One hardcore Fallout fan has created a fully functional Pip-Boy watch face for the Pixel Watch 4, and it’s not just for show.
The fan-made paint job goes beyond simply copying the dead-on green interface, drawing live stats from the watch and Google services that repurpose Google’s latest wearable as a tiny wasteland terminal for your wrist.
A Working Pip-Boy Watch Face Built for Pixel Watch 4
Posted by Reddit user u/Neo4114 to the r/PixelWatch community, the project combines wonderful Fallout eye candy with live data.
It’s the developer’s first watch face, they say, and took many hours to build but is polished enough that it could be mistaken for an actual release, right down to the retro CRT look and signature Vault Boy pose that fans know in a heartbeat.
Unlike most thematic faces, which are static and use complications as a dashboard limiter, this one sends dynamic readouts for UV exposure, weather, and heart rate. It’s the playful, high-effort sort of mod that makes smartwatch platforms feel personal again — and the community response has been overwhelmingly positive.
Live Data Converted to Wasteland-Themed Metrics
The brilliant part is how actual sensors and services become Pip-Boy stats. “Solar RADS” is equivalent to the UV index, which ranges from 0 to 11+ and changes color as it increases, following guidance from institutions such as the World Health Organization and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It shows “H₂O Prob” and the moon phase to tell you whether it will rain; temperature comes through Google Weather.
Heart rate is the showpiece. The face changes live with intensity and changes color depending on the zone. Pulling live heart rate isn’t a trivial task on Wear OS; Google’s Health Services API provides low-latency sensor access, but to stream to a face you’re balancing refresh rates with battery draw. The outcome here looks smooth, with no clear sign of lag, which means they have carefully controlled throttling and smart data management in place.
There are delightful extras, too. A playfully tongue-in-cheek “PROBLEMS: 99” counter winks at pop culture, and there are plans to include a customizable username so every user can slap their handle across the interface — just like they would with a personalized Pip-Boy.
What Sets This Custom Build Apart on Wear OS
Google’s Watch Face Format, a way to cut down on power drain and make development easier, has spawned an influx of faces that rely heavily on static complications. Good for battery life, less great for personality. This Fallout tribute splits the difference, adding complications when it seems right but also remembering that what most faces lack is a sense of “liveness.”
It also serves the Pixel Watch 4 well. The bright OLED panel makes the CRT-like monochrome glow pop, and the watch’s health stack enables fast heart rate sampling during workouts. Google has claimed Wear OS usage is up since it overhauled its platform and made a unified push to partner with device makers, and fan-made experiences like this are a big part of why people hang on. Some third-party faces clock up millions of installations on the Play Store, showing demand for fresh styles is high.
Release Plans and Intellectual Property Hurdles
The maker is pondering making it public somewhere — perhaps the Play Store, maybe on a code repo.
There’s a wrinkle: the face is emblazoned with Vault Boy artwork and other Fallout iconography, all of it trademarks of Bethesda Softworks, a subsidiary of Microsoft. Submitting a watch face to Google Play is subject to certain requirements, including not using IP you don’t have permission for; unauthorized use of protected images or artwork is against Google Play’s policies, which means a user-submitted asset model may be the best bet for deploying something that ends up being publicly listed.
It’s a well-trod road for fan projects. Many developers release open-source versions with placeholder art, leaving skinning to fans. If the community demand is strong enough, we may even see a compliant version or an official release, but having something become widely accepted and approved in the modding world just isn’t as common.
The Fallout on Modern Smartwatch Culture
The cultural impact of Fallout is huge — from its decades-old game legacy to a hit streaming adaptation from major studios — so the Pip-Boy look is bound to strike a chord on the wrist. What’s remarkable is the extent to which fiction dovetails with practical utility: UV alerts as “radiation,” precipitation odds as “water risk,” health stats as survival vitals. It’s an in-world joke that’s also useful glanceable info.
If anything, this project is a reminder that smartwatches are at their best when they feel personal. With a little fandom, some technical trickery, and a thoughtful UI, checking the time can feel fun again. If it eventually gets a broader release, I could definitely expect it to become the default face for Pixel Watch owners in search of daily stats over wasteland swagger.