Need help getting StandBy to work on your iPhone? This troubleshooting guide lists various solutions to fix all StandBy issues in iOS 17.
StandBy is a new iOS 17 feature that turns your iPhone into an office or bedside smart display, showing you the clock, digital time, photos, weather, music playback controls, widgets, and such. You can learn all about setting StandBy in our full guide.
However, even after setting it up, if it fails to work on your device, one or a combination of a few tips below should fix this problem for good and make StandBy work again on your iPhone.
1. Make sure you have a compatible iPhone
StandBy works on:
- iPhone 14 series
- iPhone 13 series
- iPhone 12 series
- iPhone 11 series
- iPhone XS and XS Max
- iPhone XR
Note: Though iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd generation) are compatible with iOS 17, I couldn’t find conclusive proof of these devices supporting StandBy. If you have an iPhone SE, the best way to confirm this is by going to the Settings app, and if you see StandBy, that means your phone supports it. Please share your findings with us in comments.
Related: How to know which iPhone you have
2. StandBy isn’t available on iPad
While it would be amazing to have StandBy on the big iPad display, currently, iPadOS 17 does not support StandBy. Hopefully, iPadOS 18 may add this feature.
3. Install iOS 17 on your iPhone
StandBy is a new feature, and your iPhone must be on iOS 17 to have this.
4. Lock your iPhone
StandBy only works when you manually lock your iPhone by pressing the right-side lock button or if the device locks automatically after the passing of auto-lock duration.
5. Put it in landscape mode
StandBy does not activate in portrait mode, and putting your iPhone in landscape mode is compulsory for it to work.
6. Flip your iPhone to the other side
Sometimes, StandBy may not work on one side, but it may if you turn your phone and place it on the other side.
Please be clear that this isn’t the standard behavior, as StandBy should work on either horizontal side. But because of bugs or glitches, it may not activate on one side, so, try flipping it to the other.
7. Try another phone stand or charger
For StandBy to work, you must place it on its side on a phone stand, proper wireless charger, or a MagSafe charger. If you don’t have these, you can try placing your iPhone on its side by keeping an object behind it, but it may not work reliably at all times.
Secondly, StandBy won’t work if the phone is kept on a table or a flat stand/charger that is too slanted. For it to work, your phone must be in a decently upright position.
Currently, I have a total of five phone, iPad, and MacBook stands. StandBy works on four of them. It doesn’t work on my MacBook stand as that’s too flat.
8. Unlock your phone, lock it, and put it in landscape orientation again
Still no luck? Go to your iPhone Home Screen, wait for about five seconds, lock it, and place it on a stand in landscape mode. This time it may work. If not, do this a couple more times.
9. Force quit all apps and retry
On some occasions, StandBy may not show up on the Lock Screen because of problematic apps open in the background. To address this, go inside your phone and force quit all open apps. After that, lock your iPhone and place it horizontally on a stand or MagSafe charger.
10. Restart your iPhone
This is an important solution that you must pay attention to. Often, when one thing or another does not work as expected, simply turning off your iPhone and turning it back on can fix the ongoing issue.
If your phone is stuck and you can’t interact with it, go ahead and force restart it to come out of this problem.
11. Update it to the latest version of iOS 17, or wait for an update
If your iPhone is on an initial build of iOS 17 developer beta or public beta, go to Settings > General > Software Update and get the latest version.
If you’re already on the newest build, please try the remaining solutions below or wait for another iOS update.
Related: How to submit feedback and bug reports to Apple
12. Sometimes you will have to just wait for a while!
I have also noticed that in some instances, StandBy won’t kick in after locking the iPhone and placing it horizontally. But after a minute, it will automatically come into action. Again, this is not the standard behavior and can be attributed to iOS bugs, which I hope will be fixed in the near future.
13. Add a device passcode
Are you living in the Wild West with no passcode on your iPhone? Go to the Settings app > Face ID & Passcode and set one. Once that’s done, you should be able to use StandBy.
Related: How to secure your iPhone (17 tips)
14. Enable Always On Display on iPhone 14 Pro
StandBy gets even better on iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max as these two models have the Always On Display, because of which StandBy doesn’t time out after about 20 seconds and stays visible for a longer duration.
If you’re facing issues with StandBy on your iPhone 14 Pro, go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Always On Display and make sure it’s enabled.
