A new watch face will arrive shortly alongside a couple of watch bands for the Apple Watch, and they’re colourful with a message.
Owners of the Apple Watch can find a couple of new bands to consider for their wrist-worn wearable shortly, and they’re pretty neat looking things, with a new Apple Watch face also rocking up soon, too.
Fun and colourful, the bands are a continuation of Apple’s “Pride” series, which aims to reflect the LGBTQ+ community, though this year, the design focus goes beyond the rainbow colours commonly associated with pride.
Rather, this year there are two, with the Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop bringing together threads of recycled yarn woven together from lots of other colours, with colours for transgender, nonbinary, and even race, all coming together in one band. The result is a speckled colour band blending together every colour in one style.
That style will also be reflected in the 2021 Pride Watch Face, which adopts the similar colour scheme, but with animation when you raise your wrist.
Apple will also offer a Nike Sport Loop that brings together the six-colour rainbow into a band made for outdoor activities, with reflective yarn, handy if you intend to go running at night.
“Even before the events at the Stonewall Inn brought the LGBTQ+ movement to new prominence, Black, Brown, and transgender activists were key leaders in the march toward equality,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple.
“On many fronts, Apple supports the ongoing and unfinished work of equality for diverse and intersectional communities, and we want to provide every opportunity to celebrate and honour this history during Pride season.”
The announcement came on the International Day Against Homophobia this week, even if the watch bands and watch faces haven’t exactly been timed to match that release.
While Apple announced it on May 17 in the US — and May 18 in Australia — the two bands and the new watch face won’t actually make it to Apple Watch models this week. They should work on all supported Apple Watch models, including the current Series 6 Apple Watch and previous generations, though the new Pride bands aren’t set to arrive in stores until May 25, while the 2021 Pride Watch Face isn’t set to arrive until an upcoming watchOS update is delivered.
