watchOS 8 beta 2 includes the Portraits watch face and it's awesome

What you need to know

• Apple released watchOS 8 beta 2 to developers yesterday.
• The update includes the new Portraits watch face for the first time.

Could this be your next watch face?

Apple released watchOS 8 beta 2 to developers yesterday and it includes one particular feature that was missing from the first beta – the Portraits watch face.

Designed to take a photo and animate it using a multilayered effect, the watch face was one of the more interesting watchOS 8 announcements. Apple describes it thus:

The Photos face is the most popular Apple Watch face, and watchOS 8 introduces new ways to view and engage with users' favorite photos right from their wrist. The new Portraits watch face brings to life stunning portrait photos shot on iPhone with an immersive, multilayered effect, intelligently recognizing faces in photos and cropping in to highlight the subject.

That definitely sounds good, but wait until you see it in action – because this could be your next watch face.

watchOS 8 b2 - Portrait watch face
Stunning animation! pic.twitter.com/OiqlVuiJXC

— domenico panacea (@domenicopanacea) June 24, 2021

My only wish? The same one I had with the Photos watch face – support for complications. Yes, I know they'd obscure the image but let me make that decision, Apple.

Apple's developer beta still has a few months to run but everyone will be able to install it on their own watch later this fall. The update will be compatible with Apple Watch Series 3 and newer, although some features will require an Apple Watch Series 6 to work.

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