iPhone 13 StandBy mode: widgets stop working, auto-lock

standby mode not working properly, iphone 13, ios 26.2.1... when i have the screen with side by side widgets, the battery indicator will work, but all of the other selections (both clocks, both calendars) will stop working after a few seconds. i know my phone doesn't support "always on", but that's not the problem. i don't mind having to tap it for it to come to life, for now anyway. even with settings for auto lock set to "never", the phone will lock after a few seconds and the icons will stop working. the "big" clocks work, and the pictures even seem to work, its only the side by side screen. i attached a few screen shots showing what it does... somewhat related, if i select night mode in standby, the pictures will not show, only the little clock on the picture screen will, and it turns red like it's supposed to, is that normal ? or should a "dimmer" version of a picture show? also, is there a way to select what pictures to rotate thru? or to block certain ones from showing?

you can see how it works, then a few seconds later, the phone locks and they stop working. doesn't matter if i have the autolock setting set to "never" under display settings. it will still lock and become useless. if i lay it over while on the home screen, it simply stays on that screen and wont enter standby. i have to let it start standby, go to the picture screen, tap to unlock, then scroll back to the side by side selection. and yet it will lock anyway... any ideas ?