iOS 17: How to Use iPhone's New StandBy Mode

[MacRumors]

StandBy is a new Lock Screen mode in iOS 17 that activates when an ‌iPhone‌ is charging and positioned on its side. Here's everything you need to know to get started using the feature.

How to Activate StandBy

StandBy can thought of as a kind of smart display for your iPhone that offers fast access to different screens of glanceable information that can be viewed at a distance, when your device is charging on a kitchen, desk, or nightstand, for example. If you charge your iPhone at night, StandBy adapts to low light and takes on a red tone. StandBy mode is available on all iPhone models that support iOS 17, but the ability to use StandBy mode's always-on feature is limited to iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro models.

To activate StandBy when enabled, your iPhone needs to be locked and charging on a MagSafe or Qi-based wireless charger, or a Lightning charger. The main things to remember are that the iPhone needs to be locked, fixed in a stationary horizontal (or landscape) orientation, and positioned at an angle (i.e. not on a flat surface), so a charging stand is necessary in most cases.

StandBy is on by default, but you can enable or disable it manually by going to Settings -> StandBy and toggling the StandBy switch.

Customizing Different StandBy Screens

StandBy is made up of three screens that can be accessed by swiping horizontally on your iPhone's display. The first screen displays interactive widgets, the second showcases individual photos from your Photos library, and the third is a large clock.

Widgets Screen

The widgets screen is comprised of two interactive widget stacks displayed side by side that you can swipe through up and down independently. The stacks are like blown-up versions of Home Screen widget stacks, and even include the same options like Smart Rotate and Widget Suggestions.

Since many widgets have interactive elements, you can, for example, tick off to-do items in a Reminders list. If you tap on a widget that isn't interactive, such as the Calendar, an arrow indicator appears on the screen. Tapping the arrow takes you to the associated app, which helps to avoid accidentally launching the app.

To customize a widget stack, long press on it. After Face ID has unlocked your iPhone, the stack will center on the screen in jiggle mode. You can add widgets to the stack using the + button in the top left, and turn Smart Rotate and Widget Suggestions on and off using the buttons on the right.

Photos Screen

StandBy's photos screen is also interactive and customizable. Tapping the location/date of the photo activates Face ID and then takes you to the image in your Photo Library.

By default, StandBy will display featured photos and memories plucked from your library, but a long press on the photo and Face ID unlock lets you swipe between specific themes including Nature, Pets, Cities, and People. You can also add specific albums to be displayed using the + button, and hide themes that you don't like using the eye icon.

Clock Screen

StandBy's third screen shows the time and date in various themes that you can swipe through vertically. These include Digital, Analogue, World, Solar, and Float. Some themes also show additional information like the temperature or your next alarm. If you press and hold on a clock, you can swipe up and down through the different themes and also change the colors of some themes by tapping the white circular button and selecting a different color swatch.

Float shows the time in big bubble numbers in customizable colors, while Solar has more of a standard font with a solar flare design in different colors. Similarly, the Analog theme has customizable accent colors, and Digital has bold numbers with different color options. The World theme shows the time with a map of the world and your current location highlighted, and is the only theme that can't be color-customized.

Night Mode

At night, StandBy mode will get darker if the room you're in is dark, and the display will adopt a red tint, so that it is not distracting at night while you're sleeping. It's called Night mode, and it's similar to Nightstand Mode on the Apple Watch, since it functions in much the same way.

But what if you're not sleeping and you'd rather see StandBy mode at its standard brightness level without the red tint? Fortunately, there's a setting that will prevent Night mode from activating. The following steps show you how it's done.

1. When your iPhone is not in StandBy mode, open the Settings app.
2. Tap StandBy Mode.
3. Tap Display.
4. Toggle off the switch next to Night Mode so that it is in the gray OFF position.

Notifications, Live Activities, and Siri

By default, incoming notifications will be shown full screen when you have your ‌iPhone‌ in StandBy mode. So if you get an iMessage, for example, it will pop up with the name of the person and the Messages icon to let you know you have a message.

