iOS 17: What's new on the lock screen?

With iOS 16, Apple introduced a completely new look for the lock screen, complete with widgets and customizability, and the lock screen in iOS 17 improves even more. Widgets are even more useful, and there’s a new mode that turns your iPhone into an information center when it’s not in use.

This guide will show you what’s new on the lock screen in iOS 17.

Standby is a screen lock mode that is activated when the iPhone is connected to a charger and placed in landscape (or landscape) mode. It works with a MagSafe charger, which is arguably the most efficient way to use it, but it can also be charged with a Qi-based wireless charger or a Lightning charger.

If you own an Apple Watch, it’s similar to Nightstand mode, but offers more than Nightstand mode.

There are a variety of standby screens to choose from, some customizable and others requiring the “iPhone” to be unlocked.

Dual widget stack – With this standby screen you can scroll through your favorite widgets. You can set up two separate widgets with multiple home screen widgets and display two sets of information side by side. You can customize each pack’s widgets by scrolling in each direction separately to change them.
picture – One of the standby screens displays content from your photo library, with the current time displayed in the upper right corner If you tap on it, you will see the date and location of the photo. To use it, the iPhone needs to be unlocked so that no one can see your photos without your permission. You can swipe between themes like favorites, nature, pets, cities and people You can hide any themes you don’t like and add additional albums.
the time – Standby time screen shows time and information such as current weather, date or next alarm setting. You can choose digital or analog time and there are four digital themes including Digital Standard, Universal, Solar and Float. Float shows the time in large bubble numbers with customizable colors, Solar has a default font with a sun flare theme in different colors, and World shows the time with a world map and current location highlighted. Analog themes have customizable accent colors and digital themes have bold numbers with different color options.

With all of these stand-by displays, you can swipe left or right to switch between one of three display options, and then swipe up and down to choose what’s on display. For example, if you set up different time displays, you can switch between digital and analog with a swipe.

hints

Incoming notifications are displayed in full screen when your iPhone is in sleep mode For example, when you receive an iMessage, it will appear with the person’s name and a message icon indicating that you received a message.

Content that doesn’t normally appear in notifications only appears in standby mode when you’re nearby and your device is unlocked with Touch ID or Face ID.

Standby adjustment

On each standby screen, you can long press to open options that let you customize what you see. For example, long press any of the widgets on the Widgets screen and you can choose which widgets you want to view.

Standby has customization options for almost all display options. It’s worth scrolling and long-pressing if needed to adjust the settings to suit your needs.

Always in standby mode

With the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro–Max (and future iPhones), standby is even more useful thanks to the always-on display. Standby content is always on and active on these devices without requiring any interaction with the “iPhone”.

On iPhones that don’t have always-on display technology, you have to tap the screen to activate it, as it turns off after a short time. You can use standby with all iPhones, but with always-on display, it’s a better experience.

Lock screen widgets were introduced in iOS 16, but in iOS 17 they’re interactive, making them even more useful. In iOS 16, tapping the lock screen widget launches the companion app. However, this step isn’t necessary for widgets with some tasks that you can do without an app.

For example, you can select a task directly in the Reminder widget or use the Home widget to control your smart home device without opening the Home app. Apple apps have interactive features and an API to enable interactivity with third-party developers.

Interactive widgets are available on the lock screen and home screen, so you can do more wherever you use them.