StandBy mode on iPhone: the complete guide

What StandBy actually is

StandBy arrived with iOS 17 and is still here in iOS 26 and iOS 27. When your iPhone is charging, locked and lying on its side, the Lock Screen is replaced by a landscape display you can see from across the room: a clock, a pair of widgets or a slideshow of your photos. Think of it as the nightstand-clock mode Apple never had before.

It works on every iPhone that runs iOS 17 or later. The only feature that depends on hardware is the always-on display — that needs an iPhone 14 Pro or a later Pro model. On everything else, StandBy shows for a while and then sleeps until you tap or nudge the phone.

How to turn on StandBy

1. Open Settings → StandBy and switch StandBy on. (On a fresh iPhone it's already on.)
2. Plug the iPhone in — a Lightning/USB-C cable or a MagSafe charger both count.
3. Lock the phone and turn it sideways. Prop it against something or use a stand: StandBy needs the phone to be still, in landscape, not lying flat.

Give it a second. The screen switches to StandBy on its own; you don't have to open anything.

The three views: widgets, photos, clock

Swipe left or right to move between the three StandBy views.

• Widgets — two stacks side by side. Swipe up or down on either stack to flip through its widgets. Press and hold a stack to add or remove widgets, and to turn on Smart Rotate, which picks the widget that's most useful right now.
• Photos — a slideshow from your library. Press and hold to choose albums or to hide the ones you don't want on your nightstand.
• Clock — several full-screen clock faces: Digital, Analog, World, Solar and Float. Press and hold, then swipe up or down to change the style; tap the colour button to change the colour.

StandBy remembers which view you left it on, so once you've picked the clock it will come back to the clock the next time you charge.

How to customize StandBy

Widgets

In the widget view, press and hold either stack until it starts editing. Tap + to add a widget (search works — type "clock" or "weather"), tap – on a widget to remove it, and drag to reorder. Any app that offers Home Screen widgets can appear here, including third-party clock widgets like ours.

Photos

Press and hold in the photo view. You'll get the automatic albums (Featured, Nature, Pets, People) plus any album from your library. Tap the eye icon to hide an album from StandBy without deleting it.

Clock

Press and hold in the clock view, swipe to the face you like, then tap the small circle in the corner to pick a colour. That's the whole customiser — StandBy's built-in clock is deliberately simple.

Night Mode, notifications and always-on

Everything else lives in Settings → StandBy:

• Night Mode — in a dark room the whole display goes red and dims. Easier on your eyes and on whoever shares the room.
• Show Notifications — whether alerts appear in StandBy. Turn on Show Preview on Tap Only if you don't want the content visible from across the room.
• Display (always-on iPhones only) — Automatically keeps StandBy on while the room is lit and the phone is in use, After 20 Seconds turns it off after that time, Never keeps it on for as long as the phone is charging.

StandBy not working? Run this checklist

1. iOS 17 or later. Check Settings → General → About. Older iOS has no StandBy at all.
2. The toggle is on. Settings → StandBy → StandBy.
3. It's actually charging. Look for the charging indicator. A loose cable or a weak wireless pad that keeps dropping out will kick you out of StandBy each time it disconnects.
4. Landscape, and still. StandBy won't start with the phone flat on the desk or held in your hand. Lean it against something.
5. Locked. If the phone is unlocked, lock it with the side button and wait a moment.
6. It "reverted to the Lock Screen". On non-Pro iPhones that's normal: StandBy sleeps after about 20 seconds. Tap the screen or nudge the phone and it comes back. A quick check: on those models StandBy can't stay on permanently.
7. Still nothing. Toggle StandBy off and on, then restart the iPhone. That clears the rare case where the setting is on but the mode never triggers.

How to turn off StandBy

Settings → StandBy → switch StandBy off. That's all; the phone will show the normal Lock Screen while charging.

If you only want it off at night, turn off Show Notifications and leave Night Mode on — most people who find StandBy "annoying" are really bothered by alerts lighting up the room, not by the clock.

Can StandBy work without charging?

No — and that's the one limit you can't configure around. Apple ties StandBy to charging on purpose: a full-screen clock that stays awake would empty the battery, so iOS only offers it when power is plugged in.

Which is better: StandBy's clock or a clock app?

Use StandBy when the phone is on a charger anyway and you're happy with Apple's five faces. Use a clock app when you want a specific look — a Nixie tube, a glowing Terminal, a big analog dial with a sweeping second hand — or when there's no charger. They don't fight each other: the same app can also put a clock widget into StandBy's widget view, so you get your face in both places.