Standby Mode on the iPhone 14 Pro replaced my Google Nest Hub

I’ve spent the previous few years assembling my perfect good residence. More importantly, I’ve invested a lot money and time to make sure that most of my residence automations run with out person intervention. But there are nonetheless some cases, like once I’m sitting at my desk, the place having a management floor is useful.

While the Raspberry Pi powering my Home Assistant backend sits tucked away in my server closet, I’ve obtained a Google Nest Hub that occupies prime actual property on my desk and acts as a management heart for controlling good lights, followers, music, and podcast playback, all whereas serving up photographs from my Google Photos library.

However, a lot as I like my Nest Hub, it has been fairly clear to me for some time that it’s beginning to present its age. The lagging software program and really iffy voice management have been a continuing stress level these days. Additionally, Google’s fixed elimination of options has me involved about shifting priorities inside the firm. Finally, the Nest Hub occupies a sizeable chunk of desk actual property for the restricted quantity of use it will get.

I’ve been in search of an answer that may assist me streamline my setup with out dropping performance. When Apple launched Standby Mode on iOS 17, it instantly struck me as a possible answer for my good residence dilemma. Lately, I’ve been all about the minimal life. I wish to maximize what I do with my current devices as an alternative of amassing toys that not often get used, and Standby Mode on the iPhone 14 Pro might probably assist me get there. Could Apple’s always-on standby mode really change a devoted gadget? There was just one solution to discover out.

I’m normally cautious about switching out tech that already works for me, however in the case of Standby Mode, I made a decision to leap off the deep finish. Considering my iPhone 14 Pro sits on a MagSafe charger all day, I had nothing to lose. Of course, I used to be below no delusion that Standby Mode can be a drop-in substitute for an inexpensive Nest Hub. In truth, the steep $ 1,000 value of entry to even get entry to the function places this squarely in the realm of nice-to-have addons for current customers.

But since I had an iPhone 14 Pro working the iOS 17 beta and a spare MagSafe charger on hand, I did the apparent factor — disconnected my Nest Hub, propped up my iPhone on an inexpensive desk stand, and began my little experiment.

Limited, however purposeful performance

Let me preface this by saying that Standby Mode on iOS 17 is extraordinarily restricted by design. I’m not making an attempt to justify its limitations, however Apple clearly doesn’t need you to suppose that its software program is something greater than a widget hub. The onboarding course of consists of choosing a number of widgets, and that’s about so far as you’ll be able to customise issues. You received’t be manipulating recurring alarms or swiping throughout a number of UI parts right here. Obviously, it may possibly’t be used as an Airplay goal, both. For my use, these limitations didn’t matter as a lot. I’ve spent years in the good residence sport, and my use circumstances have developed to cowl simply the necessities. As lengthy as it may possibly show photographs and management my music and my good residence, it’s adequate for me.

Apple’s strategy presents you with a number of preselected eventualities that the firm thinks may go well with a quick-access show surroundings. This consists of a two-widget desktop pane the place you’ll be able to have varied clock choices or most first-party widgets. I used to be shocked by the lack of help for third-party widgets, as that may’ve drastically opened up the capabilities of Standby Mode.

Meanwhile, the different half of the pane could be configured to position a calendar, climate, reminders, or your to-do record. Apple’s good recommendations are additionally applied right here, they usually can helpfully toggle the widget relying on the time of day or an upcoming appointment. I want to swipe via related widgets manually.

Compared to my Nest Hub, this two-pane residence display screen setup has confirmed far more helpful to me. I reside my life via to-do lists that get synced to my calendar, and having glanceable entry to that data was precisely what I wanted.

Next, a swipe to the proper provides me entry to a rolling collection of pics from my picture library. My main cellphone tends to be an Android gadget, and Google Photos is my central repository of photographs, so I positively miss the higher collection of photos accessible on my Nest Hub.

Apple’s take on the picture body function provides you a number of totally different choices to mess around with. A people-centric tile pulls up photos of your most well-liked contacts. Other choices embody cityscapes out of your photographs, nature, and eventually featured photos out of your native picture library. It’s a far cry from Google’s album-based strategy on the Nest Hub, however it comes with the territory given Apple’s local-first strategy.

