Can always on display be set to stay on all night?

Always-On display goes dark when you don't need it

To save battery life, the display is completely dark when:

• Your iPhone is lying face down 
• Your iPhone is in your pocket or bag
• Sleep Focus is on
• Low Power Mode is on
• Your iPhone is connected to CarPlay
• You're using Continuity Camera
• You haven't used your iPhone for a while (your iPhone learns your activity patterns and turns the display off and on accordingly, including if you set up an alarm or sleep schedule)
• Your iPhone detects that you moved away from it with a paired Apple Watch (Always-On display will turn on when your Apple Watch is close to your iPhone again)

At present, you cannot bypass the above decision making markers. I know that you would like to be able to set Always ON Display to ON all night. I recommend that you provide a direct product feedback to Apple here 👉 👉 Product Feedback - Apple 

Axel F.

Also note if the display did remain on 24x7, even at the reduced levels Always On displays, it would likely lead to display burn-in over time.

About the Super Retina display and Super Retina XDR display on your iPhone - Apple Support

Feel free to tell Apple of your desires here:

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

We're just other Apple users here, so we don't know what Apple has in mind, but I do know how OLED and other self-illuminated displays work, regardless of size.

Good point (about potential burn-in). Android (at least I can confirm Samsung Galaxy S series) solves the burn-in issue by (1) only displaying the specified function's text (e.g. clock/date) with no background and (2) automatically moving the text around after several seconds. Apple finally offers AOD, but still has a little catching up to do.

Actually, it's an issue with Android devices too, so there's no "catching up" Apple needs to do per se; the tactics you describe are ways to lessen the risk of burn-in but it can still occur as it does on OLED televisions despite such picture "wobble" tactics.

In fact, displaying text with no background is actually more likely to result in visible burn-in than displaying it on a background as it's all about aging the LEDs evenly.

I don't want to be argumentative, but I've actually owned Samsung Galaxy Android phones with AOD for at least six years and there have been zero problems with burn-in due to AOD. When I've traded these devices in, they were in mint-condition after two to three years of daily use (including the display).

No amount of academic theorizing or generalizations about potential issues can counter real-world results. Millions of users with complaints would be all over the media if this were actually a problem. Again, I can speak only about recent Samsung Galaxy flagships from personal experience, but many other Android phones are also known for having solved this issue years ago.

P.S. If you search the Internet, you might be able to find a couple obscure complaints about burn-in. But outliers can be found for virtually any issue in all ecosystems. Even 1-2% of a customer base of millions would make headlines, so I'm confident that AOD burn-in is not a statistically significant issue on Android and the few outliers are most likely enjoying warranty replacements.

As someone who's owned an OLED television since 2012, I know that it can be mitigated but it can occur under situations that involve stationary text on a black background, and wobble just usually results in "fuzzy" burn-in.

I have no reason to believe burn-in would be more of an issue on iPhones than it is Androids (or Apple Watches for that matter.)

Regardless, "Always On No Matter What" is not currently an option so it's moot.

"...wobble just usually results in "fuzzy" burn-in"

Fear and conjecture based on how your old OLED TV worked can only take you so far. In the real world, AOD on Samsung phones doesn't "wobble". It shifts the text to different positions across a large percentage of the screen.

I can imagine not long ago, you would've argued just as vehemently that Apple offering AOD in any form was never going to happen and therefore moot. Fortunately, Apple engineers are not quite so rigid in their thinking.

It's okay to disagree. There's nothing you can say to stop forward-thinking customers from continuing to push for improvements. Time to move on to other discussions. If it'll make you feel better, please go ahead and have the last word.

Well, I said I'd let you have the last word, and I'm betting you will still feel compelled to have it, but I want to point out that I submitted feedback on this feature to Apple a week ago. Nevertheless, thanks for the link.

One last bit of advice is to be sure someone actually wants your help before forcing it on them. I wasn't asking for help. Repeating a rigidly held opinion over and over is not what I would call helpful anyway. However, based on your massive points accumulation, you've obviously been helpful to many others, so good for you. Take care.

This forum exists to answer technical questions, and I provided accurate technical information regarding OLED displays and burn-in.

I wish you the best.