Apple’s 2022 Apple Watch Pride Edition Bands + Free ‘Pride Threads’ Watch Face Now Available
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It’s that time of year again when Apple releases its annual Pride Edition Apple Watch Band and Watch Face to support the global LGBTQ+ community and equality movement.
The unveiling comes about a week late this year — Apple typically aligns it with the International Day Against Homophobia on May 17th — but the new band and face are still arriving in plenty of time for folks to be ready for Pride Month in June.
As usual, Apple has announced both a Pride Edition Sport Loop and Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop. Both celebrate the full spectrum of the rainbow, but this year Apple has also employed a new technique to weave the word “pride” in a cursive style that will be familiar to fans of the early Macintosh years.
Utilizing the comfortable, durable, and adjustable Sport Loop design, Apple used a new technique to remove several of the double-layer nylon-woven textile loops on the band to reveal the word “pride” in a cursive style inspired by the original “hello” greeting — displayed on the first Macintosh in 1984 — giving the word a novel, three-dimensional look and feel.
The Pride Edition Nike Sport loop has a darker motif that’s designed to fit into Nike’s Be True collection to reflect Nike’s broader commitment to the LGBTQ+ community and focus on honoring “individuals who are expanding sport for future generations and inspiring others to feel the joy of being authentically themselves.”
Both Watch Bands are accompanied by unique Apple Watch faces. Users of all Apple Watch models can download the Pride Threads watch face, while Apple Watch Nike Edition owners can add a rainbow-colored Nike Bounce face designed to match the new band.
How Do I Get It?
Apple is making it even easier to grab the new Pride Threads watch face this year. Earlier this morning, a push notification was sent out to Apple Watch users via the iPhone Watch app announcing that the new face is now available, with the ability to add it to your Apple Watch with only a couple of taps.
The new Pride Threads watch face requires an Apple Watch Series 4 or later running watchOS 8.6, paired with an iPhone 6s or later running iOS 15.5.
Like last year, there’s also an App Clip on the packaging for the new Pride Edition watch bands for quick access to the Pride Threads watch face. This was first introduced with the 2021 Pride Edition Watch Bands, but it’s since become the norm for any Apple Watch band sold with a matching watch face, such as last year’s International Collection for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Last year’s Pride Watch Face had a hidden trick up its sleeve, and that’s being carried on this year in a similar way, although Apple is being more open about it this time around. Turning the Digital Crown with the 2021 Pride Woven watch face showed the animation unraveling and then winding back up again. This year, with Pride Threads, the colorful threads move like guitar strings being plucked.
The colorful threads move as the Digital Crown on Apple Watch is rotated, the display is tapped, or the user’s wrist is raised.
The Pride Threads Watch Face can be shown with the background on or off, effectively creating light and dark variants. However, as cool as the design is, it doesn’t accommodate any complications, so you’ll only be able to see the current time. This one is much more about style than substance, but fortunately, watchOS makes it easy to switch between active watch faces; simply swipe left or right.
The Pride Edition Sport Loop and Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop sell for $49 and are available today from the Apple Store online and will be available for in-person purchase at Apple retail stores starting on May 26.
The Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop will also be coming soon to nike.com. Both loops are compatible with any Apple Watch.
