Apple Drops Five Watch Faces Ahead of watchOS 26

In a notable surprise revealed through today’s WWDC session, Apple is removing five iconic watch faces—Fire and Water, Gradient, Liquid Metal, Toy Story, and Vapor—from watchOS 26. This decision, confirmed by sources like 9to5Mac and Times of India, marks a clear shift in Apple’s design and development priorities for its smartwatch platform.

While watchOS 26 lands this fall packed with fresh features—Liquid Glass styling, Workout Buddy AI, live translation, wrist-flick controls, and more—some users noticed the line-up feels less familiar. The removal of beloved faces may spark a debate: is Apple tightening control to steer the design toward its new aesthetic, or are these legacy elements simply too dated to maintain?

For Apple, consolidating the watch face library helps reinforce consistency with the brand‑new “Liquid Glass” interface that stretches across all 26‑branded OS versions. It also lightens maintenance for software updates and paves the way for introducing modern animated faces that better showcase the evolving UI system.

That said, fans of the distinctive Fire and Water or playful Toy Story faces will feel the pinch. Apple hasn’t confirmed replacements, but with a refreshed UI foundation, it’s likely that new faces will debut alongside watchOS 26, aligning with Apple’s renewed visual direction.

TechBooky readers gearing up for the fall should take note: upgrading to watchOS 26 means losing access to these five faces. Whether Apple’s aesthetic streamlining introduces better alternatives—or triggers an outcry from Watch aficionados—will shape the launch’s reception.

In short, Apple’s watch face cull is more than cosmetic; it reflects a broader strategy to harmonize visual identity across devices, simplify software upkeep, and push users toward a sleeker, unified interface. But trimming legacy options always risks alienating a loyal user base just as the Watch gears up to feel smarter, sleeker, and more consistent.