How to sell a Garmin watch face (and data fields)

You can sell a Garmin watch face through Garmin's Connect IQ Store, or with KiezelPay, PayToUse or WearCheckout. A face can't take button presses, so each service unlocks it its own way: Garmin sells it in the store, KiezelPay and PayToUse use codes, and WearCheckout draws a QR code and uses Garmin's sign-in notification. Data fields sell the same way as faces.

What makes selling a watch face different?

A face has no buy button. It can't take button presses, and it reaches the network only from a background service. Garmin also treats viewing the time as a primary feature, and advises no paywall over it. So a paid face keeps the time on screen and puts the paid parts around it. A data field has the same limits, inside its own space on an activity screen.

What are your options?

All four can sell faces. They differ in how the buyer pays and what you pay.

Checked 23 October 2026, on each company's own pages (see Sources).

PayToUse also has a designer that builds a paid face for you, with no code. If you don't write Monkey C, that is its main draw. We make WearCheckout. WearCheckout is not affiliated with Garmin.

How does a buyer unlock a WearCheckout face?

Three ways, and none needs typing.

• The QR code. While locked, your face draws a QR code where you choose. The buyer scans it and pays on the phone. A data field draws it in its own space.
• The settings link. The face writes its buy link into its settings, which the Connect IQ app on the phone shows.
• Garmin's sign-in notification. When the face is locked and the phone is connected, Garmin's own notification appears on the phone. The buyer taps it, pays, and the face unlocks within seconds.

After a scan, the face learns of the payment at its next background check. Garmin allows one at most every 5 minutes. In the 2 days after install or the trial's end, the face unlocks within 10 minutes. Later, it unlocks within an hour. The faces and data fields docs show the code.

How much do you keep from a $2.99 or $4.99 face?

On a $4.99 face you keep $4.55 with WearCheckout, $4.24 with Garmin, $3.96 with PayToUse and $3.64 with KiezelPay. These assume a US buyer paying by card, before sales tax. Where you pay card fees, we use Stripe's US rate, 2.9% + 30¢.

Checked 23 October 2026, on each company's own pages (see Sources).

Garmin takes 15%: $0.45 and $0.75. KiezelPay takes 27%: $0.81 and $1.35, plus $0.30 for a card payment if you absorb it. Stripe takes $0.09 + $0.30 = $0.39 and $0.14 + $0.30 = $0.44. PayToUse takes Stripe's fee, then 13% of the rest: $0.34 and $0.59. Garmin also charges $100 a year, and WearCheckout's plan starts at $9 a year. The full payments guide works out a whole year.

Which watches can run a paid face?

It depends on the service.

• Garmin's store offers paid apps only on the models it lists, from API level 3.4, such as the fēnix 6 Pro, MARQ and Descent Mk2.
• WearCheckout works on every watch on Connect IQ 3.0 or newer, 127 models.
• PayToUse's designer builds faces for round and rectangular models with Connect IQ 4 and newer. Its home page counts 73 models.

On AMOLED watches, a WearCheckout face draws its QR code only with the screen fully on, never in always-on mode.

What does Garmin ask of a paid face?

Garmin has rules for apps and faces that take payment outside its store. Our terms sum up today's rules like this:

• Complete Garmin's trader verification before you take payments.
• Mark the store listing as needing payment when any primary feature costs money.
• Say from the outset what is free and what is paid, and state a refund policy.
• Get consent for any automatic renewal, and avoid bait-and-switch.
• Put no paywall over the time on a watch face.

Garmin's own current rules bind you, not our summary of them.

Sources

Competitor facts come from each company's own pages, checked on 23 October 2026. Where a page didn't say something, we left it out.

• Garmin: App Sales (15% split, sales tax, card fees, payouts, the 48-hour return window, supported watches)
• Garmin: premium app purchases in the Connect IQ Store, 7 August 2024
• KiezelPay: FAQ (27% fee, $0.27 minimum, card surcharge, PayPal payouts, sales tax, refunds)
• PayToUse: developer manual (payment fees, 13% fee, withdrawals, codes, face designer)
• PayToUse: home page (monthly payouts, how a buyer pays, 73 models in the face designer)
• Stripe: US pricing (2.9% + 30¢ per domestic card payment)
• WearCheckout: watch faces and data fields
• WearCheckout: terms of service (you are the seller, taxes, moving from another service)