First look at the 2022 Pride Edition Bands

an introduction

Earlier this week, Apple released its special annual teams of pre-June Pride edition, also known as Pride Month. From a large company whose CEO is a member of LGBTQ+, this has been an Apple tradition for years, especially to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.

Here are some of the latest Pride Teams released by Apple this year:

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As you can see, I expanded my Pride Band collection, and as expected, I bought both bands for this year as soon as Apple announced them. Interestingly, the Nike counterpart arrived yesterday, but the default replacement didn’t arrive until noon today. Perhaps due to the increased demand for Pride’s record band, who knows? While press photos of either watch band may not do enough justice as to what the bands look like, I now have a chance to look at both in person. Without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s Nike sports squad.

Nike Sport Lube

At first glance, this year’s Nike Pride squad is basically a black version of its counterpart last year. In fact, this is the first Pride band in the Apple range to be presented in black for the background color. If you look closely, you’ll see that besides the black stripes, this band has brought additional colors to the original rainbow for the first time on a Nike Pride bracelet. These new colors include – light blue, pink and white, which represents transgender/non-binary individuals, and black/brown, which symbolizes the black and Latino communities. If you have a Nike Apple Watch Series 7, it will surely go well with the rainbow-colored Nike Bounce watch face. Otherwise, it will still go well with the new Pride Thread face with the black background.

2022 Nike Sport Loop with Pride Threads (Black Background)

Part of the 2022 Sport Loop

Standard Sport Ring

Normally, I’d save the best for last because this year’s Sport Loop is the most unique that Apple has released in its Pride range. I always appreciate Apple’s attention to detail across all of its products. For this band, Apple drew some inspiration from its “hello” branding that first became popular on the original Macintosh from 1984. The band’s designers removed some fabric loops to reveal the word “pride” in the same shape as the brand’s original “hello” cursive. This band looks somewhat similar to the 2021 Nike Pride Sport Loop, except that it also features additional colors that represent the aforementioned communities. It should be noted that as with other light-colored bands, my concern is that this band can get dirty quite easily. If this interests you, you should probably opt for the darker Nike version instead. Other than that, this is my favorite Pride Edition band that Apple released because of these design details.

2022 Sports Ring with Free Pride Thread Front (White Background)

Part of the 2022 Sport Loop

Embedded “Pride” text and popular “hello” branding

free watch faces

As mentioned earlier, Apple released its all-new “Pride Thread” face to accompany each of this year’s Pride bands. You’ll need an Apple Watch Series 4 or later (including SE) with 8.6 to get this watch face. Even better, both packages feature an app clip that lets you easily install the free watch face. If you have an iPhone with iOS 15.5, you can go to the Camera app to scan any of these app clips to get any of the identical faces shown here. I have included both of these application clips here for the benefit of all.

Application clip for the face of strands of pride

Nike Bounce Watch Face App Clip with Rainbow Background (Nike models only)

conclusion

Both watch ranges are now available to order for $49 each. Additionally, the 2021 Braided Solo Loop (Pride Edition) is still available to order for the foreseeable future. Both bands for this year are compatible with any Apple Watch model while the Braided Solo Loop is only officially compatible with Series 4 or later. Apple’s Pride Edition Watch Band was not only important to the LGBTQ+ community, but also to me personally. Although I don’t consider myself a LGBTQ+ member, I do have a friend who is not bi, and I know how inclusive/diversity they are. You know what it feels like to be left out just because you might consider yourself different. But actually, you don’t have to be afraid to be true to yourself. After all, everyone is unique, and we just have to accept that regardless of their differences. With these new bands, you will not only stay on trend for Apple Watch fans but also spread awareness even more. Let’s make society more inclusive for everyone because in the end, love always wins.

outside of each of these bands. Note the inline “pride” text.

Inside with “Pride 2022” tag