Gear News of the Week: Amazon Buys Bee, VSCO Has a New App, and CMF Debuts a Smartwatch

That’s not all that’s new. The company is also adding a feature called Remix, which lets you convert existing photos into art styles, like anime, comics, and 3D animations (remember Prisma?). It’ll be rolling out over the next few weeks. All of these effects and features might feel a little much, especially considering all the other tools at your disposal in the app, which is why Google also has a new Create tab. This is where you can go to convert photos to videos, use Remix, create collages, highlight videos, and more. The tab will be rolling out in August.

Facer Is Back in Wear OS 6

Google’s Wear OS 6 update started rolling out this week—it’s the latest version of the smartwatch operating system, introducing a more colorful interface, widgets that are even more glanceable, alongside power efficiency improvements for better battery life. One of the oldest watch face apps, Facer—which has hundreds of themed watch face designs across various platforms—has announced an update adding compatibility with Wear OS 6. That’s big news, considering that the app lost compatibility after Wear OS 5 rolled out in 2024.

Facer didn’t support Google’s Watch Face Format (WFF) when Wear OS 5 launched, which was mandatory to access watch face complications. The company had to work with Google to bring back full functionality of its watch faces to Wear OS 6, and the it even says Facer will deliver “significantly improved battery life” on all faces.

The Facer update also adds new collaborations, like a SpongeBob SquarePants watch face, as well as a social component called “Looks.” It’s a tab in the app that lets you show off your favorite watch faces. Think of it as a new way to discover watch faces outside of the app’s general explore page. If you like a look, you can find out what watch face they’re using and download it, and if you like their watch strap, Facer will point you to its own strap store so you can nab it.

VSCO Launches a New App Called Capture

Photo filter and editing app VSCO—yes, the very same that popularized the “VSCO girl”—has been around since 2012, but the company just launched a stand-alone mobile app after a decade. Capture is an iPhone-only camera app that has more than 50 “live presets” with real-time film effects and manual camera settings for better control over the final image. It essentially lets you preview the final look of your photo before you even hit the shutter button.

These presets are non-destructive, so you can still edit the original captured image later on if you decide to change things up. It supports RAW and ProRAW formats, has real-time effects like bloom, and can instantly sync with the VSCO app for additional edits or sharing. It’s free to download now, and there’s no word if an Android app will be available in the future.