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A Closer Look at watchOS 26.5's New Luminance Watch Face

With watchOS 26.5, Apple is introducing a Pride Luminance face, and it's one of the most versatile and customizable watch faces. There are pre-configured color options, but the face also supports custom colors.

ios 26 5 luminance colors 2
You can select 1 to 12 colors from a palette that has every color of the rainbow, some in-between shades, and black, white, brown, and gray.

ios 26 5 watch face color options
The colors you pick are distributed across the watch face in a gradient, available in either radial or linear styles. The first style looks like a starburst, while the second style is a series of rectangular lines.

ios 26 5 watch face design options
The dial can be set to Rectangle for edge-to-edge color, or Circle for a smaller dial that supports four complications.

As with most of Apple's faces, the Luminance face is animated. When the wrist is down, it shrinks into slim lines of color on a black background, but when the wrist is raised, the full color palette is displayed. Colors will also shift slowly.

watchos 26 5 luminance wrist down
Apple's pre-selected colors represent different Pride flag colors, but with the deep customization options, the Pride Luminance face can match clothing, show off support for sports teams, or just display your favorite colors.

watchos 26 5 luminance color options
iOS 26.5 also has a matching Pride Luminance Wallpaper option that can be customized in the same way. You can choose up to 12 colors for the Lock Screen and Home Screen. On the Lock Screen, the colors collapse onto a black background when the device is locked.

ios 26 5 luminance wallpaper
To get the new watch face, you need iOS 26.5 and watchOS 26.5. Apple has released RCs, and the public versions of the updates are expected as soon as next week.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Related Roundup: watchOS 26
Related Forum: Apple Watch

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Top Rated Comments

-BigMac- Avatar
2 hours ago at 04:16 pm

Oh god stop crying and just use it.
Why do you like Apple being so political? Aren't they a tech company?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mavis Avatar
2 hours ago at 04:20 pm
I wish they'd spend even half as much time developing useful watch faces (like Modular Ultra) as they do pretty watch faces. 😞
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2 hours ago at 04:08 pm
This is going to be fun read. And by that, I mean a total cluster.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Madonepro Avatar
2 hours ago at 04:05 pm
It does look great, and its ability to display to select your own order of colours is good, but why call it ‘Pride’?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macbeth1026 Avatar
1 hour ago at 04:55 pm

If Apple released a watch face celebrating gun rights, Christianity, Brexit or ‘traditional family values’, everyone would instantly call it political. The only reason Pride gets called ‘not political’ is because some politics become socially protected from being labelled politics
Because all of those things are elective viewpoints to take. No one is born with a gun in their hand, born a Christian, born believing the UK leaving the EU is a good thing, or born with traditional values. Granted, I take a skeptical stance when it comes to potential instances of corporate rainbow-washing, but the fact of the matter is those in that community still face considerable prejudice, and thus efforts to normalize them are warranted. None of those things are intrinsic to someone. The comparison on its face is ridiculous at first principles. People who choose to somehow still hold reactionary views against the gay community in 2026 are the ones choosing to politicize the mere existence of an entire group of people. People like me who hold the correct view wouldn't choose to politicize the existence of that community, were it not for a political process still being needed to protect their rights.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
-BigMac- Avatar
2 hours ago at 04:30 pm

It's not political you potato.
If Apple released a watch face celebrating gun rights, Christianity, Brexit or ‘traditional family values’, everyone would instantly call it political. The only reason Pride gets called ‘not political’ is because some politics become socially protected from being labelled politics
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)