Always-on displays are everywhere now. Android phones have had it for ages, and even iPhones have finally caught up. Manufacturers also keep getting smarter about new ways to show you information without you having to touch your phone. It’s convenient, it’s slick, and in theory, it’s a no-brainer.
You might love the always-on display on your iPhone, but I decided to part ways with the feature a long time ago. And I have some perfectly valid reasons why.
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Preventing OLED burn-in
That faint clock on your screen today could become a permanent mark tomorrow.
OLED technology has come a long way, and manufacturers have already built burn-in prevention measures into their displays. That said, I believed OLED burn-in was a myth and learned the hard way that it’s still very much a problem. Thankfully, I caught the damage early on my laptop, and now I don’t want to get the same problem on my phone.
OLED burn-in hits laptops the worst, but with always-on displays constantly showing the same clock design, widgets, and notification areas, there’s a non-zero risk of permanent damage. On a phone that costs nearly the price of a good mid-range laptop, I’d rather be cautious.
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Notifications don’t work as intended
Notifications become more annoying than useful
I’m not a big fan of notification behavior on always-on displays. It varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, but they’re all trying to communicate as much information while illuminating as few pixels as possible. The result is these tiny notification dots that are impossible to see in bright light. On some phones, the notifications are so minimalistic that you miss them entirely.
The battle between making notifications prominent or subtle leaves them frustratingly intuitive. To the point where I’d rather pick up my phone and press the power button to see my actual screen.
There’s also a privacy issue here. With my notifications visible on the always-on display, if my phone is sitting on a desk in public view, anyone can see my notifications on my lock screen. Sure, they’re abbreviated, but people can still see notification previews, messages, calendar events, and more.
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Always-on displays still drain battery
Even a few percent per hour adds up
Manufacturers will tell you that always-on displays are optimized and barely touch your battery. They’re not technically wrong, but they’re also playing a numbers game. In real-world usage, you’ll lose a noticeable amount of battery life to your always-on display.
Experts at Dxomark ran some tests to measure the impact always-on displays have on battery life, and on average, the feature can drain your battery about four times faster in standby mode. Over 24 hours, your phone could lose up to 20%of battery if the always-on display is constantly running.
The battery drain will vary by phone, and some phones will lose more battery than others. Regardless, you’re still giving away battery life just for information that takes a tap to check. As someone who prefers staying away from chargers as much as possible when on the go, having an always-on display feels pointless.
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The customization rabbit hole is exhausting
You’ll spend more time tweaking than actually using it
A lot of phone manufacturers let you extensively customize your always-on display, including the clock style, the widgets, the color scheme, which information appears where, and more. It sounds great in theory, but in practice, it quickly became an endless rabbit hole of trying all the different customization options to find what I liked.
Depending on the customization options, you can spend well over an hour setting the display up, only to glance at it for barely a minute during your day. It’s the digital equivalent of rearranging furniture in your room—feels productive but doesn’t really accomplish anything.
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It’s distracting in ways I didn’t expect
A glowing screen in the corner of your eye is a constant tug for attention
A constantly lit screen can be rather distracting as well. My phone sits on a wireless charger facing me on my desk. Any time I get a notification, the screen lights up, I read the notification, and then it goes back to being blank. With always-on displays, however, that screen is always lit up and staring at me right from the edge of my monitor.
Additionally, the OLED burn-in prevention measures that manufacturers put in place mean that information on the screen keeps moving. Having a moving clock in my peripheral vision turned out to be more distracting than I thought. I always end up looking at my phone, thinking a notification has arrived instead of looking at my monitors and getting work done.
Once again, you might be able to customize the display to be dimmer, but it’s always bright enough to be noticeable. The constant visual presence of this information also causes a sort of psychological pull. I know the time, I can see my pending notification, and there’s this temptation to check in every few minutes.
The friction of unlocking my phone acts as a filter for me. If I have to take action or otherwise break my workflow to check my notifications, I end up being more intentional about whether I’m actually going to engage with them. Removing that friction with an always-on display just leads to more mindless phone checking.
I don’t like always-on displays
Last but not least, I just don’t like always-on displays. My phone is either in my pocket or on my desk. Either way, I have no use of any information appearing on the phone screen unless I want to check it. For checking the time, I’ve got my taskbar, Stream Deck, and my $10 Casio that beats every smartwatch I’ve tried.
There’s something oddly freeing about that black lock screen, too. It feels like my phone is actually off when I’m not using it. Perhaps it’s psychological, but it works for me.