I sold my Jet Black Apple Watch and got a great deal on a Slate Titanium Series 10.

After gawking at this watch for over a year and singing its praises, it was time for a change. Trying to baby the Jet Black watch and trying to keep the screen scratch free only led to exactly that - a scratched screen. How it happened I couldn’t tell you, but it was time to let it go. I’m just glad it went to a grandma who is going to use it for Fall Detection and other health features.

I never intended to sell the watch, but when a crazy deal comes your way, you take it. Amazon was selling the Series 10 in Slate Titanium with Milanese Loop for only $450 instead of the usual $750. I jumped on the deal, and even for someone who has a lot of Apple watches it was a bit ludicrous to have 2 Series 10 models.

The Series 10 with the sapphire display has only one difference compared to the Series 11, and that is it “only” supports LTE instead of 5G. I don’t use a data plan on my watch, so I had zero desire for a Series 11.

Slate Titanium isn’t as dark as Jet Black, but it has its own appeal that I am happy with - and best of all, a screen that won’t scratch.

Apple Watch improvements I would like to see in watchOS 27.

WWDC is right around the corner, and there are quite a few Apple Watch niggles that need to be addressed. The good thing is this year has been unofficially dubbed, “the year of stability” for Apple software releases, and Apple Watch is definitely in need of stability and improvements. I’ve discussed them in detail in the past, but I’ll link all my wish list items below:

1. Smoother Swipe to Switch Watch Face

Still a broken experience that needs to go back to its watchOS 8 roots. You can see the difference between watchOS 8 and watchOS 10 onwards. It still looks like a beta feature in its current state. Notice how the time in watchOS 8 stays in sync and doesn’t have to refresh every, single, time you switch watch faces.

2. Dynamic watch face complications that utilize the 1 Hz refresh rate of the display

From a previous post:

To complicate things further, there are plenty of complications such as the digital time and digital seconds complications that would make this feature pop even more on the watch. Your always on display would look more realistic, with ticking “components” constantly updating every second without sacrificing battery life. That “magical” touch would sell more watches, because we are visual creatures, and to see the Apple Watch acting like an actual watch that ticks and doesn’t stop moving will blur the line between digital and traditional watch faces. 

Watch enthusiasts will appreciate it even more, and won’t scoff (as much) at us digital watch wearers. They will still scoff at us when they notice its quartz-like movement, but appreciate the technological step forward and will purchase one, probably a more expensive model to boot.

3. A more apparent “Apple Watch is disconnected from your phone” icon.

Dear Apple, watchOS 8 would let us know immediately when our iPhone was disconnected from the watch - please bring that back.

4. General stability

My Ultra 3 and Series 10 are very slow and have slow frame rates when going into Control Center and when using the Digital Crown to scroll rapidly between watch faces. This is more apparent on my Ultra 3 even though I set it up from scratch to see if that would fix it, to no avail. Why is the experience on my Series 5, released almost 7 years ago, smoother than a brand new “Ultra” watch?

5. Better watch face representation in Smart Stack

All new watch faces in the last 2 years have had this update and older watch faces would benefit.

Apple Watch independence for all?

Imthaz over at Volatile Inputs talking about his WWDC 2026 wishlist, ending with a banger:

The third thing is Apple Watch independence. Apple still considers the Watch an accessory to the iPhone, just like AirPods. But AirPods are not stuck to one device — you actually don’t even need an iPhone to use them. The Watch still doesn’t work that way. Last year I spent a while with an iPhone 13 Mini. The camera is what eventually pushed me away from it, but even when I considered carrying two phones, the Apple Watch killed the idea. It syncs to one phone. When I go to the gym I want a smaller device that keeps me connected. When I’m out, I want the best camera I can carry. Either the Watch intelligently switches between iPhones, or there should be something in Control Centre where you can pick which iPhone it’s paired to, the same way you switch audio output for AirPods. […]

Apple has the hardware and the ecosystem, the software just has to catch up.

I would love this feature, and to add to this, Apple Watch should also have Continuity with iPad showing you workout metrics like it does on iPhone. Sometimes you just need your iPad and your watch when working out and monitoring your metrics would be better on a bigger display while you catchup on some YouTube.

Modular Ultra watch face - how does it look on a regular Apple Watch?

I took some screenshots on my Apple Watch Ultra, put them on my regular Apple Watches, and I’m really impressed with how the Modular Ultra face looks and scales. When you choose the large time, the complications are the same size as the Modular watch face as discussed near the end of my previous piece, so you won’t notice a difference unless you use the bezel complication.

