Apple releases new watch band, wallpaper and more for Black History Month

Apple releases new watch band, wallpaper and more for Black History Month

Apple’s 2023 Unity watch band, watch face and wallpaper have a really cool geometric pattern using Pan-African colors.
Photo: Apple

Apple has released a special new Apple Watch band, watch face and iPhone wallpaper celebrating Black History Month. Apple has done this every February in 2021 and 2022.

The Black Unity Sport Loop is available today in the online store and in “select Apple Store locations beginning January 24” Apple said in its press release. It will cost $49, the same price as other Sport Loop bands. The watch face and iPhone background will be released in a software update next week.

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Exclusive Unity Apple Watch band and wallpaper

The yellow is an optical illusion. It only has red and green stitching.

This year’s Apple Watch band features the word “unity” written geometrically across the whole band using the colors of the Pan-African flag. According to Apple, the “unique layering of yarns lends a sense of three-dimensionality to the letters.” These aren’t limited to the month of February — you can still buy the Watch bands from last year and the year before.

The matching watch face uses big geometric numerals that morph into each other as the time changes. There will be a matching iPhone wallpaper with similar shapes and colors for your lock screen as part of watchOS 9.3 and iOS 16.3, to be released next week.

Special coverage across all Apple services

• In the App Store, you will find “apps and games forging creative solutions for Black communities in areas such as music, banking and gaming,” Apple said.
• Apple Music will curate a For Us, By Us playlist that will highlight Black artists’ influence on music and culture.
• Apple TV will have a selection of films picked by Dr. Jelani Cobb, a staff writer at The New Yorker and dean of the Columbia University School of Journalism.
• Apple Fitness+ will have “new workouts featuring playlists celebrating Black artists,” Apple said, alongside new episodes of Time to Walk and Time to Run.
• Apple News will collect stories and interviews “about the Black experience in America, including perspectives and analysis from top journalists” and highlight pieces from Black-led newsrooms, Apple said.
• Apple Podcasts will feature shows all about how “Black music, media, spaces and theory” have influenced the world around us.
• In Apple Books, you can find a collection of Black authors’ books and audiobooks for every genre.
• Apple Maps has three new guides from The Smithsonian that show the key landmarks of history: the early 20th century, the civil rights movement and the last forty years.