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iOS 17's StandBy Mode Turns a Charging iPhone Into a Home Hub

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple in iOS 17 is introducing StandBy mode, which is a new display experience designed for a charging iPhone that's placed in a horizontal orientation. An iPhone in this position is able to display an array of full-screen widgets, turning it into a useful home hub.

standby-mode-1.jpg

StandBy mode activates automatically on an iPhone running iOS 17 that's placed horizontally on a charger. You can see information such as the time, weather, a calendar, music controls, your photos, and more.

You can swipe left or right through the available StandBy options, and long press or swipe up/down to customize. With the time, for example, you can choose from an analog view, a digital view, a bubbly font, and a solar view where the background color shifts based on the time.

standby-mode-2.jpg

There are options to add Home Screen widgets to the main StandBy view, which is the first option you see when activating StandBy. In this view, you can select two widgets to display side-by-side, so you can control your HomeKit products, see your calendar events, keep an eye on the stock market, check on device battery life, see the weather, and more.

If a Live Activity is active, it will be displayed full screen, as will results from Siri requests.

At night, StandBy mode will get darker if the room you're in is dark, so that it is not distracting at night while you're sleeping. StandBy mode is akin to Nightstand Mode on the Apple Watch, and it functions in much of the same way.

Note that having the iPhone continually show information requires an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max with always-on display technology. On other iPhones, a tap is required to see what's on the screen.

Article Link: iOS 17's StandBy Mode Turns a Charging iPhone Into a Home Hub
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/06/05/ios-17-standby-mode/
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I assume if I set my phone to never Auto sleep, it would stay on, on non 14 Pro devices?

I am actually surprised they didn’t make it 14 Pro Max only.

My 12 Pro Max is still getting all the features. Apple no longer wants us to force upgrade it seems. Even under Jobs they made a lot of new features „recent iPhone“ exclusive. Can’t complain
 
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Does anyone know if iOS17 also includes the "What's my update" that homepods have, and the ability to use digital radio stations as alarms like homepods? Because if iPhones can do those things, as well as this standby mode, I'll move my homepod to the study and set up my phone next to the bed as my alarm clock.

Only reason I don't currently use my phone as an alarm is that its only options are the same thing over and over. Much prefer a digital radio station to wake me up.
 
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This is clever - almost like a trojan horse to combat all of the Alexa's and Google hubs out there. If Apple can turn an iPhone into a true homehub device, they can tell their huge iPhone base of customers that they have no need to buy an Alexa/Google to do the same thing!
 
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I thought this was a really cool addition then a coworker said that android has had this for a while…

Well at least apple finally added it.
 
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MacRumors said:
Note that having the iPhone continually show information requires an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max with always-on display technology. On other iPhones, a tap is required to see what's on the screen.
Click to expand...
Would be much more cool if Apple would make use of the hardware already on the phones like proximity sensors and FaceID IR illuminators to activate the display when a person moves into the device's field of view (or waves a hand etc). My cheap old Nest thermostat display basically already does this, no tapping required.
 
Last edited:
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Note that having the iPhone continually show information requires an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max with always-on display technology. On other iPhones, a tap is required to see what's on the screen.
Click to expand...
Will there be any issue with image burn-in if standby mode is active and continually displaying the same info? I know some people have had this issue with dynamic island and always on display
 
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I see a playdate peeking in the background. I didn’t know anyone, media or otherwise, had them yet.
 
I hope you can set the brightness of the clock and such to barely above zero, so you can read it in a pitch black room but it won't bug your eyes. I've never been able to find a real world clock that lets you set it dim enough, so I just forego having a bedside clock completely and ask siri what time it is.
 
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Cool, but why only in horizontal mode? Most wireless charging docks hold the phone in a vertical position... Also if you ever need to do something on your phone quickly at night, you'll have to re-orient the phone vertically since the home screen only works in vertical mode for some reason.
 
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