Are you trying to capture the perfect picture in portrait mode, but your screen keeps rotating? This indeed may irritate many iPhone users. However, you can eliminate the nuisance by locking your screen rotation.

So, if you’re curious to learn how to stop your iPhone screen from rotating in iOS 4 and newer devices, then read this post.

Why Does My iPhone Screen Rotate?

If your iPhone screen rotates, you should not be annoyed by it. Instead, it’s caused by quite a handy built-in feature called auto-rotate. So, whenever you’re holding your phone at a slightly tilted angle, you may notice the iPhone screen rotating automatically.

This happens because your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch has smart sensors that can sense your hold and rotate your screen to match your eye’s view. In addition, they use the gyroscope and accelerometer built into your iPhone and other devices.

Moreover, these sensors allow you to control video games when you move the device. You may also find these sensors helping you get accurate directions in the iPhone maps app.

You can understand the screen rotation in these ways:

  • When holding the Apple devices sideways, the screen orientation will convert into landscape mode
  • When holding the devices upright, the screen will enable portrait orientation

How to Keep My iPhone 7 and Newer From Rotating?

The screen orientation lock feature is built into all iOS models, including iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. It allows you to adjust your screen orientation and keep it fixed.

To enable the feature in newer iPhones and iPhones with Face ID, you can follow these steps:

  1. From your screen’s bottom, swipe up. Or perhaps, glide down from the upper right corner of your screen if you use an iPad or iPhone X and newer models.
  2. Open Control Center.
  3. Search for the lock rotation icon depending on your iOS version. For instance, if you have iOS 11 or newer, search for the icon on your left under the first few buttons. In contrast, if you have an iOS 7 to 10, you may find the icon in your upper right corner.
  4. The lock rotation icon looks like a lock surrounded by a curved arrow. Could you tap on the lock icon once you find it?
  5. Now, your iPhone screen is locked to its current orientation. You can confirm this by checking if the icon is displayed in red or white hues for iOS 10-15 or iOS 7- respectively.
  6. Once done, you may swipe down the Control Center or select the Home button. If you have an iPhone X, a newer model, or an iPad, you can touch up to return to the app you used previously.

However, many apps and services support the screen rotation lock. Instead, a few apps will only operate in landscape mode or portrait orientation. For instance, several videos and game apps can not work with the portrait orientation lock.

How to Disable the Screen Rotation Lock Icon?

You can unlock screen rotation whenever you want to. So, if you need to view a document in landscape mode, you can follow these instructions:

  1. First, swipe up or down to navigate to Control Center.
  2. Select the screen rotation lock. Check if the red or white highlight disappears. You may also find a message on your screen’s top when you disable the rotation lock.
  3. Long press the Home button to exit the Control Center. Alternatively, you can swipe up or down to close the app.

How Can I Disable Screen Rotation in My iPhone 4 to 6?

You must choose a different method to unlock screen rotation in your iOS 4 to 6. So, follow these steps:

  1. Double-tap your Home button to launch the app for multiple tasks at your iPhone screen bottom.
  2. Swipe the tasks right or left until there are no tasks left. Now, you may see controls for music playback and the screen rotation lock icon at the extreme left.
  3. Select the screen rotation lock to turn on the feature. A lock will appear in the icon to confirm it’s enabled.
  4. Please tap on the icon again to disable it.

How to Confirm if Screen Rotation Lock is Turned On?

Accessing the Control Center can confirm that iPhone screen rotation is on. However, you can check the feature on the go much quicker.

For this, you can go to the icon bar on your iPhone screen top. Then, check the rotation lock symbol beside the icon for the Apple device battery.

If the feature is enabled, the lock symbol will be surrounded by a curved arrow extending to the left side. However, if the arrow is not there, you can tell that the rotation lock is disabled.

In addition, the portrait orientation lock button is well hidden from your iPhone home screen in models ranging from iPhone X to 11. Instead, you can find the auto-rotate iPhone feature at the top right corner of your device’s Control Center.

Is There Another Option to Turn On iPhone Rotation Lock?

The steps explained above help unlock or lock the screen orientation. However, in the old days, users had another option.

In the iOS 9 beta version, Apple featured an option that enabled users to choose between the ringer switch located on the iPhone side to lock the iPhone screen orientation. The button could also mute the iPhone ringer.

The feature has been available to iPad users for years. However, the option was recently introduced for iPhone.

But, when iOS 9 was officially launched, Apple removed the feature. Apple is known for removing and adding several features throughout beta development. So, these tests are not unusual. But, they can disappoint many people. So, we hope the option may come back in newer iPhone versions.

Final Thoughts

The auto-rotate feature in iPhone and Apple devices is a valuable tool if you move the phone in multiple directions. However, the feature may bother you while still in a position.

In such instances, you can enable the portrait orientation lock button or the landscape mode lock to fix the screen. In addition, you can disable the lock quickly by following the steps explained in this post.