StandBy for iOS 17
While I’m only a week or so into using the iOS 17 beta — I’m getting too old for this shit? — it’s already pretty clear what the standout feature is: StandBy. This is the new mode where when you have your iPhone in landscape mode whilst charging, it displays a new data presentation style, geared towards far more glanceable information. Things like the time, the date, the weather, etc. It sounds mundane. And it is. But it’s also brilliant.
The obvious use case is as a bed-side clock. And it’s good for that. While you might worry about having a screen beaming its backlight in your face all night, Apple has created a smart mode (“Night Mode”) that shifts all the visuals to red. It looks like you’re on a submarine. Or like it’s DEFCON 1. It’s cool — albeit slightly masculine? It’s clearly borrowed from the “Night Mode” on the new Apple Watch Ultra — more on this in a bit — but it’s arguably more useful here.
But this bed-side use case also begs the obvious: Apple doesn’t sell a dock that currently easily allows for you to enter this mode. Third-party accessory makers do — I have this one by Belkin, which is great (though pricey) — but it’s sort of wild that Apple has no way to do this beyond propping your iPhone up at an angle while charging. It’s so overt — and the new functionality is so good — that I have to believe we’ll see a new iPhone charger announced alongside the iPhone 15 in a few weeks. My guess is that it will be a wireless charging “puck” on a stand. Maybe they’ll even sell one like Belkin’s which lets you charge the Apple Watch as well — eat your never-shipped heart out, AirPower. I mean, they have to do this. Again, the third-party docks work well, but Apple can’t just leave this money on the table. It’s not in their nature.¹
One other option would be for Apple to offer a new type of case which allows you to prop the device up. This is actually the type of “case” I’ve been using for the past year or so. I say “case” because it’s not actually a case, it’s more like a magnetic wallet that attaches via MagSafe. But it works well to both elevate the camera system off any table when folded flat, and to prop up the iPhone, either vertically or horizontally, when folded out. Apple should replace their current Wallet product with something like this. Because again, it would also allow you to enter StandBy mode when charging (in this case, with a cable).
I actually love this ability when sitting at my desk. I prop up my iPhone horizontally with this case while it’s plugged in via a Lightning cable (and soon, USB-C, with the iPhone 15). One of the StandBy widgets allows you to control music via a nice, large interface purpose built for StandBy mode. I love this. It’s both a visually pleasing way to see what you’re listening to, while also giving you easy-to-tap controls for the music. You too can DJ while working. But the best part is the album artwork, which is nice and large — something I’ve long complained about a lack of focus on with all the digital music services — and has a nice little flip animation as tracks change. When paired with a HomePod (or AirPods), it’s all brilliant. Yes, if you’re using your computer, you could just open Apple Music and listen to music there, but again, this is a far better UI and experience. It’s great.
I’m reminded of the old school iTunes interface for the iMac — you know the one that came with a remote. Because of said accessory, Apple created a new UI mode to be able to see media from afar. I often miss that interface. StandBy almost gets us back there, in a way.²
You can also “swipe up” this music interface into a HomePod (or AirPods) icon. And this brings back the “main” StandBy widget UI. This UX is clearly borrowed from Dynamic Island, but isn’t actually using that area (because again, the device is horizontal, not vertical). In general, StandBy is a rather brilliant showcase of borrowing tech and UI built for other Apple products and services. The entire thing is basically leveraging learnings from widgets (also making a strong comeback in macOS Sonoma) from both iOS and Apple Watch. In general, it’s fascinating how many learnings Apple has clearly taken from the Apple Watch UI over time. I think it has helped them make their other operating systems better.
When notifications come in while in StandBy mode, they’re big and beautiful. You have to enter “regular” iOS mode to take action on them, but it’s a great way to present them. It’s all so well done that I wish I could use this mode all the time, not just while charging my device. For example, I’m typing this on an iPad right now, but I’d love to have my iPhone right next to it, in StandBy mode. Yes, I could do it by plugging it in, but I don’t need to charge it right now (and actually, charging it so often has undoubtedly led to battery capacity degradation).
Speaking of iPad, I’d also love a StandBy mode for this device. I’m guessing it will come in an iPad OS cycle or two, with the ability to have far more than just two widgets (the limit for the iPhone version). A sort of control center tablet when the iPad isn’t in use, which Apple should be going after.
¹ Even the clever, subtle name — StandBy — would seem to imply that Apple knows they do more here. Like, say, create a StandBy stand.
² I suppose a HomePod with a screen would as well.
