Apple Bringing New Portrait Mode Photo Watch Face to watchOS 8 - MacRumors
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Apple Bringing New Portrait Mode Photo Watch Face to watchOS 8

In watchOS 8, Apple has redesigned the Photos watch face on Apple Watch, adding a special layout that generates a more depth-like, layered look when viewing Portrait Mode pictures.

watch face watchos8
When viewing photos shot in Portrait Mode on iPhone, the new ‌Photos‌ watch face can generate an animated three-dimensional effect, activated by turning the Digital Crown on Apple Watch.

Related Roundups: watchOS 26, WWDC 2026

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Top Rated Comments

63 months ago
Almost feels like they mailed this entire presentation in. Completely unexciting. For watchOS, they need more and better watch faces. An option to temporarily lock digital crown on interactive watch faces would help a lot for those who wear on right arm with crown to the fingers.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
63 months ago
I can't believe the length of time they spent talking about this...
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
63 months ago
How about making the digital crown do something useful?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
63 months ago
8 watchOS versions and we *still* don’t have a Weather watch face.

Seriously, it makes so much sense. They already have the concept of the beautiful weather renders in the Weather app on iPhone. Why can’t I get an animated watch face that shows the current weather when I raise my wrist?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
szw-mapple fan Avatar
63 months ago

How about making the digital crown do something useful?
Using it as a cursor for text input was pretty neat imo.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309 Avatar
63 months ago
interesting statement that the photo watch face is the most popular one - how do they know that?
Personally, I have tested it when I got my 1st AW in 2015 but never used it ...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)