So far, so good. Putting the good in the good hub is the voice assistant ingredient, in fact. Let me be clear: I’m a Google Assistant religious, and I not often, if ever, use Siri. However, this experiment necessitated utilizing voice controls, and I’m reasonably shocked by how properly Apple’s much-maligned voice assistant labored. It’s actually not going to switch Google Assistant’s smarts, however Siri has been completely able to pulling up related data like climate forecasts, controlling music, opening up apps, and, sure, even telling me the customary joke — all inside the Standby Mode interface.

However, my favourite function, which I take advantage of the most, is the music playback interface. The Nest Hub, by design, can solely management music taking part in again on the hub’s inner speaker or different Nest audio system in a gaggle.

On the iPhone, nevertheless, I can use Spotify Connect to launch playback on my Alexa-enabled amplifier or bed room soundbar and management it instantly from the Standby Mode interface. It shouldn’t be all that shocking because it’s simply utilizing the put in Spotify app for the function, however it’s a marked step up for my use case. Be it taking part in again a podcast on the iPhone’s speaker, utilizing Airplay to solid to my soundbar, controlling an Alexa speaker, and, via a little bit of a workaround, even a Google Nest speaker — Standby Mode turns the iPhone 14 Pro into the most complete music management hub on the market, with out even making an attempt to be one.

I even examined out Netflix playback from the ambient mode interface utilizing Siri. Apple clearly didn’t design the interface for such use circumstances, however Siri dropped me proper into the Netflix app, and I might simply faucet and launch the newest blockbuster. It’s not all that totally different from the way you’d run Netflix on an Amazon Echo Show.

As for good residence controls, that’s the place issues get tough. If you’ve obtained a Homekit-enabled good residence, it’s doable so as to add Apple’s Home widget to the desktop, providing you with quick-tap entry to all the necessities. If you favor voice management, you can even use Siri to manage all of your good residence devices.

Unfortunately, nearly none of my good residence gear is Homekit-enabled. I take advantage of Homebridge to parse my good residence gear into Apple’s Home app and assumed that Apple’s Home widget would populate all my good residence equipment. However, that’s not the case. The widget requires an official Homekit hub like an Apple TV or Homepod for full performance. So, when you use a DIY answer and like a touch-based interface to manage electronics, Standby Mode may not be an optimum match. For my use, although, Siri’s voice management might simply hook up with my lights, followers, and thermostats over the Homekit bridge, and I didn’t discover the lack of widget help notably limiting.

A few weeks of use later, it’s clear to me that, like all issues, Standby Mode’s utility comes all the way down to what you utilize your good residence hub for. Apple’s collection of use circumstances covers most issues I do with my Nest Hub, and I’m not planning to plug the latter again in. The comfort of propping up my iPhone in panorama mode on a wi-fi charger and dropping straight right into a standby display screen with a few widgets is strictly what I would like for my desk setup.

I see Standby Mode on the iPhone 14 Pro as a handy addon for an workplace desk or nightstand the place you may not need one other gadget hogging desk area. In its present state, the function is already adequate to cowl a variety of floor, however I can see Apple step by step plugging away at it and including extra performance or increasing it to extra gadgets.

That stated, it must be fairly apparent that your cellphone isn’t going to switch an always-on ambient hub — particularly in a shared-use surroundings. Battery considerations are additionally one thing to bear in mind. Keeping your cellphone perpetually linked to a wi-fi charger can’t be nice for battery well being. And then there’s the matter of display screen actual property. The 6.1-inch display screen on my iPhone 14 Pro is serviceable once I’m sitting at my desk, however it positively isn’t seen from throughout the room. The similar interface, or higher, would make much more sense on an iPad. We’ve already seen the Pixel Tablet doubling up as a Nest Hub, and I can see Apple working on the function as soon as it rolls out OLED-equipped iPads.

For the most half, although, I’d name my experiment a hit. Barring a number of hiccups with getting my good residence gear working, I’ve had no points utilizing Standby Mode as a Google Nest Hub substitute. In truth, I want the cleaner, smoother, and, dare I say, extra sophisticated-looking interface over Google’s good show. Would I like to recommend others to chuck their Nest Hub and splurge on an iPhone for the function? Of course not. But when you’ve already invested in the newest iPhone or are contemplating the iPhone 15 collection, Apple’s surprisingly forward-looking function is certainly value trying out.