iPhone Duo will let you choose which poses enter StandBy mode

What Apple has confirmed

• Setting iPhone Duo down triggers StandBy on whichever display faces up.
• It works even when the phone isn't charging.
• It can act as a clock, a photo frame, or show weather, calendar and widgets.
• StandBy faces include Clock, Modular, Calendar and Weather options.

Choosing which poses enter StandBy

Reports covering iOS 27.1 indicate that iPhone Duo will let you choose which positions automatically switch to StandBy. In practice, that means you could allow StandBy when the phone stands like a tent on your nightstand, but keep it off in the seated laptop-style pose you use for video calls and films.

Apple has not yet published a full guide to this setting. We'll update this article once the phone ships on 23 October and the final iOS 27.1 behaviour is confirmed.

A watch-style face editor

Code found in iOS 27.1 points to a new StandBy editor that works like the Apple Watch face editor: swipe to change clock style, numerals, colours, hands and light or dark appearance. Some faces support two widgets.

Digital faces reportedly have five layouts — StandBy, Stacked, Top, Middle and Bottom — with the last four likely designed for when the phone is open like a book.

Five faces Apple hasn't announced yet

• Home Camera — show one security camera feed or a grid of up to nine.
• Home Modular — believed to control smart-home accessories.
• Flow — appears to use animated 'responsive art'.
• Fade
• Snoopy

Why it matters

With StandBy-anywhere and Home Camera, iPhone Duo starts to look like a portable smart display. Put it on a desk during a meeting as a clock and calendar, then on your nightstand as a dimmed bedside clock — no stand or cable needed.