A complication is any feature in a watch face that is displayed in addition to time. For example, a battery indicator is a complication. The Complications API is for both watch faces and data source apps.
The rest of this document describes data sources, watch faces, and complication types.
Complication data source
Apps that provide data (such as battery level, weather, or step-count data) to watch faces for complications are called complication data sources. These data sources supply raw data and are not responsible for controlling how their data is rendered on a watch face. For writing apps that provide data to watch faces, see Expose data to complications.
As shown in the following diagram, Wear OS by Google mediates the flow of data from sources to watch faces.

Complications in watch faces
Watch faces receive data from complication data sources, which allows them to include complications without needing code for getting the underlying data. Watch faces retain control over how the data is rendered, so they can integrate data naturally with their design. For more information, see the design guide on Complications.
To learn how to add complications to a watch face, see Add complications to a watch face.
Complication types
Complication types define what kinds of data can be shown in a complication or supplied by
a data source. For example, use the SHORT_TEXT
type when the data consists
primarily of a short string. A
ComplicationData
object always has a single
complication type that defines required and optional fields. A required field
represents the primary piece of data; most types take their name from the required field.
Data sources use these complication types differently from the watch faces:
- A data source chooses the types of complication data to supply
(including which optional fields, of those types, to supply) and
how many different types can be supported. For example, a step count
source might support the
RANGED_VALUE
andSHORT_TEXT
types, and a next meeting source might support theSHORT_TEXT
andLONG_TEXT
types. - You can choose how many complications to include in your watch face and the complication
types to support. For example, a dial complication on a watch face might support
the
SHORT_TEXT
,ICON
andRANGED_VALUE
types, and a gauge on the watch face might support only theRANGED_VALUE
type.
To learn more about different complication types and fields supported by each type, see Complication types.