Apple Watch Pride Edition Bands Are Here
The new Apple Watch accessories debuted on Monday, May 17, 2021, which is also International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia.
An official announcement in the Apple Newsroom calls these bands one of the ways Apple “stands with, supports, and is proudly made up of members of the LGBTQ+ community.”
The following new products are available:
Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop Pride watch face
This is something of a tradition for Apple, with the first Pride edition band debuted in 2016.
Apple Watch 2021 Pride Braided Solo Loop
The Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop weaves together the original rainbow colors with the colors drawn from various Pride flags. This, Apple says, represents “the breadth of diversity among LGBTQ+ experiences and the history of a movement that has spanned generations.”
There are 12 available lengths of the Braided Solo Loop to choose from.
Apple Watch 2021 Pride Nike Sport Loop
Featuring six colors of the original rainbow, the Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop band has reflective yarn for those times when you’re doing outdoor workouts at night. To ensure the perfect fit, the design is infinitely adjustable. Like the new Braided Solo Loop, the design of this band fits a corresponding Nike watch face nicely.
Apple Watch 2021 Pride Watch Face
The matching watch Pride 2021 watch face will be made available with an upcoming watchOS software update. On top of that, customers can use their iPhone camera to scan an App Clip code inside band packaging to instantly access the new watch face.
“With the rotation of the Digital Crown, the threads on the watch face infinitely scroll and animate with a raise of the wrist,” Apple notes.
Apple Watch 2021 Pride Bands Pricing
The Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop is priced at $99 in the US. Too pricey for your taste? If so, you should consider the Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop instead, a $49 value. You can order the new bands now from apple.com and the Apple Store app.
Retail availability at Apple Store locations is starting on May 25. The Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop will be available “soon” from nike.com, too.
According to Apple, the Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop is compatible with the Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 4 or later. As for the Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop, that one works with any Apple Watch model from Series 3 onward.
The new Pride watch face will arrive via an upcoming watchOS software update. Accessing the new watch face via App Clip functionality on your iPhone requires iOS 14.3 or later.
Tim Cook: “I’m Proud to Be Gay”
CEO Tim Cook came out as gay on October 30, 2014, becoming the first CEO of a major publicly traded corporation to do so. “I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me,” he said at the time.
