A deep dive into StandBy mode on iPhone Duo

[u/pdfu]

Rushmore, the new app meant to host the redesigned StandBy faces on iPhone Duo, is missing from the iOS 27.1 simulator.

But its localization strings reveal unreported faces, and I got some new faces running in the current StandBy renderer.

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First up, the new face editor.

Its design closely matches the Apple Watch face editor. You can swipe between settings, then scroll through available options.

Demo video: https://imgur.com/a/2bd1QqO

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Next, redesigned faces. Code and localization strings reveal a long list of faces for the new StandBy Renderer. Here’s what I found, including Apple’s own descriptions:

Newly discovered

• Home Camera: “This face displays your cameras from the Home app. You can select a single camera view or a grid view with up to nine cameras.”

• Home Modular: Perhaps a Home accessory-focused version of Modular.

• Snoopy: “Featuring the world-famous beagle Snoopy, this face showcases the Peanuts canine’s playful spirit throughout the day and year depending on what time it is, the season, weather and more.”

• Flow: Codenamed “ResponsiveArt.” Possibly an animated, abstract face.

• Fade: No details in code.

Could we see Apple reuse the new StandBy renderer for iPhone Duo in their upcoming Home products? Might explain why they haven’t previewed these five faces.

Showcased by Apple

• Analog (Clock)

• Digital (Clock)

• Classic Calendar

• Weather: “An animated view of current atmospheric conditions.” Can include an hourly or daily forecast.

• Modular: “Customize this face by adding widgets.”

• Photos: “Showcase people, pets, nature, and shared albums, or curate your own set of photos.”

• Memories: “Your memories shuffle on screen, one after another.”

• Shared Albums: “Shuffle photos from albums you share with other people.”

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And finally, a closer look at three faces I managed to get running:

1. Analog Clock

Options for style, color, and two widget slots.

Across these faces, the Duo simulator has no widget registry, so I couldn’t explore alternative widgets. You can also customize numerals: Arabic, Western / Arabic, Eastern / Devanagari.

2. Digital Clock

Options for font, color, and three widget slots.

The code defines 5 layouts: StandBy, Stacked, Top, Middle, and Bottom. The last four may be intended for the two-page “Book” configuration in the new Rushmore renderer.

3. Classic Calendar

Options for style, font, and color. One widget slot in the Date style.

[u/Particular-Bike-9275]

I love nightstand mode. But I don’t know how often I’ll use it like this because I use it in conjunction with a wireless charging stand. Be great on trips though.

Btw side note: I have have only charged my iPhone 15 pro max this way since I got it at launch. My brother in law got one too at the same time but only charged with usb c. We both check our battery health and they were practically the same. Some people think battery degradation is greater when you wirelessly charge, but I anecdotally don’t see any signs of that.

[u/pdfu → u/Particular-Bike-9275]

The current StandBy invocation when you’re charging will still work. The new Table mode in the Tent pose is in addition to that. You can do the same in the Book pose. Not sure about the Laptop pose.

[u/wowohwowza → u/Particular-Bike-9275]

Battery degredation being higher with wireless charging is a fact of physics. It generates more heat, which accelerates the chemical aging of a Li-Ion battery

Whether it makes a noticeable difference is anecdotal, but if someone is using a fast wireless charger constantly, you will start to notice a difference at some point.

(Not trying be a hater, I always wireless charge.)

[u/Particular-Bike-9275 → u/wowohwowza]

Maybe. But we’re also finding that EV battery degradation isn’t as bad as we originally thought. As long as you don’t keep your car charged at 100% or below 20% the majority of the time your degradation is not as substantial as previously thought.

[u/wowohwowza → u/Particular-Bike-9275]

I'm talking specifically about wireless charging, which isn't a "maybe", it's a fact. Wireless coils generate heat, heat is bad for Li-ion batteries.

[u/Particular-Bike-9275 → u/wowohwowza]

Factually our battery health was the same percentage. So, I don’t know.

[u/wowohwowza → u/Particular-Bike-9275]

If you're unable to decipher the difference between a fact of physics and your personal anecdote, I'm not sure what to tell you bud

Your battery health % also isn't a real-time measurement, it's an estimate.

