---
title: Setting the app’s accent color
framework: watchos-apps
role: article
role_heading: Article
path: watchos-apps/setting-the-app-s-accent-color
---

# Setting the app’s accent color

Set your app’s accent color.

## Overview

Overview Every Apple Watch app has an accent color that the system applies to the following UI elements: The app’s title string in the status bar The app’s name in short-look notifications You can access the accent color from the accentColor property. note: If your accent color is dark, your text may not be legible against the black background. Consider lightening or saturating your accent color to improve the contrast. Set the accent color Xcode automatically configures an asset catalog that includes the accent color when you create a new project. To set the color, open the WatchKit App’s Assets.xcassets file, select the AccentColor color set, and then select the AccentColor cell. You can then change the color using the Color section of the Attributes inspector. For example, to specify the RGB values for a color, change the Content to sRGB and then modify the values using the sliders.

Alternatively, you can click the Show Color Panel button, and select a color from the system color panel. Update existing projects If you’re updating an older project, you can manually set up the asset catalog. To set the accent color: Open the WatchKit App’s asset catalog. Select the Editor > Add New Asset > Color Set menu item to add a new color set to the asset catalog. In the WatchKit app’s Build Settings, set the Global Accent Color Name to your color set’s name.

Support older operating systems In watchOS 6 and earlier, set the Global Tint property instead of the Global Accent Color. To set this property, open the storyboard, and select the File inspector.

Click the Global Tint pop-up button to display a menu with several preexisting colors, plus the option to open a color picker and specify a custom color.

## See Also

### User interface

- [Building a productivity app for Apple Watch](watchos-apps/building-a-productivity-app-for-apple-watch.md)
- [Supporting multiple watch sizes](watchos-apps/supporting-multiple-watch-sizes.md)
- [Designing your app for the Always On state](watchos-apps/designing-your-app-for-the-always-on-state.md)