Must read: 5 ways Apple can make the iPhone 14 Pro Always-On display better with software
15. Ensure your iPhone is not excessively hot
StandBy screen may not show up if your iPhone is too hot:
- Because you’re in a hot environment, or
- Your phone has been placed on a wireless charger for a long time, or
- Your iPhone is plugged into wired charging with a high-wattage fast charging adapter (like 40W, 60W, 80W, or above), or
- You’ve not restarted it recently.
Touch the back of your iPhone, and if it appears dangerously hot, remove the case if you’re using one, switch it off for 5-10 minutes, and let it cool down.
16. Wake your iPhone to see StandBy
It’s normal StandBy behavior to time out and disappear from the screen after a short while. This is especially true for iPhone models without Always On Display. So if you don’t see the StandBy screen, simply tap the display to wake it, and you should see it again.
17. Turn on Motion To Wake
StandBy on iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max will intelligently go away from the screen if it thinks you are not looking at it (for example, when you’re sleeping at night). However, if motion is detected, StandBy will automatically start showing (like when you wake up in the middle of the night to drink water or check the time).
To ensure this automatic wake-up, go to iPhone 14 Pro Settings > StandBy > Night Mode and enable Motion To Wake.
18. Turn off StandBy and turn it back on
- Go to Settings > StandBy and turn off the switch for StandBy.
- Restart your iPhone.
- Go back to the Settings app > StandBy and turn on StandBy.
After this little refresh, you should see the StandBy screen when you keep your locked iPhone horizontally on a stand/charger while it’s charging.
19. Disable Low Power Mode, enable screen rotation, and switch on location
I have checked that StandBy works even when your iPhone is in Low Power Mode, its screen rotation is locked, and location services are off. Still, if the above solutions have failed to work for you, consider:
- Disabling Low Power Mode.
- Turning off the screen rotation lock from the Control Center.
- And enabling Location Services from Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services.
20. Reset all iPhone settings
Another proven solution to fix random iPhone glitches and address the non-working of some features is to reset all the settings. Once you do that, StandBy should start working fine.
21. Erase and restore your iPhone
And finally, if nothing works, you can back up your iPhone, erase it, and restore the backup or set it up as a new device. Hopefully, this should take care of the annoying StandBy issues.
Fix specific aspects of SandBy if they do not work
No Live Activities
App Live Activities are supported on the StandBy screen. All you need to do is tap the app icon or name from the top of the StandBy screen. But if you don’t see it, learn how to fix Live Activities not working on your iPhone.
Siri not working
If your iPhone can’t pick up “Hey Siri” or just “Siri” when it’s in StandBy, make sure:
- You’re speaking clearly and are not too far from your phone.
- Your other Apple devices, like HomePod, are not nearby, and they are not responding to your “Hey Siri” command.
- Try to cut down loud noise in your room so your iPhone’s microphone can pick up the “Hey Siri” hot word.
- If nothing helps, press and hold the iPhone Side button to manually activate Siri during StandBy.
Incorrect time
Seeing incorrect time on the iPhone StandBy screen?
- Go to iPhone Settings > General > Date & Time and turn on the switch for Set Automatically.
- Make sure you are not using the World Clock widget, as it may not show your local time.
- Also, check that the added Clock widget is for your location and not for another city. If it’s for another city, you will see its abbreviation on the clock face. Like for Cupertino, the abbreviation will be CUP; for Paris, it will be PAR; and so on.
Photos not showing up
You will have to tap the Photos widget screen and unlock your device with Face ID or passcode before the StandBy screen displays your pictures. This is for your privacy, and you can’t remove this requirement.
Stocks not updating
Tap the Stocks widget on the StandBy screen and hit the arrow icon, which will take you inside the iOS Stocks app. Here, it should refresh with updated information, and now, when you return to the StandBy screen, you will see the latest Stocks numbers on StandBy.
Weather Unavailable
If you can’t see the weather details of your area or an added city in the Weather widget on the StandBy screen, tap that widget followed by the arrow icon to go inside the iOS Weather app. Once it has fetched the right weather conditions, the new information should reflect on the StandBy screen.
Related: How to show weather conditions and forecast on your iPhone Lock Screen
StandBy keeps asking for the device passcode
In some cases, the StandBy screen may need you to authenticate with your iPhone passcode or Face ID, even for basic things like using the play/pause button on the Music widget. I suppose this is a normal safety guideline, and you will have to honor that requirement.
Unable to add more widgets?
The widgets screen of StandBy has two columns, and in each, you can add up to 10 app widgets. If you reach that number, remove an added widget, and then you can add another.
