iPhone 11 Pro Max Standby mode isn’t working.

Currently standby mode only works with phones that have always-on display, which is the iPhone 14 series and iPhone 15 series.

Standby mode only works *as intended* with clock display on iPhone 14/15.

“Unfortunately, even though StandBy will work on any iPhone that can be updated to iOS 17— all the way back to the 2018 iPhone XS/XS Max and iPhone XR — the screen will only remain on if you're using an iPhone with an always-on display. That's an iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max.”

I found that you have to have a Clock widget added to your screen display when unlocked first. Once added, plug in phone, and then the phone must be stationary and resting on its side before it switches to standby. IT may take a second or two.

Greeneysgirl wrote:

Standby mode only works *as intended* with clock display on iPhone 14/15.

If Apple didn't intend for it to work on phones without AOD, it wouldn't have included the feature for those phones. So, whether or not you think the feature is useful on phones without AOD, it is working as Apple intended.

“Unfortunately, even though StandBy will work on any iPhone that can be updated to iOS 17— all the way back to the 2018 iPhone XS/XS Max and iPhone XR — the screen will only remain on if you're using an iPhone with an always-on display. That's an iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max.”

Even on phones with AOD, the screen does go dark at night if there are no lights on.

I found that was the only trick that worked for me, but it only worked if I didn’t have any “Focus” enabled - any focus at all stopped it working and it isn’t even in the list of apps that you can add as allowed in a focus. That might be why it didn’t work the next day, if a focus was on by schedule…?

Sorry, I was trying to reply to zlone4141’s solution which fixed the issue for me - I added a clock widget to my display and now Standby activates when my phone is charging on its side.

Greeneysgirl wrote:

Currently standby mode only works with phones that have always-on display, which is the iPhone 14 series and iPhone 15 series.

That is incorrect. Standby Mode works on any phone that supports iOS 17. It worked fine for me on my iPhone 11 Pro.

The difference is that the screen does not stay lit all the time in phones that don't support AOD. I

I just experimented with it. It will not work if you put the phone on the charger and then sit it down in landscape mode. It will only work if you put it down in landscape mode and then plug it to the charger.

Some people have complained about Standby Mode being a bit finicky. Put it on its side, on charge and then tap the sleep/wake button. See if that helps.

OK, it has been a week or so and I think I finally have standby mode working. It is still finicky to get the phone to go into standby but it now keeps the display on until I move the phone. I ended up activating focus mode during sleep hours and that, so far, seems to be working. Not sure why but hope this helps someone else.

The steps are: 1. Click lock button on side of iPhone. 2. rotate the iPhone to landscape. 3. place on charger. 4. wait for display to show the time. 5. swipe up or down to change the clock. 6. swipe right or left to change the Standby screen view to what you want.

Go to your Settings> Face ID & Passcode. Scroll down to section "Allow Access When Locked:" Make sure 'Lock Screen Widgets' are turned on.

This fixed my issues with Iphone 14 when it was just locking every widgets out after screen lock out period.

Clock widget on display fixed it for me

Place it on its side in landscape mode first before plugging it to the charger. Should work.

When placing it on a Magsafe stand horizontally, it goes to night mode about 20% of the time for me (iphone15Pro). Other times it just shows the circle that it's charging, and does NOT enter into the standby mode no matter what orientation it's in. My spouse got a new iPhone15Pro today and it's doing the same thing.

It's mildly annoying when I go to bed and for the life of me the phone just doesn't want to go into standby mode and show the clock.