Nomad The Frog · Wear OS closed test
Finished watch faces that Google won't let me ship. Take the whole set, free.
A new developer account can't publish anything until 12 people have been opted in to a closed test for 14 straight days. So every face on this page is done, running on my Galaxy Watch 8, and going nowhere. Opt in, stay in for a fortnight, and they're yours permanently — no charge, then or later.
- What you give
- One tap per face, then 14 days of staying opted in. Wear them or don't.
- What you keep
- Every face here, permanently free, including the ones I add later.
- What I ask
- Don't opt out early — one drop resets the 14 days for everyone.
- What I collect
- Your Google address, and only because the tester group shows it to me. No mailing list, no analytics, nothing tracked on this page.
The dials
Hand-authored in Watch Face Format — vector parts drawn by the watch itself rather than baked frames, so they animate all day without the battery cost. Every one has an always-on variant. Getting them takes two steps, both just below.
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Aurora Fluid
Living colour drifts behind a bold, minimal clock.
com.nomadthefrog.aurorafluid -
Frond
Fine leaves lean in and stir, around a quiet clock.
com.nomadthefrog.frond -
Inkbloom
Ink opening on paper, behind a bold, minimal clock.
com.nomadthefrog.inkbloom -
Meridian
The sky over a landscape, at the hour it actually is.
com.nomadthefrog.meridian -
Plink
Cartoon water splashes, opening and gone.
com.nomadthefrog.plink -
Readout
An instrument panel. Battery, steps, the month, and four slots.
com.nomadthefrog.readout -
Sprout
A plant that grows on your step count. Six to choose from.
com.nomadthefrog.sprout -
Tidal
A glass of water that empties as your battery does.
com.nomadthefrog.tidal
Getting them
The order here is the whole trick. The group is what authorises your account, so it has to come before the opt-in links — doing it the other way round is the one thing that makes this look broken when it isn't.
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Join the tester group
Signed in with the same Google account your watch uses — a different account is the most common reason a face never turns up. Joining is the thing that authorises you. Nothing is ever mailed to the group, and members can't see each other.
Join the tester group nomadthefrog-testers@googlegroups.comThat link opens Google Groups. There is nothing to read there and the group never posts — once you're a member, come straight back here.
Do this before the links below. Opt in first and Play will tell you the app isn't available — which looks like a dead link, and isn't.
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Opt in to each face
Each face is its own listing on Play, so each needs its own opt-in — one button per face, below. Every one opens a Play page carrying a single
Become a testerbutton. Nothing installs yet. -
Install from the watch, not the phone
Do it while you're here. They're free for the run of the test, and a face that's on your watch stays yours. Access takes a few minutes to reach your account — if Play says an item isn't available yet, reload rather than assuming it's broken. Then open the Play Store on the watch itself and search
Nomad.Your phone will say these aren't compatible with your device. That's correct rather than a fault — a watch face is a watch-only package, and a phone has nowhere to put it.
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Stay opted in for 14 days
This is the part that actually counts. You don't have to wear them daily — you just have to not opt out.
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Tell me what's wrong with them
Optional, and the most useful thing you can do. Google reads real tester feedback when it reviews the application.
No watch? You can still help. The 14-day counter measures opt-ins, not installs, so opting in from a phone counts even though a watch face can't run there. Watch owners are the ones who can actually tell me something, but every opt-in moves this forward.
Fair questions
- What happens when the test ends?
- The faces go on sale, and yours keep working. Testers aren't converted into paying customers — you were here first, that's the deal.
- Will this drain my battery?
- They're Watch Face Format, which means the watch draws vector parts natively instead of playing back frames. That's the whole reason I build them this way.
- Do you get my email or data?
- No. Opt-in happens inside Google Play; I see an anonymous count of testers and nothing else. There's no signup here and no tracking on this page.
- Can I opt out early if I hate them?
- You can, always. I'd just ask you to uninstall and leave the opt-in alone until day 14, because a drop below twelve restarts the clock for everyone.
- Which watches do they run on?
- Wear OS 4 and up — Galaxy Watch 4 onward, Pixel Watch, and other recent Wear OS hardware. Built and tested on a Galaxy Watch 8.
- Why not just pay a testing service?
- They want around $150 per app. These sell for a dollar. The arithmetic never closes, so I'd rather trade the faces themselves to people who want them.