can't read Studio's storage, so you have to export your watches first.

  1. Export your watches first — open Settings, then tap General → Export All Watches. This saves a zip you'll import in step 3. The file lives in Downloads, not in the app, so it survives uninstalling WatchMaker.
  2. Install the legacy editor — download the APK.

    Getting a “Package invalid” or signature error? Android is refusing to install the legacy editor over the current WatchMaker app because they're signed differently. Uninstall the existing WatchMaker app first (Settings → Apps → WatchMaker → Uninstall), then install the legacy APK.

  3. Open the legacy editor and import the zip from step 1.

The watch-app problem (read this)

This is the hard part — and there's no clean fix:

  • The legacy editor and the new WatchMaker are signed differently, so Android refuses to have both installed at the same time.
  • The Wear OS WatchMaker app is anchored to whichever WatchMaker is on the phone via Google Play. Installing the legacy phone APK breaks that anchor and removes the watch app.

So in practice you have to choose one:

  • Keep the legacy editor on the phone — useful only for editing watches in the old editor. You will not be able to send watches to your watch from the legacy editor since the Wear OS app gets removed.
  • Keep WatchMaker on the watch — stay on the new WatchMaker phone app (i.e. Studio).

This is why we don't recommend going back. If there's a specific reason you need the legacy editor, please email us — there's a good chance we can help you achieve the same thing in Studio.

Questions? Email us at [email protected]