PixelPop Watch — User guide

Getting started

Three steps, and you're in.

PixelPop Watch is part of PixelPop Companion for iPhone. Set Companion up first: it's the app that finds your boards, and the Watch borrows its list.

1
Install it from your iPhone

The Watch app comes inside Companion. Open the Watch app on your iPhone, find PixelPop under Available Apps, and tap Install. If automatic app install is on, it's already there.
2
Pick a board

The first time you open it, the Watch shows Boards. Tap the one you want; a checkmark marks your choice. Switch any time with the TV button in the top-right corner.
3
Let your iPhone do the talking

When your iPhone is nearby, the Watch reaches the board through the phone, which is already on your Wi-Fi. If the phone is out of reach, the Watch talks to the board over its own Wi-Fi instead, as long as both are on the same network.

The Boards list

Done takes you back to the board you picked.
Each row shows the board's name and address. The checkmark is the board the Watch is using.
Find Boards looks again (it shows “Looking…” while it searches). Scroll down for Add by address: type a host name or IP and tap Add.

No boards yet?The list says “No boards yet. Open Companion on iPhone, or add a host.” Opening Companion once is usually all it takes: the Watch picks up the phone's list.

Modules mode: Cover Flow with Flights in the center — Simulator captures
Modules: Cover Flow. The mode button shows the Cover Flow mark.

Brightness mode: a gauge reading 64 — Simulator captures
Modules: Cover Flow. The mode button shows the Cover Flow mark.

The mode button

One button. Four modes.

The button in the top-left corner 1 always shows the mode you're in. Tap it to move to the next one:

Modules: Cover Flow of every module on your board.
Brightness: A big gauge you set with the crown or a finger.
Settings: Chimes, and the switch that puts the display to sleep.
Paint: A pocket canvas that draws straight onto the board. Then back to Modules.

Which board is it? Identify.

Touch and hold the mode button to flash the board you're controlling. The Watch says “Flashing Living Room…”, then “Living Room flashed its panel twice.” Handy when there's more than one PixelPop in the house.

Cover Flow with the note: Living Room flashed its panel twice. — Simulator capture
After Identify.

Modules mode

Cover Flow, for your whole board.

Every module on your board gets a card, including the ones you've turned off (those look dimmer and say “Off”). The card in the middle is the one you're on.

The mode button. Tap for the next mode; touch and hold to Identify.
The board's name.
Boards: switch to another PixelPop.
The centered card. Tap it to put that module on the board now.
Side cards. Tap one to slide it to the middle.
The module's name. A small spinner next to it means the Watch is still connecting.

Cover Flow with Weather in the center. Clock is on the left; Forecast, Calendar, and Flights are stacked on the right. The board name, Living Room, is at the top. — Simulator capture
Cover Flow with Weather centered.

Gestures

Turn the Digital Crown: The cards follow the crown, with a click each time a new card reaches the middle. Let the crown rest for about half a second and the board switches to that module. The list doesn't wrap around: it stops at either end, like real Cover Flow.
Drag sideways: Push the cards left or right; a quick flick keeps them gliding.
Tap the centered card: Shows that module on the board right away.
Swipe up on the centered card: Turns that module on or off on the board, the same switch as the eye in Companion. The Watch confirms with a note like “Fireworks on”.
Touch and hold the centered card: Opens that module's quick settings.

Fireworks in the center, dimmed, with the word Off under its name — Simulator capture
An Off module stays on Cover Flow, dimmed. Tapping it says “Swipe up to turn on”.

Fireworks in the center at full brightness with the note Fireworks on — Simulator capture
One swipe up later: “Fireworks on”, and it's back in the rotation.

Clock quick settings: Time format 12-hour, Show the date (and AM/PM) switched on, Show the seconds bar along the bottom switched off — Simulator capture
Quick settings for Clock, opened with a touch and hold.

Quick settingsYou get the wrist-friendly part of the module's settings: switches, pickers, and numbers you can set with the crown, up to eight of them. Every change saves on its own, so there's no Save button. Anything else (text, colors, dates) stays put, and the sheet points you to More settings on iPhone.

The Brightness gauge moving between 28 and 92 — Simulator recording
The finger is drawn in to show the drag; the gauge is the real app.

Brightness mode

Turn it up. Or down. With a flick.

