Apple celebrates Black History Month with new Watch Unity Sport Loop band and more

To celebrate Black History Month, Apple is again releasing a new Apple Watch Unity Sport Loop band, a new watch face, and several special contents across its services to celebrate the Black communities.

This year’s Black Unity Sport Loop Apple Watch band features the word “Unity” woven abstractly into the band using red, green, and black yarns that pay homage to the Pan-African flag. In contrast, a unique layering of yarns lends a sense of three-dimensionality to the letters. Additionally, the Unity Mosaic watch face incorporates geometric shapes in green, black, red, and yellow, and as the minutes change, each number uses pieces of other numbers to morph into new forms. iPhone users can also show their support with the new Unity wallpaper for their Lock Screen.

Here’s what else you can find in each Apple app:

App Store: The App Store will spotlight apps and games forging creative solutions for Black communities in areas such as music, banking, and gaming. Among these apps and games are Dot’s Home, a 2022 App Store Award-winning game designed to educate users on housing disparities experienced in communities of color, and financial wellness apps such as Goalsetter, Altro, and CapWay, which are empowering the community with financial resources. 

Apple Music: Apple Music will underscore the innumerable ways Black artists have contributed to music and culture through healing, improvisation, reinvention, and so much more across all genres. For example, the For Us, By Us playlist will be updated to capture expressions of resilience and resistance.

Apple TV app: Viewers can visit the Apple TV app to explore series and films curated by Dr. Jelani Cobb, dean of the Columbia University School of Journalism and a staff writer at The New Yorker. The theme of this year’s collections is “The Matter of Black Lives,” focusing on stories that illustrate three specific pillars: “Freedom in Black,” “Love in Spite Of,” and “The Mosaic.”

Apple Fitness Plus: The service will share new workouts featuring playlists celebrating Black artists, as well as a new meditation dedicated to Black History Month led by Fitness Plus trainer JoAnna Hardy.

Apple News: Throughout the month, Apple News will highlight compelling articles, interviews, and audio stories about the Black experience in America, including perspectives and analysis from top journalists. 

Apple Podcasts: Beginning February 1, Apple Podcasts will spotlight shows that embody the omnipresence of Blackness — the ways that Black music, media, spaces, and theory positively influence our understanding of the world and one another — from creators Bridget Todd, Bob the Drag Queen, Monét X Change, and Apple Music’s Ebro Darden. 

Apple Books: During Black History Month, Apple Books will showcase its Read More Black Authors collection, connecting readers and listeners with great books and audiobooks across different genres.