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iOS 17 Lock Screen Features: StandBy and Interactive Widgets

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Apr 12, 2001
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With iOS 16, Apple introduced a whole new look for the Lock Screen complete with widgets and customizability, and in iOS 17, the Lock Screen was further refined. Widgets are more useful than ever before, and there's a new StandBy mode that turns your iPhone into an information hub when it's not in use.

iOS-17-Lockscreen-Feature.jpg

This guide highlights everything that's new with the Lock Screen in iOS 17.

StandBy

StandBy is a Lock Screen mode that activates when an iPhone is plugged into a charger and positioned in a horizontal (or landscape) orientation. It works with a MagSafe charger, which is arguably the most useful way to use it, but it also activates with a Qi-based wireless charger or a Lightning charger.


If you have an Apple Watch, it's similar to Nightstand mode, but it does more than Nightstand mode is capable of.


There are several different StandBy screens that you can choose from, some of which are customizable and some of which require unlocking the iPhone.
  • Dual Widget Stacks - With this StandBy screen, you can swipe through widgets of your choice. You can set up two separate widget stacks with multiple Home Screen widgets, displaying two sets of information side by side. You can customize the widgets in each stack, and swipe through each side individually to change them.
  • Photos - One of the StandBy screens shows content from your Photo Library, with the current time overlaid in the top right corner. You can see the date and location of the photo if you tap, and using this requires the iPhone to be unlocked so no one can see your images without your permission. You can swipe to change between themes like Favorites, Nature, Pets, Cities, and People. You can hide any themes that you don't like, and add additional albums.
  • Time - The time StandBy screen displays the time and information like the current weather, the date, or when your next alarm is set for. You can select digital or analog time, and there are four digital themes including standard Digital, World, Solar, and Float. Float shows the time in big bubble numbers in customizable colors, Solar has more of a standard font with a solar flare design in different colors, and World shows the time with a map of the world and your current location highlighted. The Analog theme has customizable accent colors, and Digital has bold numbers with different color options.
With all of these StandBy screens, you can swipe left or right to swap between one of the three display options, and then you can swipe up and down to choose what's displayed. So if you've set up different Time screens, for example, you can swipe to change between digital and analog.

Notifications

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.

standby-ios-17-show-notifications.jpg

Content that would not normally be shown in a notification will not show up in StandBy mode unless you are nearby and have unlocked your device with Touch ID or Face ID.
Customizing StandBy

On any of the StandBy screens, you can long press to open options for customizing what you see. Long press on either of the widgets on the widget screen, for example, and you can choose the widgets that you want to see.

There are customization options for almost all of the StandBy display options, and it's worth swiping through and long pressing where applicable to change your setup to meet your needs.


Always-On StandBy

With the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max (and future iPhones), StandBy is more useful because of the always-on display. StandBy content is always on and active on these devices, without the need to interact with the iPhone.

On iPhones without always-on display technology, you need to tap the screen to activate it because it turns off after a short period. You can use StandBy with all iPhones, but it is a better experience with the always-on display.

Interactive Widgets

Lock Screen widgets were introduced with iOS 16, but in iOS 17, they're interactive, making them much more useful. On iOS 16, tapping a Lock Screen widget launches the accompanying app, but that step is not necessary for certain widgets that have tasks you can complete without an app.

iOS-17-Interactive-Widgets.jpeg

You can check off a task right in the Reminders widget, for example, or use the Home widget to control a smart home device without opening the Home app. Apple apps have interactive features, and third-party developers have an API to adopt interactivity too.

Interactive widgets are available on the Lock Screen and the Home Screen, so they can do more wherever you're using them.

Read More

More information about the new features in iOS 17 can be found in our iOS 17 roundup.

Article Link: iOS 17 Lock Screen Features: StandBy and Interactive Widgets
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ios-17-lock-screen/
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Vanarak19

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Feb 18, 2008
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Do they mean Home Screen widgets are more interactive? I’m not seeing the difference in lock screen stuff
 
C

CarAnalogy

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Jun 9, 2021
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Really hoping they add some flexibility for phones without always on display. There should at least be an option to extend the screen timeout to 15-30 minutes or more. It's on a charger, aside from burn-in there's no reason not to leave it on for a long time, and that still applies to always on displays so they've already taken that into consideration. Not really any reason for this not to work the same on all phones.
 
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Gannon98

macrumors newbie
Jun 28, 2023
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Can anyone recommend a good charging stand that will charge all 3 products (iPhone [MagSafe], Watch, and AirPods [either MagSafe or Lightning])?
+Mainly for stand by (able to rotate phone)
 
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StealthRider

StealthRider

macrumors 65816
Jan 23, 2002
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Here and there!
Gannon98 said:
Can anyone recommend a good charging stand that will charge all 3 products (iPhone [MagSafe], Watch, and AirPods [either MagSafe or Lightning])?
+Mainly for stand by (able to rotate phone)
Click to expand...
I love the Belkin BoostCharge Pro series - I have the 3-in-1 and it's great. Not cheap, but very nice.

3-in-1 MagSafe Charger for iPhone 15, 14, 13, 12 | Belkin | Belkin US

Belkin's Best Seller 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station now improved with Apple Watch Fast Charger, delivering 33% faster charging speed for Apple Watch Series 8.
www.belkin.com www.belkin.com
 
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roland.g

roland.g

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Apr 11, 2005
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I just got the Satechi 2 in 1 that charges the phone via magsafe like the one pictures and airpods on the base.

Any pics of the Standby mode with the widgets instead of the time or the music. Curious what our options look like.
 
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mansplains

mansplains

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Jan 8, 2021
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I really hope customization for StandBy makes it into Settings or somewhere in addition to the phone being in StandBy. I find the customization process quite annoying in its current beta state, especially needing to unlock the phone in order to even see the photo album page. StandBy is nice for the most part but has less options than I thought it would.
 
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stocklen

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2013
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Even though I have a 14 pro max... I cant sleep with any light source in the room and so make sure that electronic devices dont have annoying status lights etc....

Currently my sleep focus mode switches off the screen which is prefect for my needs.

Standby mode looks very useful but I hope that I can use it and am quite happy to have to lean over and tap the screen to wake it up if I need to know the time etc as long as it goes dark again quickly.
 
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Sixteengigabytes

Sixteengigabytes

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May 31, 2021
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CarAnalogy said:
Really hoping they add some flexibility for phones without always on display. There should at least be an option to extend the screen timeout to 15-30 minutes or more. It's on a charger, aside from burn-in there's no reason not to leave it on for a long time, and that still applies to always on displays so they've already taken than into consideration. Not really any reason for this not to work the same on all phones.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I don’t see why the screen goes off if the phone is charging, so battery drain isn’t an issue. It’s just Apple being Apple.
 
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autofree

macrumors member
Jul 30, 2008
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CarAnalogy said:
Really hoping they add some flexibility for phones without always on display. There should at least be an option to extend the screen timeout to 15-30 minutes or more. It's on a charger, aside from burn-in there's no reason not to leave it on for a long time, and that still applies to always on displays so they've already taken than into consideration. Not really any reason for this not to work the same on all phones.
Click to expand...
Agreed. This would run on any older iPhone since it’s plugged in. Let’s hope they change that in future beta.
 
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Biro

macrumors 6502a
Jan 11, 2012
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I can do without all of this. But, as long as I can turn it off, I’m happy for those who want it. When I think about it, I’ve been turning off most of Apple’s new iPhone and iPad features over the past few years - at least those that I can. I wish they’d spend more time fixing bugs - many that have persisted for years.
 
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