The number is the board's brightness, from 0 to 100.
The ring fills as it gets brighter. It's open at the bottom, and that gap is where “Board asleep” shows up if the display is off.

Turn the crown: One point per detent, with a light tick you can feel.
Drag left or right: Anywhere on the gauge. Right is brighter, left is dimmer. A drag across the whole screen is about 100 points, so small moves make small changes, with a click every 10.

It keeps up with youThe number changes the moment you move; the Watch doesn't wait for the board. It sends your newest value a few times a second and always sends the last one, so the panel lands exactly where you stopped. For a moment after you let go, it ignores older values coming back from the board, so the gauge never jumps backward.

Settings mode

The two switches you reach for most.

Chimes: Turns the board's hourly chimes on or off. Only the switch changes; your chime style, volume, and hours stay as they are. If a board has no Chimes switch to offer, the row tells you so.
Sleep · Wake Up: The display switch is named for what it will do. While the board is awake it reads Sleep with a moon; once it's asleep it reads Wake Up with a sun. The small line under it says Awake or Asleep.

Everything elseThe rest of the board's settings live in Companion and on the board's own settings site. The More settings on iPhone line at the bottom is your reminder.

Settings: Chimes on; Sleep, with a moon icon, switched on, and the caption Awake — Simulator capture
Board awake: the switch says Sleep.

Settings: Chimes on; Wake Up, with a sun icon, switched off, and the caption Asleep — Simulator capture
Board asleep: the switch says Wake Up.

Board asleep

Asleep? One tap wakes it.

When the board's display is off, a small Board asleep · Wake pill appears in Cover Flow, Brightness, and Paint. Tap it: it says Waking…, the Watch taps your wrist when the panel is back on, and the pill disappears. If the board can't be reached it says Couldn’t wake. Tap to retry for a few seconds.

The Watch checks whenever you raise your wrist, and about once a minute while the app is open.

Cover Flow with a purple Board asleep, Wake pill above the cards — Simulator capture
Cover Flow: above the cards.

The Brightness gauge with a small Board asleep, Wake pill in the gap at the bottom of the ring — Simulator capture
Brightness: in the gap under the ring.

Watch Paint

A pocket canvas. Every pixel is an LED.

Paint gives you the board's whole canvas, 64×32, right on your wrist. Draw with a finger and the board lights up as you go: one pixel on the Watch is one LED on the panel. When you switch modes, the board goes back to its modules.

The canvas, with a faint outline so you can see its edges against the black.
The palette: eight PixelPop colors plus up to four of your own. The color you're using gets a bold white ring.
The rainbow chip opens the custom color picker. It stays pinned at the end of the row.
The tool button shows your tool. Tap it to choose another.
Undo, up to 24 steps back.
Clear wipes the canvas (and Undo can bring it back).
Save to iPhone sends your drawing to Companion.
Draw / Pan decides what your finger and the crown do.

Watch Paint: a drawing of a smiling sun, a red heart, and green grass. Below it, the palette with red selected, then the tool row: Pencil, Undo, Clear, Save, and Draw. — Simulator capture
Watch Paint, with a drawing in progress.

“READY TO DRAW!”

When you open Paint, the canvas and the board both say READY TO DRAW! It's a note, not part of your picture: your first stroke, fill, or clear wipes it away, on the Watch and on the panel, and your drawing starts on a clean canvas. Undo stops at that clean canvas; it never brings the note back.

On a board that's mounted on its side, the canvas is tall (32×64) and the palette and tools move beside it.

Tools

Pencil: One crisp pixel at a time.
Brush: Three sizes (S, M, L), with an optional Soft edge.
Fill: Tap once to flood a connected area of the same color.
Eraser: Paints pixels back to black. While it's on, no color is ringed; tap any color to go back to the Pencil.

Choosing a toolTap the tool button for the list. Pencil, Fill, and Eraser close it right away. Pick Brush and it stays open so you can set the size and Soft edge, then tap Done.

Paint with the Pencil tool and red selected — Simulator captures
Pencil, with red ringed in the palette.

Paint with the Brush tool and blue selected — Simulator captures
Pencil, with red ringed in the palette.

The tool list: Pencil, Brush with a checkmark, Fill — Simulator capture
The tool list. Scroll for Eraser.

The tool list with Brush chosen — Simulator capture
With Brush picked, Size and Soft edge sit below the list.