You can try it yourself with this process:

1. Save photos (linked below) to the Photos app and mark them as Favorite.

2. On Apple Watch, open the Photos app and scroll to Favorites.

3. Select the image and use the digital crown to fit the image to your display.

Images:

1. Flash color, no bezel, large time

2. White color, bezel, small time

3. Silver color, no bezel, large time

4. Blue color, bezel, large time

5. Purple color, no bezel, large time

Here are photos using the smaller 40mm, 41mm, and 42mm Apple Watch sizes being sold today.

40mm Apple Watch Series 5 Ceramic - this is the same size as the current 3rd generation Apple Watch SE.

Retro analog nostalgia with this 41mm Apple Watch Series 9 - even on the smaller size, a maxed out Modular Ultra watch face is doable, but…

I prefer the large time with 6 complications to keep it simple.

42mm Series 10 in Slate Titanium. The complications do get pushed closer together when the bezel complication is active.

42mm Series 10 in Slate Titanium.

The Modular Ultra watch face would be an upgrade for regular Apple Watch users, even when downgraded.

A new watch face for the standard Apple Watch that mimics the theme of the Modular Ultra watch face may be headed our way. From Mark Gurman’s Power On Newsletter a few weeks ago (quoted from MacRumors):

It has the same large clock as the Ultra face but removes the option for a big complication in the center, the row of three smaller complications above the time and information placed around the bezel. The result is a large clock that fills the top two-thirds of the display, with a row of three smaller complications beneath it.

Sounds unique, but a more useful watch face would be the Modular Ultra watch face the way it is.

Just keep it simple.

Most regular users will be delighted to have it since they probably don’t know about this watch face, and power users who prefer the more compact Apple Watches will also appreciate it.

It’s a win-win.

Having a maxed out Modular Ultra watch face does make things more claustrophobic, but the beauty is you can customize it how you want. If you can’t read the fine print, you can go bezel-less with the big time. If you have hawk eyes and can read the fine print, then more power to you.

Either way, it can’t be worse than the Photos watch face:

This messages complication is comically small. Who can actually read how many unread messages they have? 😅 pic.twitter.com/echnKWXqTM

— Fahadx (@onefahadx) August 7, 2025

Let’s say Apple does decide to downgrade the Modular Ultra for the normies and calls it “Modular Pro.” This watch face should have:

1. 6 circle complications.

2. One clock size option (large time with or without seconds).

3. No bezel complication.

Apple’s current Modular watch face has 6 complications, but only 5 of them are truly customizable while the 6th one is destined to be a ‘date’ complication. That ‘date’ complication takes up a whole row of pixels that could easily allow space for um, you know, 3 more complications.

Getting rid of the date complication on top would allow for 3 more complications and still plenty of space for a large digital clock.

If you remove the bezel complication, the circle complications will be the same size as those on the Modular face, making size a non-issue.

Notice how the 3 complications on the bottom grow in size when you remove the bezel complication (middle). The complications are more spaced out as well, but not as much as the standard Modular complications (right).

All of the different clock size options for Modular Ultra. The two middle options are a perfect upgrade for a new “Modular Pro” watch face.

More Zenith font in Apple Watch Ultra please.

Interesting experiment from David Smith, developer of Widgetsmith, who created his own custom fonts for his Apple Watch Ultra complications. He wanted to match the aesthetic of the Ultra’s signature font referred to as Zenith.

It’s a nice, oxymoronic, minimalist Modular Ultra watch face.

The original Mickey Mouse watch face - one of the most influential watches ever?

Many watch enthusiasts would argue against this, but you can see where Apple got its influence for the Mickey Mouse watch face. The origin story for this watch has, “Steve Jobs coming back to Apple” vibes.

From Esquire:

In 1933, two companies faced bankruptcy. One was Ingersoll-Waterbury, a watch firm that grew out of a New York Mail business. The other was Disney. A marketeer and former mink-hat salesman named Herman “Kay” Kamen rescued both — despite apparently falling asleep in the pitch meeting. His solution? A watch featuring Mickey Mouse, his yellow-gloved hands rotating to tell the time. Response to the $3.75 timepiece was immediate. Macy’s sold 11,000 the first day it went on sale, and within two years Ingersoll had added 2,800 staff to cope with demand, and an original Ingersoll Mickey was placed into a time capsule at the 1939 World’s Fair. Today, “character watches” are big news; case in point: Oris’ runaway 2023 hit, a £3,700 watch featuring Kermit the Frog. Meanwhile Mickey (and Minnie) Mouse now grace the Apple Watch and will speak the time when you press the dial. That’s progress for you.

