“Raise to Wake” is a feature designed to make it quicker and easier to start using your phone after picking it up. It allows you to just lift your phone to start using it, rather than having to press any buttons. Generally, when you pick your phone up, you want to use it.
“Raise to Wake” means you don’t have to hold your phone in such a way that you can press the side button to turn it on. One of the downsides is that on the occasions that you want to pick the phone up and don’t want to use it, the screen will still turn on, increasing battery usage. This guide will walk you through the process of disabling “Raise to Wake”.
The settings for “Raise to Wake” can be found in the Settings app, under Settings > Display & Brightness. Near the bottom of the display and brightness page is a slider for “Raise to Wake”. Just tap the slider to toggle it from “On” to “Off”.

“Raise to Wake” doesn’t unlock your phone at all, it just wakes the phone to the lock screen. If you’ve turned off “Raise to Wake” you can unlock the phone by pressing the side button, by pressing the home button (iPhone 8 and older) or by tapping the screen (iPhone X and newer).
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