Zoom in for the details

The whole canvas at 1× — Simulator captures
1×: the whole board fits.

The canvas zoomed in, with LED grid lines — Simulator captures
1×: the whole board fits.

Crown, in Draw: Zooms from the whole board up to 6×. Once the LEDs are big enough, thin grid lines show where each one is. While you draw zoomed in, the view follows your stroke.
Draw / Pan button: The brush icon means Draw: your finger paints. Tap it for the hand, Pan: your finger moves the canvas and the crown slides it sideways. Tap again to draw.

Your own colors

Tap the rainbow chip at the end of the palette to mix a color.

Turn the crown to move around the color wheel, 5° at a time; it keeps going all the way around. You can also tap or drag the rainbow bar.
The two rows of chips set saturation (100, 75, 50, 25, 0%) and brightness (100, 80, 60, 40, 20%).
The big swatch previews it with its hex code. Tap Done to paint with it.
Your last four custom colors join the palette, newest first, and stay there next time. Two colors that would look the same on the LEDs count as one.

The ringThe color you're painting with is a little bigger, with a bold white ring and a thin dark gap inside it, so you can spot it on white, yellow, and black alike. A custom color gets the same ring on the rainbow chip.

The custom color picker: a pink swatch labeled #FF408F, Turn crown for hue, a rainbow hue bar, saturation and brightness chips, and a Done button — Simulator capture
The color picker.

Paint with a custom pink color selected: the rainbow chip at the end of the palette has the white ring — Simulator capture
Painting in a custom color.

Save to iPhone

Tap Save (the tray with the arrow) and your drawing goes to Companion's PopArt gallery as “Watch Paint” plus the date and time. One line under the tools tells you how it went:

Paint with a green Saved to iPhone note under the tools — Simulator capture
**Saved to iPhone.** It's in PopArt now.

Paint with a yellow Queued for iPhone note under the tools — Simulator capture
**Queued for iPhone.** The phone wasn't reachable; it arrives the next time Companion runs.

Paint showing READY TO DRAW with the note Draw something first — Simulator capture
**Draw something first.** There's nothing to save yet.

If it can't saveA red line explains why, for example “Can’t reach iPhone” or “Install PixelPop on iPhone”. Your drawing stays on the canvas, so you can try again.

Complications

See what's on the board from your watch face.

Add the PixelPop complication to a watch face (touch and hold the face, tap Edit, and pick PixelPop). It shows the module that's on your board right now, with the PixelPop “P”. Tap it to open PixelPop Watch.

It comes in four shapes: circular, rectangular, corner, and inline. The rectangular one adds the board's name. Until the Watch has heard from a board, it simply says PixelPop (rectangular: Open PixelPop). On tinted faces the P takes on the face's color.

Weather10:09

Inline

Illustration The complications are drawn in HTML using the real PixelPop P artwork from the app. Complications can't be added to a face in the Simulator without a person, so these aren't screen captures.

Tips & troubleshooting

When something seems off.

A little spinner sits next to the module name: The Watch is still reaching the board. It keeps trying quietly in the background; if it takes a while you'll see “Still trying…”. Keep your iPhone nearby, or make sure the Watch is on the same Wi-Fi as the board.
The Boards list is empty: Open Companion on your iPhone once so the Watch can pick up its list, tap Find Boards, or add the board under Add by address.
Tapping a card doesn't show it: If it looks dim and says “Off”, the module is turned off. Swipe up on it to turn it on.
A note says the board is busy: Some things take over the panel for a while, like Paint, Camera, a notice, or an update. The Watch tells you (“Paint is using the board.”, “The board is updating.”). Try again once it's done.
“Couldn't switch — try again”: The board didn't answer in time. Tap the card again.
Not sure which board you're controlling: Touch and hold the mode button to Identify: the board flashes its panel twice.
Your drawing says “Queued for iPhone”: That's fine: open Companion on your iPhone and it lands in PopArt.
“Couldn’t wake. Tap to retry”: The board didn't hear the Wake. Check that it's powered and on Wi-Fi, then tap the pill again.
Chimes says “Set up Chimes on iPhone”: The Watch couldn't load the board's Chimes settings. Set Chimes up in Companion; the switch appears here once the board offers it.

Good to knowBrightness, sleep and wake, and module switches go to the same board settings Companion uses, so the Watch, your iPhone, and the board's settings site always agree.

Your board, right on your wrist.