The iPhone 14-series is expected to launch next month and apart from numerous hardware changes that are expected this year, including some major differences between the Pro and non-Pro models, one of the most awaited features with the new iPhones is Apple’s implementation of the Always-On display, or AoD.
After rumours of AoD support coming to the new iPhone 14 series started a couple of months ago, we now have more hints pointing to the feature. A tweet by iOS developer @rhogelleim suggests that Apple Xcode 1’s SwiftUI preview has a new behaviour that pretty much confirms the existence of an AoD mechanism in the new iOS interface. SwiftUI is something developers use to see changes made to apps in real-time.
An image shared along with the tweet shows how the iOS AoD could look like, with a small line denoting the day and date on top, and a larger line showing a 12-hour clock on the bottom.
@filipeesposito
Messing around with lock screen widgets/accessory and Xcode SwiftUI preview is showing the always on display.
This circle is filled as red in my code.
Is it reported already? pic.twitter.com/cpTwloGCrp— rhogelleim 𓃵 (@rhogelleim) August 1, 2022
iOS 16’s ‘Sleep Wallpaper’ state also hints at AoD
Apple’s implementation of the new Always-On display screen is also expected to include a dimmed-down, gradient version of the wallpaper. As per a report by Screen Rant, an iOS 16 beta has introduced a new wallpaper state that is enabled by default. Phones on the new beta wake up from sleep in a different manner. Every time a user presses the power button, or engages with the phone in other ways (taping the screen, lifting the phone) the lock screen slowly fades into colour.
This is similar to the AoD implementation on Apple Watch Series 5 and above. While no iPhone currently has an Always-On display implementation, the new wallpaper state suggests its the route Apple will take with the iPhone 14 series, allowing a colour-less, dimmed out gradient version of the wallpaper to show on the AoD screen along with other elements like the time and date.
Apple’s Always-On display feature, however, may be exclusive to the iPhone 14 series’ Pro models, as per previous reports. More details on the same are expected to come in a few weeks when the 14-series will be officially announced.
