StandBy mode on iPhone 18 Pro Max fails to wake when motion is detected

Question

StandBy mode on iPhone 18 Pro Max fails to wake when motion is detected

I’m experiencing an ongoing issue with StandBy mode on my iPhone 18 Pro Max running iOS 27.

When my iPhone is charging in landscape orientation, StandBy mode works as expected. However, once the display goes dark, it frequently fails to wake when motion is detected nearby.

My understanding is that StandBy should recognize movement and automatically wake the display, particularly when used as a bedside clock. Unfortunately, this feature has been inconsistent at best.

I’m curious whether others are experiencing this issue, especially on the iPhone 18 Pro Max or with iOS 27.

Has anyone found a reliable solution? Is this a known software issue, or is there a setting I’m overlooking?

Posted on Oct 22, 2026 11:58 PM

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Answer 1

SravanKrA

Level 10

451,940 points

Oct 23, 2026 12:32 AM in response to Spintheblackcircle

Spintheblackcircle wrote:

it frequently fails to wake when motion is detected nearby.

Do you see this: Settings → StandBy → Night Mode → Motion to Wake [enabled]

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Answer 2

SravanKrA

Level 10

451,940 points

Oct 26, 2026 12:11 AM in response to Spintheblackcircle

Does your iPhone wake when you walk close to it, or only when you wave your hand right in front of it?

Set Turn Display Off to Automatically or After 20 Seconds, rather than Never.

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Answer 3

Oct 25, 2026 1:09 AM in response to SravanKrA

Yes, I’ve confirmed that Motion to Wake is enabled. The problem is that I practically have to wave my hand frantically right in front of the phone to get the display to wake up. Simply moving nearby doesn’t seem to trigger it reliably. It seems like the motion detection is far less sensitive than it should be, or was prior to the iOS update.

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