7 days free on every face · one-time code · no subscription
DIALFORGE
Pixel Pal

7-day free trial, then a one-time 3.99 EUR unlock code at dialforge.dev. No subscription.

A tiny pixel pet that lives on your watch and reacts to your real day.

Walk and it gets happy and bounces, with a heart over its head. Run low on Body Battery and it droops and sweats. After 11 pm it curls up and snores until 7. Each week it starts again at level 1 and levels up with your intensity minutes.

Features

  • 3 pets: Blob, Cat, Robot, each hand drawn in 4 moods: Happy, OK, Tired, Sleep
  • Idle animation when you look at the watch: the pet hops and blinks
  • Crisp pixel time, mood and level under the pet, date at the bottom
  • Three 10-block bars you choose yourself (Food, Energy, Calm by default)
  • 5 pet colours: green, pink, blue, yellow, white
  • AMOLED always-on: a dim pixel outline of the pet plus the time, shifted every minute
  • Optional seconds, English or Polish labels

Moods

  • Happy: 70 % of your step goal or more
  • Tired: Body Battery under 30 or watch battery under 15 %
  • Sleep: 23:00 to 06:59
  • Level: 1 + weekly intensity minutes / 15 (150 minutes a week = level 11)

Data for the bars

  • Food: steps toward your goal
  • Energy: Body Battery
  • Calm: 100 minus stress
  • Power: watch battery
  • Train: weekly intensity minutes toward your goal

Since 1.2.0: time format (12/24 h) and leading zero settings; on touchscreen watches, touch and hold a field to open its screen.

Garmin does not give watch faces access to HRV status or Training Readiness, so no Connect IQ watch face can show them.

Code not working? Write to kontakt@dialforge.dev and we fix it or refund you.

Settings: on the watch (hold MENU, then Watch face, then Customize) or in the Connect IQ app.

A little request from the maker

Dialforge is my student project. I build these watch faces after classes, so they are still at an early stage, and I could not test every watch model myself. If something looks wrong on your watch, please do not leave a negative rating: write to me first at https://dialforge.dev/faces/pixelpal/ and I will fix it, usually within 24 hours. A kind review means more to me than you can imagine. And if you like my work, you can buy me a coffee (the link is at the bottom of dialforge.dev): I am saving up to pay for my studies. Thank you for your patience and for giving a young developer a chance.

Manual

Pixel Pal: user manual

What it does

Pixel Pal is a pixel pet that reacts to your day: pixel time on top, the pet in the middle, its mood and level, three 10-block bars and the date.

Requirements and supported watches

Needs Connect IQ 3.3.0+ and the Connect IQ or Garmin Connect phone app. Supported watches:

  • Round AMOLED: epix 2 and epix Pro 2, fēnix 8, E, Forerunner 165, 265, 570, 965, 970, Instinct 3 AMOLED, Crossover AMOLED, Venu 2, 3, 4, vivoactive 5, 6.
  • Round MIP: enduro 3, fēnix 7 series, 8 Solar, Forerunner 55, 245, 255, vivoactive 4.
  • Square and rectangular AMOLED: Venu Sq 2, Venu X1.

Installation

In the Connect IQ app on your phone (or Garmin Connect, then the Connect IQ Store) find "Pixel Pal" by Dialforge, tap Install and sync the watch. Then hold the watch face (or the menu button), choose Watch Face and select Pixel Pal.

First launch

A green Blob with bars for Food (steps), Energy (Body Battery) and Calm (stress). Seconds are off. The 7-day trial starts the first time the face runs.

Controls

Watches with buttons (START, UP, DOWN, BACK)

  • No actions of its own. Settings: menu button (UP), Watch Face, Customize.

Touch watches (tap, hold, swipe)

  • Touch and hold a data field to open Garmin's screen for it. No matching screen, nothing happens.
  • Touch spots: each of the three bars.

Settings

Watch: menu button, Watch Face, Customize. Phone: Connect IQ app, Pixel Pal, Settings (code fields only there).

  • Top bar, Middle bar, Bottom bar: each shows one of 5 data types. Defaults in that order: Steps, Body Battery, Stress.
  • Pet: Blob, Cat, Robot. Default: Blob.
  • Pet colour: Green, Pink, Blue, Yellow, White. Default: Green.
  • Seconds: on or off. Default: off.
  • Time format: Automatic (watch setting), 12-hour, 24-hour. Default: Automatic.
  • Date language: Automatic, English, Polski. Default: Automatic. It keeps working after the trial.
  • Mood, first match wins: Sleep from 23:00 to 06:59, Tired when Body Battery is under 30 or the watch battery under 15%, Happy from 70% of the step goal, otherwise OK.
  • Level is 1 plus weekly intensity minutes divided by 15, up to 99, and restarts with the Garmin week. A bar with no data shows --.

License

  • Trial: 7 days from the first launch, everything works.
  • Price: 3.99 EUR once at dialforge.dev, no subscription. The 8-character code is tied to your watch's UID.
  • Where to enter it: phone, Connect IQ app, Pixel Pal, Settings. Read the UID in "UID (dialforge.dev)", buy the code, then type it into "Unlock code".
  • After the trial without a code: settings return to defaults (the language setting stays) and UNLOCK DIALFORGE.DEV appears at the bottom. Time and data keep working.

Privacy and permissions

Permissions:

  • Sensor history: recent body battery, stress and similar values.
  • User profile: data like max heart rate and units.
  • Complications: Garmin's own data for the fields.

No internet use at all.

Troubleshooting

The code does not work. Check that the UID you bought for matches "UID (dialforge.dev)" and type all 8 characters (case is ignored, no 0, O, 1 or I). A code for another face does not fit. Sync, then reopen.

A field shows --. The watch has no value for it right now: it may need a sensor reading, a connected phone (weather), a Garmin feature turned on, or a newer watch. The face never invents numbers.

Battery drain? Seconds are drawn only while the watch is awake, in low-power mode the face redraws once a minute.

What does always-on look like? On AMOLED, always-on shows the dimmed time and the pet as a thin outline in its colour, shifted every minute. MIP watches have no separate always-on mode.

12-hour or 24-hour? Automatic follows the watch's 12/24-hour setting. You can force 12 or 24 hours in the settings.

Contact

kontakt@dialforge.dev or dialforge.dev. Please write before leaving a low rating.

Permissions and privacy

This product asks the watch for the permissions below. Connect IQ shows them when you install it.

  • Sensor history: Reads recent values stored by the watch (for example Body Battery, stress, heart rate, steps trend).
  • Your profile: Reads your Garmin profile on the watch (for example age, weight, heart rate zones) to calculate values for you.
  • Watch data (complications): Shows data from other watch features, such as battery or steps, on the face.

This product does not use the internet and sends no data to our servers.

Unlock

€3.99

One-time payment. No subscription. The code works on the watch whose UID you enter.

  1. Install the face from the Connect IQ store. It is free for 7 days.
  2. Find your 10-digit UID: Connect IQ app on the phone > My Device > Watch faces > Pixel Pal > Settings (first field).
  3. Enter UID and e-mail, pay with PayPal (cards work without a PayPal account). The code appears here at once.
  4. Type the code into the same settings page, field "Unlock code". The watch checks it offline.

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Tell us how to make it better

Missing a data field, a colour, a layout? Found a bug on your watch model? Write it here. We read every message and ship improvements in updates.

Pixel Pal€3.99Unlock