You can now have an always-on, black-screen display with iOS 16.2's third beta.

A few eye-catching software updates, such the Dynamic Island for displaying system warnings and a much anticipated always-on display, are present in the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. The latter feature is not very novel. Android devices have featured an always-on display for years, which shows important data even when the screen is off. A dark screen with the clock, date, and occasionally notification icons is what you see. But Apple added its own spin to the iPhone version.

Instead of a black screen, the 14 Pro's always-on display displays the time and date along with widgets against a toned-down version of your wallpaper image. It took me about half as long as it should have to get used to the always-on display because it appeared that my phone was unlocked. I've had the iPhone 14 Pro for over three months. Apple should be commended for coming up with a solution to make the always-on display look almost exactly like the standard lock screen, but there is a drawback. Some of us like an always-on display that is more covert and unobtrusive.

Fortunately, iOS 16.2 has the solution. The options to turn off the wallpaper when the always-on display is engaged are now available in the beta version of iOS 16.2, Apple's upcoming iPhone software upgrade. The always-on display on your iPhone can now finally have a solid black background without requiring you to change the image on your lock screen.

Go to Settings, touch Display and Brightness, and select Always On Display to test it out. You can choose to display notifications or wallpaper from there. A black always-on display is what you get if you disable Show Wallpaper.

In our experiments, using the always-on display on the iPhone 14 Pro didn't reduce battery life. However, some people have encountered the reverse situation. It is hoped that replacing the lock screen with a solid black background may allay battery life worries for those who have had them. I should also mention that, according to our tests, the battery life of the iPhone 14 series is generally lower than that of the iPhone 13 series.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in his email, the final release of iOS 16.2 will probably be made available in December. The update is now in beta. You can follow the steps in our iOS 16. 2 beta guide if you're interested in trying the public beta version.