I saw a Series 3 Apple Watch in the wild before I saw an iPhone Air in the wild.

An older nurse was wearing it while we were in the hospital, and I’m assuming it was a Series 3. It could have been a Series 2 or older, but either way it’s pretty cool to see an almost 10 year old Apple Watch being used in 2026.

It was the 38mm variant and of course she had the best Apple Watch face - Utility.

The straight-line text on her complications was a dead giveaway that it was the first-generation body. The straight-text complications look great on the more squared off body, but it was a necessity since the screen was much smaller than what the dimensions of the watch would assume.

Series 3 42mm versus Series 10 42mm.

42mm was the large size when the Series 3 was released, and now 42mm is the smaller Apple watch size.

The screen to body ratio has changed dramatically from the 1st generation design to the 4th generation design.

Buying a Milanese Loop for your aluminum Apple Watch? Think twice.

Milanese Loops are great, until they aren’t.

If you own an aluminum Apple Watch, the Milanese Loop can work with it, sometimes really well like in this Space Gray example, but you have to know its limitations.

The Milanese Loop is made out of stainless steel or Titanium, and both materials scratch glass. Technically the Titanium Milanese Loop shouldn’t scratch glass since it has a lower hardness than glass, but it could scratch the glass indirectly if there’s grit stuck in between the crevices and the silica rubs against the glass. I had a horrible experience in the past where my stainless steel Milanese Loop created scratches in a hashtag-like pattern on my aluminum Apple Watch display back in 2015.

I put my watch in my pocket when using an airplane bathroom and didn’t want to wash my hands while wearing the watch. This was when Apple Watches were not officially water resistant, so I didn’t want to take any chances. Funny thing is I would have been better off wearing the watch while washing my hands to avoid what was to come…

I came out of the bathroom and held my daughter on my lap, and she was naturally bouncing around on my lap like any 3-year old would. The watch was still in my pocket (I forgot all about it), directly underneath her bottom, and it was getting pummeled unbeknownst to me as she was squirming around. In the end the Milanese Loop left the hashtag pattern of scratches on the display which is why I avoid aluminum Apple Watches altogether. I made an exception for Jet Black last year, but I knew not to wear a Milanese Loop with it, nor put it in my pocket.

If you do choose to get a Milanese Loop for an aluminum Apple Watch, be extra careful and don’t allow the band to sit on the glass. This is not a problem if you get a Stainless Steel or Titanium Apple Watch since the display is made of sapphire.

How to share your Apple Watch face with others.

After yesterday’s advice, it only seems right to explain how to share your watch face with others:

1. Go to the Watch app.
2. Select the watch face you want to share.
3. Click on the Share icon.

Maybe there is a way you can save your favorite Apple Watch face from being eliminated?

With watchOS 11, Apple discontinued several watch faces, the most notable one being the Explorer watch face. The cancelling continued with watchOS 26, with more (admittedly worth cancelling) watch faces that got burned and bit the dust. I’m not sure how Apple decides what faces to discontinue, but it has to be based on user preference. Apple has a ton of data on what Apple Watches are active, and they must know what watch faces are actively being used. There is probably a different metric for a watch face being active on your display, vs a watch face that is in your carousel of watch faces but isn’t actively being used. You made the watch face, but it rarely becomes your active watch face.

My guess is if you really want a particular Apple Watch face to live another year, make sure you’re actively using that watch face. If you want to go beyond the call of duty, you can share and promote that watch face to your friends, family, and even foes. The more people using it, the less likely it will be discontinued (at least that’s my theory).

In that regard, I’m evangelizing the Motion Watch face with the beautiful Jellyfish.

watchOS 27 feature request: more triple, bite-sized widgets in Smart Stack please.

Smart Stack is great, but it becomes a drag to scroll through all your widgets when you just need a lot of different, small bits of information as quick as possible. I love the default triple widget, but can we get more than one as an option? I know it will eat into my total widget count, but I’m OK with 6 of my 10 widgets being tied up into 2 blocks.

