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

[MacRumors]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

 

[dmr727]

My 5yo daughter loves changing and playing around with different faces on my Watch. She's gonna love this.

 

[sydneysider88]

This is the nicest Pride face in a long time. 🏳️‍🌈 I'm happily on watchOS 11.6.2 but would use this if I weren't. 🤠

 

[Madonepro]

It does look great, and its ability to display to select your own order of colours is good, but why call it ‘Pride’?

 

[4k78]

This is going to be fun read. And by that, I mean a total cluster.

 

[jwsf28]

Why call it ‘Pride’? Is it a simple bandwagon jump, to attach it to a cause.

It does look great, and its ability to display to select your own order of colours is good.

Oh god stop crying and just use it.

 

[-BigMac-]

Oh god stop crying and just use it.

Why do you like Apple being so political? Aren't they a tech company?

 

[needsomecoffee]

Imagine what creativity might be realized if Apple allowed non-Apple artists to design watch faces. Think about it JohnT.

 

[Entilzha]

It’s the first pride face I’ll actually use on occasion, because I can actually choose colors I like.

Wish they’d implement that capability in the other ones as well.

 

[jwsf28]

Why do you like Apple being so political? Aren't they a tech company?

It's not political you potato.

 

[mavis]

I wish they'd spend even half as much time developing useful watch faces (like Modular Ultra) as they do pretty watch faces. 😞

 

[Madonepro]

Imagine what creativity might be realized if Apple allowed non-Apple artists to design watch faces. Think about it JohnT.

They also miss an opportunity to allow purchases of Hermes Bands, to have the Hermes watch face collection accessible.

 

[Madonepro]

I wish they'd spend even half as much time developing useful watch faces (like Modular Ultra) as they do pretty watch faces. 😞

I agree. I’d like to see watch faces opened up, to allow third party faces with the same system integration.
We bought the watches, so we should be allowed to decide what we put on them.

 

[-BigMac-]

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

 

[Regbial]

at least you can vaguely tell the minutes with this one..

 

[jwsf28]

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

Well continue to cry about it and maybe you'll get your way. Probably not, but I'm sure you'll continue to cry anyway, huh? Lemme know if you need me to find you a safe space for all the scary pride watch faces 🙄

 

[tonywalker23]

Can someone post some pics of what it would like like with just six colors in the order of the original Apple logos

 

[macbeth1026]

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.

 

[DocMultimedia]

Certainly the biggest rumor in years. I'm guessing Gurman was all over this one! /s

 

[gleepskip]

Can someone post some pics of what it would like like with just six colors in the order of the original Apple logos

There is no "order." You can only pick the colors you want included. Selecting colors in a specific sequence influences the output.

 

[Madonepro]

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.

Word of warning, some comments could end up moderated if we venture too far off topic, and into certain topics.

 

[gummybear2026]

This watch face is the reason we need 3rd party watch faces! Apple catering to a small demographic is missing the big picture.

 

[AlanBeyond]

This design doesn't align with the liquid glass philosophy at all... ugly. I was hoping apple would come up with a set of wall papers that actually glassy. Plus can apple stop making analog watch faces that are hard to tell time? I have to switch back to digital ones. ADD THE MINUTE INDEXES!

 

[TooMuchPhone]

Apple needs to focus on tech - my MacBook Pro screen saver stutters when refresh rate is set to promotion yet people think this is a good use of resources?