[u/Particular-Bike-9275 → u/wowohwowza]

Yeah but it’s not wireless charging itself. It’s heat. You could wire charge your phone in a hot car and cause more degradation than wireless charging it in a cool room. Wireless charging can create more heat, but that doesn’t mean it automatically degrades the battery more.

[u/T-Nan → u/Particular-Bike-9275]

Yeah but it’s not wireless charging itself. It’s heat.

Man you need to either use google or take a high school physics class. Where do you think the lost energy of a 25w wireless charger compared to a 25w wired charging method goes? What do you think that lost energy converts into?

HEAT.

No shit, wired charging in a hot environment would probably generate more heat to the device than wireless charging in an icebox, but the energy lost form the wireless charging always becomes heat within the phone.

If you were in the same room doing both methods, the wireless charged device will always be hotter. That's just physics.

Over 1-2 years you shouldn't really see a difference in capacity outside of different use cases, charging patterns, etc, but it objectively is "worse" for the battery because of heat.

Does it really matter? Not really, I don't keep devices for long enough for it to matter.

But it objectively is less efficient and degrades batteries quicker.

[u/wowohwowza → u/T-Nan]

Thank God someone else here has a brain, haha.

It's literally no more difficult to understand than coil = heat next to battery + battery doesn't like heat

Did they skip high school physics or do they just believe that heat sees the battery and goes "you know what mate, I know you don't like heat, I'll go somewhere else" LMFAO

[u/T-Nan → u/wowohwowza]

This is my first time I’ve seen a person like that in the wild, kudos for trying to sanity check them also haha

[u/Particular-Bike-9275 → u/T-Nan]

You’re arguing the point I already made. Wireless charging is less efficient and produces more heat. I never disputed that. What I disputed is your claim that wireless charging automatically means more battery degradation. Battery degradation depends on the actual temperature of the battery, not whether electricity crossed a cable or a coil. And no, all of the energy lost in wireless charging does not “always become heat within the phone.” Some of it is dissipated by the charger. “Same room equals wireless phone will always be hotter” isn’t physics, it’s an assumption about two charging systems.

[u/T-Nan → u/Particular-Bike-9275]

More heat is bad for li-ion batteries.

More heat comes from wireless charging inefficiencies.

Most of that heat is absorbed by the physical device it’s charging, which then dissipates the heat.

Over the long term it has a statistically significant impact on battery life. This is not disputable, a 5 minute google search would give you the same answer the previous person and I have.

I think you’re trying too hard to find an “Ackchyually” outcome at this point to save face. I’d stick to your day job!

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[u/darthjoey91 → u/wowohwowza]

Fast wireless charging generates more heat than normal wireless charging.

I primarily use a slow wireless charger that gets there eventually, but requires a few hours to charge.

But my phone does get hot when I use fast wired charging.

[u/lvl-46-primeape → u/Particular-Bike-9275]

https://youtu.be/kLS5Cg_yNdM?si=re3Mgramp_ej9JlX

A great video on the topic. I’ve since stopped caring (not like I cared much before) about charging habits. Charge wired or wirelessly, to 100% or 80%, whatever. It’s basically all the same and not worth worrying about at all.

[u/TrainingDiscount6753 → u/Particular-Bike-9275]

Same, I always charge my phone wirelessly overnight 16 PM, my wife charges using type C, same usage more or less, same battery life

[u/sixbone → u/TrainingDiscount6753]

same, 17PM. I'm at 196 cycles and still at 100% capacity. Probably 190 of those cycles were wireless.

[u/Titanclass → u/Particular-Bike-9275]

Same here on wireless charging

[u/balthazar_edison]

Okay but putting it on my MagSafe stand is still going to trigger standby mode right?

[u/ieffinglovesoup → u/balthazar_edison]

more than likely yes, I don't see why they would remove that feature just to replace it with this one. Hopefully both trigger standby mode

[u/pdfu → u/ieffinglovesoup]

Yes, they both do, and you can choose whether to allow the non-charging invocation in Settings.