There are other triple widgets such as alarms, messages, and even the weather widget, but I want the truly independent triple widget that is not a subset of a particular app. My 2 triple widget setup would look like this:

1. Messages

2. Digital seconds

3. Weather temperature

4. Activity Rings

5. Prayer timings

6. Start a Workout

Apple shows off rare prototypes to the Wall Street Journal.

Nice little video with Tim Cook and Ben Cohen from the Wall Street Journal talking about key moments in Apple’s history, showing some rare prototypes, and, “one more thing” from the Wall Street Journal for Tim Cook. Worth a watch.

Summer’s (almost) here, which means two tragedies and one adjustment…

The tragedies are real:

1. No more secret stash of chocolate in my car - it would melt before I could say, “milk chocolate with almonds is the best.” You could also file this “tragedy” under the, “blessing in disguise” category.

2. I have to iron my shirts again - jackets keep wrinkly shirts hidden in the winter, and lab coats at work keep wrinkles hidden all year long, but stepping out and touching some grass would require me to iron my shirts again.

One tech adjustment I’ve noticed so far:

1. I need to add one more link to my link bracelet to get a comfortable fit due to heat-induced wrist expansion. Do note - Apple only sells extra links for the larger 46mm link bracelet, so don’t lose your links if you use the smaller 42mm bracelet.

The European Union gets major features with iOS 26.5 Beta 1

Juli Clover at MacRumors mentions all the new features as part of her iOS 26.5 Beta 1 coverage:

European Union Third-Party Wearable Changes

Apple is working on new interoperability features in the EU to comply with the requirements of the Digital Markets Act. Apple has tested these features in prior betas, but the Live Activity sharing feature is new.

Proximity pairing - Devices like earbuds will be able to pair with an iOS device in an AirPods-like way by bringing the accessory close to an iPhone or iPad to initiate a simple, one-tap pairing process. Pairing third-party devices will no longer require multiple steps.

Notifications - Third-party accessories like smart watches will be able to receive notifications from the iPhone. Users will be able to view and react to incoming notifications, which is a capability normally limited to the Apple Watch. Notifications can only be forwarded to one connected device at a time, and turning on notifications for a third-party device disables notifications to an Apple Watch. Notifications from select apps can be forwarded, or from all apps.

Live Activities - Live Activities are able to sync to a third-party wearable, similar to other notifications. This is a feature that appears to be new to iOS 26.5.

There's no word on when the EU third-party wearable features will launch, and Apple also tested them in the iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 betas before removing them when the software was released to the public.

Proximity pairing sounds neat and convenient, but Notifications and Live Activities on third-party smart watches sounds like a huge mess:

1. What if the manufacturer of a 3rd-party smartwatch releases an update that accidentally breaks iPhone notification compatibility?

2. With Apple Watch, you can pair up to 5 Apple Watches with one iPhone and easily switch them out to activate them, simply by wearing the other watch. Notifications only go to the Apple Watch you’re wearing. How smooth will the transition be when going from a 3rd-party watch to an Apple Watch or vice versa?

3. What 3rd party devices will be supported and for how many years? iPhone and Apple Watch compatibility already has a lot of tiers depending on how far back you go, but you almost need a Doctorate just to figure out if an iPhone and Apple Watch are compatible. I can’t even imagine how that will be for 3rd party devices.

Smart Stack on Apple Watch needs this cool upgrade for older watch faces.

If you notice all of Apple’s newer watch faces, they have a mini version of said watch face in Smart Stack. It’s a nice little touch that Apple cares about, but not enough to back port it to older watch faces.

At least, not yet.

We had a similar issue when the Series 10 was released, with only 3 watch faces having the Always On Display with ticking seconds hand. I won’t give Apple too much grief over this Smart Stack request because they didn’t announce it as a feature of the watch. They didn’t get on stage and say:

“We’ve updated Smart Stack to have a more lively watch face in the corner, giving you a more intimate look at the time representing your current watch face.”

Every new watch face since the debut of the Series 10 has this new feature. Take a look at Flux for example:

The smaller time in Smart Stack looks and behaves just like the real version with the solid line filling up the screen.

Here are more examples of newer watch faces having this feature:

Apple started keeping the “soul” of the watch face in Smart Stack.

The detail is pretty impressive, especially for Exactograph and Waypoint. In Waypoint, the compass is actually functional in Smart Stack which is overkill, but cool. We need some of this love for older watch faces. I say “some” because it doesn’t make sense for certain watch faces, and the generic analog and digital watch faces are fine.

Here are some analog watch faces that could be spruced up:

BEFORE: Notice how the Utility watch face is used as the generic Smart Stack watch face for most analog faces.

