Despite Apple’s announcements, it’s not just the Siri dial that has been removed with watchOS 11, but four different designs. While the American company has presented two new dials adapted to the Apple Watch 10, Apple has also removed Chronograph, Explorer and Numbers.
Several dials less
From left to right: Siri, Chronograph, Exploration and Numbers
Chronograph
Chronograph was one of the original watch faces on the first-generation Apple Watch. It coexisted with Chronograph Pro from watchOS 7 to watchOS 10. Chronograph Pro takes the same racing stopwatch concept, but adapts it to the screens of newer watches. It offers more detail, but in essence, it no longer offers a stripped-down version of the stopwatch.
Exploration
The omission of the Exploration watch face is particularly notable. Introduced with the Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE, this watch face was exclusively available on cellular-enabled models. It was distinguished by its three red and white hands and was the only watch face to display a cellular signal indicator for several years, until watchOS added the feature to other watch faces, but without replicating Exploration’s distinct style.
Numbers
The Numbers watch face is also gone in watchOS 11. This analog watch face, which debuted with watchOS 6, featured a numeric index behind analog hands and could include a complication. The color and style were customizable, and the number moved around the face.
Possible reasons
The removal of watch faces in a new version of watchOS may be motivated by a combination of factors related to user experience (such as battery life or empty space on a large screen), new design rules, legal considerations, and Apple’s overall strategy to unify branding across devices.
If you are disappointed with these withdrawals, you can check out the discussion thread on Reddit where Apple Watch users are complaining about the various watch faces that have been removed since the arrival of watchOS 11. All the watch faces available on listed on the page dedicated to watchOS.
