Ever notice how some Apple Watch models have a red ring on the Digital Crown, and others don’t? Apple used that red ring for seven models straight, then suddenly stopped. If you buy an Apple Watch from Series 10 on, you won’t find any with it. We have no idea why the company decided to abandon the red ring, but we do know why it started in the first place: It’s meant to tell you whether or not the Watch has cellular or not.

First introduced with the Apple Watch Series 3 back in 2017, the colored Digital Crown was used on all models equipped with built-in cellular connectivity. Until very recently, if the Watch didn’t have that red ring, that was your sign it relied solely on GPS. If you remember, this cell service was the focus of many Series 3 reviews at the time. It marked the first time the Apple Watch could place calls and send messages without needing to your iPhone nearby. To make that capability known, the company added the red accent to the Digital Crown on GPS + Cellular models. Models without it used the same old unaccented crown.

That all changed with the Apple Watch Ultra and the Series 10, though. In 2022, Apple introduced the Ultra model with an orange ring on the Digital Crown. Shortly after, in 2024, the list of Apple Watch Series 10 features no longer included the red ring. Instead, Digital Crown colors now match the case. Today, with the Ultra 3, Apple continues to use the orange ring on the Digital Crown and no red ring on the base Series 10s, 11s, and SEs. (The Ultra also features a matching orange customizable Action button.)

If we had to guess, Apple’s decision to drop the red ring definitely had something to do with the adoption of the orange ring for the Ultra models. It started out as a clear marker of a premium, cutting-edge feature back with the Series 3, but by the Series 10, it probably seemed a little redundant (and confusing) to have both a red ring AND an orange ring floating around. Nowadays, if you see a red ring, it’s <a href="https://jordangazette.com/heres-when-renting-a-pressure-washer-makes-more-sense-than-owning/”>more an indication that someone’s rocking with a Model 9 or earlier.