Apple today released its new Apple Watch Sport Band for 2020 Pride, along with a matching band from Nike. Apple has released special Pride bands for the last couple of years, but this is the first time Nike has also joined in with the celebrations.
The new bands are available to order today from the Apple Store. The bands match new watch faces coming in watchOS 6.2.5, which we reported over the weekend.
Apple announced the new watch bands as part of a press release that highlights how this year’s LGBTQ Pride month has had to change in the light of the global coronavirus pandemic.
In normal years, communities celebrate Pride with festivals and parades. In fact, the first Apple Watch Pride band was gifted to Apple employees in 2016 as part of Apple’s official Pride March. At least for this year, events are instead taking place over the Internet.
Apple and Nike are supporting LGBTQ organizations including GLSEN, PFLAG, The Trevor Project, Gender Spectrum, The National Center for Transgender Equality, and ILGA World.
New Pride watch faces in watchOS 6.2.5
The new bands will look great when paired with the new software watch faces which will be released as part of watchOS 6.2.5. Apple is adding a 2020 variant of the Pride face to continue the design of the Pride Sport Band onto the Watch’s display. There are also new rainbow color options for several faces, including the exclusive Nike faces.
With the introduction of the 2020 Pride Edition Sport bands, Apple has discontinued the 2019 Pride Edition Sport Loop band. As for the new entry, Apple describes the process of creating the new multicolored version from multiple strips:
Find the new $49 Pride Edition bands exclusively from Apple:
- 40mm Pride Edition Sport Band
- 44mm Pride Edition Sport Band
- 40mm Pride Edition Nike Sport Band
- 44mm Pride Edition Nike Sport Band
