How to Use StandBy Mode With a Custom Wallpaper
Set a custom wallpaper for StandBy mode on iPhone, with iOS setup steps, Depth Effect and widget tips, and device compatibility notes.
StandBy turns your iPhone into a glanceable display while it charges on its side. Set the phone down in landscape orientation on a stand or dock, plug it in, and the screen switches to a full-bleed view built around a clock, widgets, or a rotating set of photos. This guide covers how to enable it, the three views it offers, and how to make the photo view feel like a custom wallpaper rather than a generic slideshow.
When StandBy turns on
StandBy appears automatically when three conditions are met at the same time: the iPhone is charging (wired or on a MagSafe/Qi stand), it is locked, and it is positioned in landscape. Lift the phone or stand it upright and StandBy exits. There is no app to open; it is a system mode tied to charging plus orientation.
If it never shows up, check Settings > StandBy and confirm the top toggle is on. On phones without an always-on display, the screen will dim and sleep after a period of inactivity and wake again on motion or a tap.
The three views
StandBy is divided into three screens you swipe between horizontally:
- Widgets — two stacked widget columns you can scroll vertically, with smart suggestions surfacing the right widget at the right time.
- Photos — a rotating display of images pulled from your library or chosen albums. This is the closest thing to a StandBy wallpaper.
- Clock — a set of large clock styles, including analog, digital, and a world clock.
Swipe to the Photos screen to treat StandBy as a wallpaper surface. By default iOS shuffles featured shots, but you can pin specific albums so only the images you want appear.
Setting a custom photo wallpaper for StandBy
- Enter StandBy by charging the phone in landscape.
- Swipe to the Photos view.
- Touch and hold the screen. If Face ID prompts you, authenticate.
- Tap the + button to add an album, or tap an existing album to toggle it on or off.
- Choose a curated album you have built in the Photos app — for example, a folder of minimalist shots or your own wallpapers.
Because StandBy crops to a wide landscape frame, pick images that have room on both sides of the subject. Tall portrait wallpapers get cropped hard. If you want art that is composed for the landscape frame, Wallpaper Hub’s editor lets you reframe any image to a wide aspect ratio before saving it to an album, and the AI generator can produce landscape-first scenes that fill the StandBy frame cleanly.
Customizing the clock and widgets
On the Clock view, touch and hold, then swipe up or down to switch between styles. Tap the color control to tint the clock so it matches the rest of your setup. The digital and analog faces each keep their color choice independently, so you can set a warm amber bedside clock and a cool monochrome desk clock and StandBy will remember which is which per location.
On the Widgets view, touch and hold to enter edit mode, then use + to add widgets and the minus button to remove them. Toggle Smart Rotate to let iOS cycle widgets automatically, or turn it off to keep a fixed pair. StandBy remembers a different widget arrangement for each charger location it has seen, so your nightstand and your desk can show different information.
Always-on versus tap-to-wake
How StandBy behaves overnight depends on your hardware:
- iPhone 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max, and the iPhone 15 Pro line and newer have an always-on display. StandBy can stay lit continuously, dimming to a low-power red-tinted Night Mode in dark rooms.
- All other iPhones that run iOS 17 or later support StandBy, but the screen sleeps after a short timeout and wakes on tap or motion rather than staying on.
You can tune this under Settings > StandBy > Display. Options there include keeping the screen on, dimming after 20 seconds, or turning the display off until you tap. Night Mode switches the view to a dim red palette in low light so it does not light up a bedroom.
Tips for a wallpaper-like result
- Build a dedicated album. Make a Photos album called “StandBy” and add only landscape-friendly images. Pin that single album so nothing unexpected appears.
- Mind the clock overlay. The Photos view layers a small clock and date in a corner. Leave that corner relatively uncluttered in your chosen images.
- Match your Lock Screen. If you have a themed Lock Screen, pull the same palette into your StandBy album for a consistent look. Browse coordinated sets in /wallpapers and by mood in /styles.
- Use live or Depth-style art sparingly. StandBy photos are static frames, so the motion in a live wallpaper will not play here, but a still frame exported from one works well.
Troubleshooting
If StandBy will not appear, verify the phone is genuinely charging (a loose cable is the usual culprit), that it is in landscape, and that it is locked rather than in active use. If the Photos view shows images you did not choose, return to the touch-and-hold album editor and switch off the featured shuffle so only your pinned albums display.
StandBy is one of the easiest ways to keep a favorite wallpaper visible all day without unlocking your phone. Curate a clean landscape album, set your clock and widgets per location, and your charging stand becomes a small ambient display.