There’s a particular annoyance that goes along with turning your phone sideways and watching as…nothing happens. Some apps just don’t want to rotate into landscape mode, but as is usually the case in the Android world, there’s a solution available right in the Play Store for free.
Whether you’ve got your phone on a wireless charging stand, ready to watch a video, or propped up in a mount on your car’s dashboard, there are times when landscape mode is just better. However, not every Android app is natively built to support screen rotating. I’ll show you how to force it.
The problem
As I said, there are certain scenarios when landscape mode might be your preferred orientation. You might have your phone strapped in a car mount for navigation, clipped into a gaming controller, or simply propped up on a stand while you eat breakfast. You can make sure your phone has auto-rotate enabled in the Quick Settings, but that alone doesn’t force apps into landscape mode if they don’t support it.
But why don’t some apps have landscape mode? For many apps, the portrait, vertical orientation is simply the best way to view the content. When you switch to landscape, you typically get a lot of wasted horizontal space and a tiny window of vertical space. For a developer, supporting both a portrait and a landscape layout essentially means designing and debugging two versions of every single screen, which can be a costly time-sink. By locking an app to portrait, they save time and money, and ensure that the experience you get is the one they intended.
That being said, you can (usually) take matters into your own hands. There is a simple, effective application called Screen Orientation Control by OHMAE Ryosuke. It’s essentially an override button for stubborn apps that refuse to turn, giving you back the power over your own device’s orientation.
How it works
The process couldn’t be easier. After installing Screen Orientation Control, the application needs just one key permission: the ability to draw over other apps. This is what allows it to globally control your screen’s behavior, no matter what stubborn app you open next.
The cool thing about the app is that there are two ways to use it. It can be a system-wide setting that applies to all apps, or you can reserve it for only specific apps. On top of that, you can also decide exactly how orientation should work. Here’s the full list of available modes:
- unspecified – Unspecified orientation from this app. The device will be in the original orientation of the displayed app
- portrait – Fixed to portrait
- landscape – Fixed to landscape
- rev port – Fixed to reverse portrait
- rev land – Fixed to reverse landscape
- full sensor – Rotate in all orientations by sensor (system control)
- sensor port – Fixed to portrait, automatically flip upside down by sensor
- sensor land – Fixed to landscape, automatically flip upside down by sensor
- lie left – Rotate it 90 degrees to the left with respect to the sensor. If you lie on left lateral and use it, the top and bottom will match.
- lie right – Rotate it 90 degrees to the right with respect to the sensor. If you lie on right lateral and use it, the top and bottom will match.
- Headstand – Rotate 180 degrees with respect to the sensor. If you use this by headstand, the top and bottom will match.
- Full – Rotate in all orientations by sensor (app control)
- forward – Rotate in forward orientations by the sensor. Does not rotate in reverse orientations
- reverse – Rotate in reverse orientations by the sensor. Does not rotate in forward orientations
The nice thing is you change how it works while it’s active, too. Several of the common modes can be accessed from a row of control icons right in your notification shade. So if an app isn’t behaving how you want it to, you can simply pull down the shade and try one of the other modes.
In my experience, Screen Orientation Control works most of the time. There are a few apps here and there that just won’t rotate, no matter which mode you try. Some quirks are to be expected when you’re forcing something that isn’t officially supported. I’ve been happy with the free version, but you can unlock more features for $3.99. For those handful of apps that just don’t rotate like you think they should, this app can be a savior.
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