If you'd rather have StandBy hide the preview of a notification until you tap it, go to Settings ➝ StandB... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: iOS 17: How to Use iPhone's New StandBy Mode

 

[Cam Elppa]

Its is a shame always on screen doesn’t apply to an iPhone 12 even if it is on charge while in StandBy mode.

 

[Jozone]

Does anyone know what stand that is?

 

[mook]

Does anyone know what stand that is?

12 South Forté for iPhone

 

[O.N.Y.X]

Works great on my 14 Pro. I absolutely love the analogue clock. But: I am a bit worried about the OLED display. What are the chances for a burn-in?

 

[I7guy]

Works great on my 14 Pro. I absolutely love the analogue clock. But: I am a bit worried about the OLED display. What are the chances for a burn-in?

I’m if the opinion use the iPhone “like you stole it.” Having said that we don’t know if there are any mitigation technologies built into standby mode.

 

[3rdiguy]

But not on iPad?

 

[barbu]

I find the charger awareness has been working fine, and not only with MagSafe. When I plug it in the old fashioned way on my nightstand, it activates the correct clock whereas if at my kitchen counter on the magnetic stand, it knows to show the smaller clock with the calendar and home stuff etc.

 

[FelixDerKater]

I'm glad to see this story to know how to turn it off.

 

[WitchDrAsh2]

Hopefully this charger aware is made available in shortcuts because I have an automation that enables and disables sleep focus when attached to a charger after 9pm, unfortunately this triggers if I’m in my office and place my phone on a charger in there

 

[_Spinn_]

This will be a very nice feature!

 

[midg8]

Would love to have standby mode when not charging as well. If the phone is landscape and not flat, turn on standby mode.

I keep my phone on my desk, on a stand, but not always plugged in so that I can extend the life of my phone battery. Would be nice to have the standby screen displayed instead of a dark screen.

 

[Henry S]

I use my phone as an alarm clock, but I lay it face down at night because I don't want to see what time it is if I wake up during the night.

 

[zoemacuser]

Sometimes there's a little green phone icon at the top center of the Standby screen. I tap it and the screen goes blank. Does anyone know what that is, please?

 

[timmodugdale]

I would like to see all the Apple Watch faces available on StandBy

 

[Graphikos]

Pretty cool feature. I just got a few new dock/stands to use around the house.

It's a bit crazy that there isn't a digital clock widget. The FindMy widget just goes grey for me most of the time. It's cool that it shows when notifications come in but it seems a bit selective when it shows the content of that notification. Text messages don't seem to show at all, which is annoying. They need to expand the notification settings for an app and have settings for StandBy, just like Lock Screen. I haven't tested the multi-location stuff yet. It's not crazy important if that works but I can see it being useful.

 

[DotCom2]

delete

 

[everydayslang]

Honestly, I'm kinda underwhelmed. For something so simple, the layout has terrible discoverability. I don't mean the requirement that it's charging + sideways + locked to activate, I think that's clever. I mean the widget, but not widget layout.

There's nothing to indicate that there are three horizontal spaces. There's vertical pagination markers for the widget-stacks on the first space, but no indication that you can move horizontally.

Then there's the strange difference between the spaces. 1 with 2-panes and 2 with 1-pane. So now each space has their own predetermined use (custom side-by-side, photo-only, clock-only). Widgets everywhere else are complete custom and optional, that's why they're fun. Also we've never seen a full-screen widget before, weird, but cool.

And for some reason now we're not able to remove widgets. We can only change up the widget-stack. I feel trapped. I can't find a layout that I actually like all that much.

I have so many questions. Why can't I have just one space? or unlimited spaces? Why can't I use the small or medium sized widgets? Why can't I remove the various clock-faces from the widget-stack? It's just so weird, and for no reason.

I feel like this is a case where less would have been more. Had they just implemented widgets here in the most vanilla-esque manner it would be waaaaaay better. Or what they should have done is just brought a bunch of the Apple Watch faces to widgets and introduces a new XL full-screen widget size... along with this clever charging + sideways + locked to activate scenario.

If it take someone several paragraphs to explain all the different caveats, then I think it's poorly designed.