Apple Watch has nearly 60 faces, and watchOS 26 optimizes way more than before for Apple Watch Series 10. It’s not all good news with watchOS 26, however, as Apple continues to discontinue watch faces through software updates.
Last year, Apple cut four watch faces with the watchOS 11 software update. The enhanced widgets view unsurprisingly replaced the Siri watch face, but Apple also removed analog Chronograph, Explorer, and Numerals watch faces.
Since then, Apple has introduced Flux, Reflections, Pride Harmony, and Unity Rhythm.
Apple didn’t show off any new watch faces as part of watchOS 26. That will probably come with new hardware in September. Instead, Apple is back to removing watch face options with five more retirements:
- Fire and Water
- Gradient
- Liquid Metal
- Toy Story
- Vapor
Pour one out for each below:
Apple shared a behind-the-scenes look at how some of these faces were created when they were introduced:
At the time, Apple designer Alan Dye explained to Hodinkee why the company used practical elements and not digital effects to create some of these faces that are now being discontinued.
We probably could have done this digitally, but we actually shot all of this practically in a studio. What I love about the fact that we did this is that it’s just so indicative of how the design team works. It was really about bringing together some of our various talents to create these faces. There are of course art directors, and color experts, and graphic designers, but also model makers who helped build these structures that we would eventually, you know, set on fire.
Fire is out, Liquid Glass is in. I’m just glad my Apple Watch Series 10 has updating seconds on the analog faces that I actually use now.
