StandBy Mode iPhone uses

Your iPhone can be used at all times of the day, even when you aren’t necessarily planning to. Obviously, you likely spend a lot of time during the day texting, scrolling, looking things up, calling, and creating content, but there’s something useful you can do with it at night you might not be aware of.

Many people use their iPhone as an alarm clock at night by resting it on top of their nightstand, offering quick access to a wide variety of information, including the current temperature, missed calls, the battery level, and more. This is where StandBy Mode comes into play. Standby Mode is a special mode you can set your iPhone 13 and above (with iOS 17) to while you’re charging it (it works best on iPhones with an always-on display).

The feature doesn’t need to be used at night, but this is likely when most people will find it useful. For Standby Mode to work, your iPhone needs to be positioned in landscape orientation. With all that in mind, below is everything you can do with your iPhone in StandBy Mode.

1 Make it an alarm clock

Display the time so it’s easy to see

Using your iPhone in StandBy mode offers a clear clearer view of your iPhone. As mentioned above, if you’re laying it down on your nightstand, you likely have to crane your neck, shuffle your body around, and hoist it up — and still probably pick up the phone to see what time it is. But with StandBy Mode, the phone will clearly display the time, and you can even choose the font and what the display looks like.

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To turn on StandBy Mode, follow the steps below:

1. Tap Settings on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down to StandBy (under Siri). Tap it.
3. Toggle on StandBy.

By doing this, any time you connect your phone to power and turn it on its side, it will enter StandBy Mode. The first thing your device will do is display an alarm clock.

2 Night Mode will help you stay asleep

This feature works with Sleep Mode

Apple

While you’re using StandBy Mode, you may not want to deal with the brightness of the on-screen alarm clock constantly. If, like many people, you try to eliminate distractions at night, you probably put your phone in Sleep Mode. Sleep Mode silences any notifications that you haven’t deemed from emergency contacts and doesn’t ping or light up while you’re asleep. This keeps your phone from waking you up accidentally.

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When using Night Mode in StandBy mode, the screen uses a low, ambient light and displays everything in a red tint. This aims to help you stay asleep and not be bothered by the presence of the clock or whatever else you’re displaying on your phone at the time.

3 Display family photos

Look at your pictures while your phone is turned sideways

When using StandBy Mode, you can select what you want to display. All you need to do is activate StandBy Mode and swipe across your screen. One of the options that you have is displaying photos from Apple’s Photos app. This is likely better used during the day than at night since it lets you see your photos. You can still see photos in Night Mode, but they’re displayed with a reddish tint.

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Turn your iPhone into a digital photo frame while you’re charging.

The best way to use StandBy Mode and display your photos is by using a MagSafe charging station that magnetically attaches to the rear of your phone and allows it to sit in landscape mode. This way, your phone will be propped up, and you can swipe through the photos to show them off to guests. You can also designate specific photos to be used during StandBy Mode, allowing you to create an album for that particular situation.

Check your calendar and more

Widgets can be added to your lock screen on the iPhone and allow you to see information from your phone without needing to unlock it. This includes your calendar, scores from your favorite teams, your most recently played songs on Spotify, and more. A lot of this information can appear on your phone when it’s in StandBy Mode.

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However, not all widgets will work in StandBy Mode, and I found this out the hard way by only seeing a few of the ones I have displayed on my phone regularly. But you can get photos, calendars, and even email notifications to show up while your phone is charging in StandBy Mode. Having your calendar up while you’re charging during the day makes a lot of sense, as you can more easily track your appointments.

5 Keep your display on the entire time

You can also have it shut off after a few seconds

The final decision you need to make when setting up your StandBy Mode preferences is how long you want StandBy Mode to stay active. For example, do you want the display to turn off at all? Specific iPhone models feature an always-on display, which means its screen won’t dim or shut off and that it will continue to show the information you want.

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To select your display settings, follow the below steps:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap StandBy.
3. Press Display.
4. Select either Automatically, After 20 Seconds, or Never.

Automatically will turn the display off when it is dark and the iPhone isn’t being used anymore. After 20 Seconds is relatively self-explanatory, as is Never. Never will stay on as long as StandBy Mode is activated, which means if you take your phone off the charger or turn it vertically, StandBy Mode stops.