AFTER: Smart Stack keeps the watch face identity intact.

There’s also a ton of digital watch faces that could use this new feature: For example, having the digital time with a small typeface doesn’t make sense on the X-Large face, which is all about accessibility. In Artist, sure the color is matched in Smart Stack, but the face can be shrunken down to fit with similar sized font as the current digital clock.

Before - not enough distinction with just a few color variations.

After - Each watch face keeps its identity and makes Smart Stack a fun place to hang out.

Will we see an updated Smart Stack in watchOS 27? Maybe, but let’s hope we also get smoother swipes between watch faces.

Apple releases updates for watchOS 5 and watchOS 8 in order to keep core functions alive.

Juli Clover from MacRumors:

watchOS 5.3.10 is available for the Apple Watch Series 1, Series 2, Series 3, and Series 4, while watchOS 8.8.2 is available for the Apple Watch Series 3, Series 4, Series 5, Series 6, Series 7, and original Apple Watch SE.

According to Apple's release notes, the updates extend the certificate that features like device activation, iMessage, and FaceTime need to function. The certificate update ensures that these apps and features will continue to work after January 2027, which is when the existing certificate was set to expire.

watchOS 8 is the final version of watchOS that's supported on the Apple Watch Series 3.

watchOS 5 is the final version of watchOS able to be installed on an Apple Watch Series 1 or Series 2 using an iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, or iPhone 6 Plus. The Series 1 and Series 2 do support watchOS 6, but installing watchOS 6 requires an iPhone 6s or later.

To add to Juli’s bit:

• Series 4, Series 5, and the original Apple Watch SE can be updated to watchOS 10, but watchOS 10 requires an iPhone XR, XS, or later, and relearning the controls.

• Series 6 and Series 7 can be updated to watchOS 26, but watchOS 26 requires an iPhone 11 or later, or iPhone SE 2nd generation or later.

Update to Series 5 Ceramic Apple Watch hands-on.

Posted in my official hands-on, but just in case you want the “line notes” of what was updated:

1. Series 5 Smart Stack only holds 6 widgets. The Series 9, 10, 11, Ultra 2, and Ultra 3 can have 10 widgets. I’m sure the SE 3 can also support 10 widgets since it has the same S10 processor (what qualifies as a widget?).

2. Added some photos with the neon yellow band.

   1. On wrist

   2. Off wrist

Apple corrected its spelling mistake for turmeric.

Updated my watch to the latest watchOS 26.4 Developer Beta, and lo and behold, they spelled it right. Maybe someone at Apple does read my posts? I’m quite flattered.

New updates for old Apple Watches says a lot about what people are really using.

Apple just released new software updates for older iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches, but let’s just focus on Apple Watches for now. From Aaron Perris (reported by 9to5Mac):

Apple has released the following new software updates:

watchOS 10.6.2 (build 21U594)

watchOS 9.6.4 (build 20U512)

watchOS 6.3.1 (build 17U224)

These releases are all for older versions of iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch software. […]

Per Apple’s online support documents, they appear to be focused on extending iMessage, FaceTime, and device activation certifications on older devices.

From Apple’s website regarding the Big Sur update:

“This update extends the certification required by features such as iMessage, FaceTime, and device activation to continue working after January 2027.”

watchOS 10 is actually smoother than watchOS 26 in a lot of ways, partly because Liquid Glass has made watchOS more buggy and even my iPad Pro 4th generation isn’t as speedy as it was on iPadOS 18. This update isn’t much of a surprise, but I’m glad they have extended compatibility for these older watches, especially the Series 5.

watchOS 9.6.4 is a “black hole” version of watchOS because all watches compatible with watchOS 9 (Series 4, 5, SE 1st gen), are able to upgrade to watchOS 10, but if it is synced to an iPhone 8 or iPhone X, it won’t upgrade to watchOS 10.

That means we still have a lot of iPhone 8 and iPhone X users out there. Phones released in late 2017.

WatchOS 6.3.1 is compatible with, wait for it, the Series 1, released back in September 2016. It featured the same dual-core processor as the Series 2, while the original Apple Watch was too slow for its own good.

The main reason for all these updates: to extend device functionality past January 2027.

Wow.

It’s great that they released the update now because it might take till January 2027 to sync your iPhone 6S Plus with your Apple Watch Series 1. And yes, there are still people using an iPhone 6S Plus.