The Apple Watch’s new sizes make shopping for bands more confusing

The Apple Watch Series 7 was one of the many announcements made during Apple’s “California Streaming” event, sharing the stage alongside the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro, a new iPad Mini with USB-C charging, and more. The watch comes in new 41mm and 45mm case sizing, moving away from the 40mm and 44mm sizing that has been the standard for the last few generations of Apple Watch.

As expected, Apple updated its online inventory of Watch bands accordingly for the new sizes. But many of them no longer list options for the 38, 40, 42, and 44mm sizing options for all of the bands. While it might appear at first that Apple has unceremoniously eradicated support for all previous models, don’t worry, it didn’t do that. However, the company did make it slightly more confusing to quickly find the accessory made for your watch size.

This breakdown should make it easier to choose.

If you see a band you like that’s 41mm-sized, this implicitly indicates that they’ll work with 38mm and 40mm cases, too. The 45mm bands will work with Apple Watch models that have 42mm or 44mm cases. To make doubly sure that you’re getting a size that’s compatible with your watch, Apple’s site offers up compatibility details right beneath the sizing options, so be sure to click that if you’re skeptical.

Shopping for solo loop bands is just a little more complicated, but nothing new there. In case you didn’t know, they’re compatible only with Apple Watch SE, the Series 4, and newer models. For 40mm and 41mm-sized Apple Watch models, you can get solo loop bands in the size range of one through nine, whereas the 44mm and 45mm models work with band sizes four through 12. If that sizing reads like gibberish to you, the solo loop requires you to take a measurement of your wrist size to find the size that lines up with Apple’s sizing guidelines.

To reiterate, bands made for the smaller of the two new sizes work with the previous, smaller-sized Apple Watch models, and vice versa. Getting a bigger-sized Apple Watch band basically ensures it’ll work with previous wearables that were the biggest sizing option of their respective generation.

I hope this tip helps you find a watch band that fits your watch. While it might be confusing at first, it’s fairly easy to commit to memory once you know about it.