The simplest features are often the best, and my favorite new iPhone feature in iOS 17 isn’t the most advanced, but it’s one I use every day: StandBy. It’s such an obvious benefit that I’m shocked we needed to wait until the 17th iOS generation to get this simple screensaver clock. I’m equally shocked there wasn’t an Android equivalent on every new Galaxy and Pixel to land since the iPhone 15. Thankfully, StandBy Mode Pro, an app available on the Google Play Store, fills the gap very nicely in a very Android way.
I love StandBy Mode Pro because it makes my phone useful when I’m not using it. It gives me a desk clock at work, a nice-looking bedside clock at night, and a travel clock in between. I get a digital photo frame when I’m in the office, and a constant weather report when I’m at home and the dog is bothering me to go out.
If you’re an Android owner, I recommend downloading this app right away and even paying the small fee for the ad-free version. In classic Android fashion, it takes a simple feature that iPhone fans enjoy, but makes it ultimately customizable, giving you many more options and features than you’ll find on the iPhone.
This is part of a regular series of articles exploring the apps that we couldn't live without. Read them all here.
Before I get into the Android app, let’s explain how StandBy works on the iPhone. When you charge an iPhone, whether wired or wirelessly and also set the iPhone on its side in landscape orientation, the iPhone will enter StandBy mode. The screen goes dark and you get two square widgets, side-by-side. You can use any widget you’d like, and of course the clock and calendar are only the most obvious options.
On Android, StandBy Mode Pro works the same way. You get side-by-side square widgets, and you can choose from any widget on the phone. That gives Android an early advantage. Widgets are fairly new to iOS and the iPhone, but Android has been offering widgets since the earliest versions of the OS.
Just like StandBy on iPhone but with more Android
On the iPhone, StandBy mode is completely automated, and the StandBy Mode Pro app for Android, in true Android fashion, gives you different levels of control so it can activate automatically, or just in certain charging situations. StandBy Mode Pro will activate when your phone is charging, and you can set the app to start only when your phone is charging wirelessly.
The app is also smart enough to deactivate StandBy mode when you turn your phone to a portrait orientation. You can activate the app like any normal app, just tap on the app icon, but it is smart enough to add a button on your Lock Screen if you want to jump right into StandBy.
Basically, StandBy Mode Pro gives you all of the best features of the iPhone StandBy mode, with even more customization options, just the way Android fans like it.
On the iPhone, StandBy will turn red at night so it doesn’t ruin your night vision. With StandBy Mode Pro on Android, you can not only turn the clock red, you can also set the brightness for night mode, and even adjust the saturation of the redness in case it just seems too red for your taste.
The app has been updated fairly regularly and it has more than a half-million downloads, so it hopefully won’t be abandoned any time soon. There’s even a Labs section of the Settings for features that are still being cooked up.
If you don’t feel like setting up widgets, there are also a few full-screen modes available, just like with StandBy on the iPhone. If you swipe left you can make StandBy Mode Pro a digital photo frame for your Android phone. You can also dedicate the full screen to just checking the weather, or playing audio from your favorite media player app.
And the app keeps getting better
Since I started using StandBy Mode Pro a few months ago, the developer, Zetabit Tecnologia, has added a funny little Lo-Fi Vibe mode, which presents a chill screen of an animated person stroking a cat while Lo-Fi hip-hop beats play. You can alternately play chill instrumental music while watching an endless loop of jellyfish swimming.
Sure, the developer is being somewhat shameless in simply taking the same name as Apple’s feature, but where is StandBy mode on my favorite Android phones? StandBy Mode Pro gives me StandBy on all of my non-iPhones, with plenty of customization options, and even the experimentation that makes Android cooler than iOS.
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