Apple’s iOS 17 brings exciting new lock screen features that allow users to customize, personalize, and interact with their iPhones in new ways. The lock screen now offers more information and functionality for glancing at a distance or quickly performing tasks without unlocking your device. It is more functional and more fun than ever.
StandBy Mode
The biggest change to the lock screen is the new StandBy mode. When an iPhone running iOS 17 is connected to power and placed horizontally, it will enter StandBy mode, transforming the lock screen into an interactive display.
Multiple StandBy Screens
In StandBy mode, users can swipe through several different full screen views:
- Dual Widget Stacks – Display two columns of widgets that you can customize and swipe through independently. For example, you could have a column of system widgets like weather, calendar, and reminders, and another column with third party widgets.
- Photos – Displays photos from your library and allows you to swipe through collections of favorites, pets, nature, cities, and more. Tapping on a photo reveals the date, location, and ability to delete or share the image.
- Time – Shows the time, date, weather, next alarm, and more in different customizable themes like analog, digital, solar, world clocks, and floating text.
- Live Activities – New widget-like views that show real-time updates from apps for things like sports games, rides, workouts, and more.
Always-On Display
On iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models, StandBy content stays visible at all times thanks to the always-on display. For other iPhone models, you need to tap the screen to view StandBy.
Customizable
Each StandBy screen has customization options accessed by long pressing. For example, you can choose specific widgets, change themes, and more. StandBy provides glanceable information and quick interactions without needing to unlock your iPhone.
Interactive Widgets
Widgets on the lock screen and home screen are now interactive, allowing you to perform actions without opening apps. For example:
- Check off reminders in the Reminders widget
- Control smart home devices from the Home widget
- Play, pause, or skip tracks from the Music widget
- View and interact with Live Activities
System apps have interactive widgets enabled automatically, and developers can make their app widgets interactive using new APIs. Interactive widgets make your lock screen more useful than ever.
Contact Posters
When receiving a call or FaceTime from someone, a new customizable “contact poster” can appear instead of the standard incoming call screen. Contact posters allow you to:
- Choose a photo, Memoji, monogram, or other image to represent your contacts
- Customize the font, color, and style of text
- Create multiple posters and easily switch between them
Contact posters let you personalize how your friends and family appear when contacting you. It’s a more visually appealing way to see who’s calling or FaceTiming.
Photo Customization
The Photos app includes new options for customizing portraits on your lock screen:
- Lift Subject From Background – Easily separate subjects like people, pets, and objects from backgrounds to use as standalone images.
- Photo Shuffle – Automatically change the photo on your lock screen at certain intervals to highlight favorite memories.
- Visual Look Up – Identify objects, scenes, pets, landmarks and more in photos to create lock screen images featuring just those subjects.
Photo customization helps you create more personalized lock screens that highlight your favorite subjects.
Widget Flexibility
Widgets get more flexible in iOS 17:
- Interactive Widgets – As mentioned above, lock screen and home screen widgets can now have interactive elements to perform quick actions without opening apps.
- Smart Stacks – The widget Smart Stacks introduced in iOS 14 now refresh automatically throughout the day to show relevant widgets based on time, location, and usage patterns.
- Live Activities – A new type of widget that provides real-time updates from apps for ongoing events and activities.
These widget upgrades make your home screen and lock screen more customizable and contextually useful than ever.
Focus Modes
Each Focus mode can now have its own custom lock screen to match the mode. For example, a Work Focus could show calendar and email widgets, while a Sleep Focus displays a dark mode clock and silences notifications.
Setting unique lock screens for different Focus modes allows you to quickly shift your whole iPhone experience by changing modes.
Sensitive Content Filtering
The Communication Safety feature can now detect and filter sensitive visual content in:
- Messages and FaceTime
- The systemwide photo picker
- AirDrop transfers
A new toggle enables a “Sensitive Content Warning” that blurs any sensitive photos or videos until you choose to view them. This prevents unwanted exposure to sensitive content.
The iOS 17 lock screen takes customization and personalization to a whole new level. StandBy mode turns your iPhone into a smart display, widgets and photos are more interactive, and Focus modes can completely transform your lock screen. These features make the lock screen more useful than ever before.