[KNA017] RETRO

First Impression

Honestly, I downloaded this mostly out of curiosity after seeing a blurry screenshot on a forum. I wasn’t expecting much for a buck. When it first loaded on my OnePlus 11 paired with my watch, I was genuinely surprised. The pixel-perfect green-on-black LCD simulation is uncanny. It’s not just a green font; they’ve added that subtle screen door grid texture and the slightly uneven pixel glow. For about five minutes, I was a kid again. That initial hit of nostalgia was strong. Then my brain switched back to power-user mode and I started poking at it.

What It Does Well

The visual design is flawless. This isn’t a half-baked theme; it’s a meticulous recreation. The chunky pixel font for the time is perfectly legible, and I love that the step counter and battery percentage are styled like old digital readouts, not modern complications. The ambient mode deserves special praise—it dims to a very faint, static version of the face instead of switching to some generic low-power clock. Last Tuesday, I was in a dimly lit coffee shop and glanced at my watch. The faint green glow in ambient mode was perfectly readable and didn’t look out of place at all. It commits to the bit completely, and for that specific purpose, it’s excellent.

Where It Falls Short

My main gripe is the lack of any real customization or utility. You get time, date, battery, and steps. That’s it. You can’t change the data points, you can’t add a second timezone for work, and you certainly can’t tap the “RETRO” logo to launch a specific app. After several months, this static nature gets old. I also encountered a weird bug where, after a full phone restart, the step complication would sometimes freeze and only update after I opened the fitness app on the watch. It’s a minor thing most wouldn’t notice, but it bugs me. For a power user who wants information at a glance, it’s more of a decorative piece than a functional tool.

Is It Worth the Price?

For 99 cents? Absolutely, if you know what you’re buying. You’re paying for a single, incredibly well-executed aesthetic. It’s not a versatile watch face system. Think of it like buying a cool poster for your wrist instead of a multi-tool. If you want that specific hit of nostalgia and don’t need your watch face to do heavy lifting, it’s a no-brainer. If you’re like me and you constantly tweak your setup for efficiency, you’ll probably install it, smile for a week, and then go back to something more functional.

Developer & Support

I had one issue where the date format seemed stuck after a Wear OS update. I reached out to KNA TH Watch Faces through their listed contact. They did get back to me—after about four days—with a clear, helpful response explaining it was a watch setting, not a face setting. The delay wasn’t ideal, but they solved my problem. They have a huge catalog of faces, which suggests they know their niche. I haven’t seen an update for this specific face, but to be fair, it works. There’s not much to update.

Privacy & Safety

The face requests permission for steps and battery, which is necessary for those readouts. I combed through the permissions on my phone and watch, and it doesn’t ask for anything suspicious like location or contacts. The developer’s privacy policy is a standard “we don’t collect your data” boilerplate. I’ve seen zero ads, no weird network activity, and no prompts for anything beyond the initial install. It feels like what it is: a simple, local skin for your watch that does its one job and doesn’t phone home.