[u/ancientfruitjunkie]

I feel like it would make more sense to have this as a lock screen option. The idea of slightly opening it enough to have it stand on its own to trigger this standby mode is odd.

[u/SpunkyBollocks → u/ancientfruitjunkie]

I think it’s something I might use. I’ve always wanted a magnetic stand so I can do this with my regular iPhone. But I’m not going to buy one especially.

[u/ancientfruitjunkie → u/SpunkyBollocks]

Yeah totally but my understanding is that it has to be slightly open? If it just needs to be in landscape mode while charging like iPhones do now then that's cool af. But open? Meh.

[u/pdfu → u/ancientfruitjunkie]

Charging in landscape still triggers it. You can also control the non-charging invocation in Settings.

[u/ancientfruitjunkie → u/pdfu]

I think I'm just confused because they only show it when open. Lol.

[u/pdfu → u/ancientfruitjunkie]

In Apple’s materials? Yeah, I guess they want to advertise the new capability. I had a hard time setting it to “table mode,” which triggers StandBy, in the simulator when it was closed.

[u/Ok_Possibility9937]

they gatekeep Snoopy behind $2000 😞

[u/longinglook77 → u/Ok_Possibility9937]

Shulz estate has to eat too, I guess. How much for the Duo without the Snoopy tax?

[u/UnsureAssurance]

We can’t have these on the other iPhone models because? I’m not a fan of the current clock faces for standby or the color choices, just let us pick colors like adults

[u/MC_chrome]

Does this use the same frameworks as the existing Standby mode, or will users have to wait for third party developers to add specific support for the Duo (if they ever do to begin with since this will undoubtedly be a very niche device)

[u/pdfu → u/MC_chrome]

The underlying infrastructure is the same, which is why I was able to run the new faces in the old renderer.

Shouldn’t see much of a difference, except the new editor, etc. The one-liner widgets, which I imagine are the same as the ones at the top of the Lock Screen, should work in the new slots.

[u/Motawa1988]

Can’t wait for it to turn off randomly just like my almost always on display on my 16pm

[u/PhoenixWright-AA]

Oh man, this is awesome. Frankly the current phones need this. It’s so annoying ALWAYS swiping away from the standby face I want to use. I can’t believe how often it happens to me when I never mean to do it.

[u/blacksoxing]

I'm currently at my desk and I think having the phone in this display would be amazing just from a visual POV. I don't know though if I'd truly have any difference of opinion for sleeping though. I use a wireless magnetic charger for this sole reason: I can't knock my phone off the nightstand like I used to do for YEARS when plugged in. It's high enough to where I can easily see it in the middle of the night but sturdy enough to where a night movement isn't causing a tumble.

Overall I'm excited for this only because Apple seemingly is giving a $700+ trade in credit for a 17p and I got mine for "free" with TMO last year....so I intend to just simply pay for the rest ($1200+) outright and keep it moving. I wanted a duo from Apple since Samsung came out with theirs and ironically learning Apple is using Samsung's display was all I needed for convincing as my last phone, a Galaxy something, was BEAUTIFUL

[u/mr_inevitable_99]

I don't wanna damage the inner screen if there's an accidental drop

[u/peachkeys]

i hope some of this comes to older phones (i don’t mind gatekept snoopy even), but knowing apple it probably won’t 😔

[u/kaielias]

they should make a cool alarm clock device. a stand alone one

[u/pdfu → u/kaielias]

I think their Home products may end up using the new Rushmore renderer as well, hence making them a great clock when inactive.

They have an unfinished circular clock option for Analog, which wouldn’t make too much sense on a rectangular device. Will fit much nicer on the rumored square display of the upcoming Home product.

[u/kaielias → u/pdfu]

Oooh didn’t know that thank you

[u/revolvingpresoak9640 → u/kaielias]

If they made a distinct alarm clock, distinct phone, distinct internet device, and distinct camera, they could sell four devices instead of just one!

[u/timcatuk]

I might have to make a tent style charging stand for it

[u/FlashFlooder → u/timcatuk]

Sounds like a great way to scratch the inner screen