Michael Kors taps your Instagram feed to beautify your smartwatch
The My Social app offers another way to design custom watch faces.
Last month, Michael Kors announced a "My Social" app that lets you tap into your Instagram feed for watch face backgrounds. Today, the company is sharing a video that shows exactly how you'll do that and why you might want the feature. That is, if you already own one of the Michael Kors Access watches. The app rolls out to the company's Dylan and Bradshaw devices via an over-the-air update on April 25th. By the looks of the trailer, those smartwatches are about to get a lot better-looking.
With My Social, you can pull images from your Instagram account to turn into the background for a watch face. Sign in to your profile, pick a picture, then select a filter and watch style before displaying it as your home screen. There is no word yet on whether other social networks will be supported in the future.
Here's the video from Michael Kors that shows some of the looks you can achieve:
Although there are ways to set photos as backgrounds for Android Wear (and 2.0) faces, these aren't very convenient at the moment. Third-party tools like Photo Watch let you pick pictures from your own album, Google Photos or a curated list of Internet images, but don't present many attractive watch styles. Having to go through Instagram might bother people who want to use a photo they haven't posted, but the new tool will please Michael Kors customers who likely already share plenty of designs they like to the social network.
The company's honorary chairman Michael Kors told Engadget, "Our watch faces are designed to do what fashion does—express your style, mirror your mood, reflect the fashion trends, and now with My Social, enable you to have a completely unique point of view." On the face of his Dylan smartwatch, Kors currently uses a picture of his cat Bunny, whom he says "is naturally very chic."
We're not sure just how many people own one of Michael Kors' connected watches at the moment, or whether the company plans to bring My Social to more devices in future. But in the meantime, don't be surprised if you find yourself spotting Instagram-style faces on fashionistas' wrists very soon.
