5 ways to turn off iPhone screen rotation

Here are five simple ways to turn off screen rotation on your iPhone and keep the display in portrait mode.

Many apps on your iPhone will change orientation as you rotate your screen. These include apps like Mail, Calculator, Calendar, Messages, and some third-party apps. But there are times when you accidentally move your device in a way that rotates the screen, which can be distracting or annoying. If you’d like to stop your iPhone from rotating the screen, this short tutorial shows you how.

Keep in mind that if you have an app, like a game, that’s only available in landscape mode, it will still displayed in that orientation. You’ll only notice a difference with apps that work in both views, like those mentioned above.

1. Using Control Center

1. Open Control Center on your iPhone by swiping down from the top right corner of the screen. If your iPhone has a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap the Portrait Orientation Lock button. Once the screen rotation is locked, the icon will show in white and red. This is a clear indication that it’s enabled. Now, when you turn your device, the screen will no longer rotate. And when you want your iPhone screen rotation back, just tap that icon in your Control Center.

2. Using AssistiveTouch

If you feel uncomfortable reaching for the top right corner of your iPhone’s large display, you can use AssistiveTouch to disable the iPhone screen rotation.

1. Open the Settings app and go to Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch.
2. Enable AssistiveTouch if not already.
3. Depending on your preference, tap Single Tap, Double Tap, or Long Press, then select Lock Rotation from the next screen.
4. Now, when you tap the circular on-screen virtual button twice, it will lock or unlock screen rotation.

3. Using Back Tap

Thanks to the Back Tap feature, you can double or triple tap on the rear side of your iPhone (even if it has a case) to trigger an action like screen rotation lock.

1. Launch iOS Settings and go to Accessibility > Touch.
2. Scroll to the bottom and hit Back Tap.
3. Choose Double Tap or Triple Tap and assign either to Lock Rotation.

Now, you can enable or disable screen rotation when you double or triple tap (as set in step 3) on the back of the iPhone.

To test this, go to Control Center and tap the center part of the back of your iPhone. You’ll see the lock icon change color from white to red and back, signifying that it’s working.

4. Using iOS Shortcut and the Action button

If you have an iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, or a model from the iPhone 16 series, you can map the Action button to turn screen rotation on or off.

1. Open the Apple Shortcuts app and tap the plus button (+) to create a new shortcut.
2. Search for the Set Orientation Lock action and add it to your build.
3. Leave the shortcut untouched as “Toggle orientation lock” and tap Done.
4. Now, open the iPhone Settings app and tap Action Button.
5. Swipe to the Shortcut screen and assign it to the Set Orientation Lock shortcut you built above.
6. From now on, press and hold the Action button to enable or disable screen rotation on your iPhone.

5. Create an automation to automatically trigger screen rotation in certain apps

Let’s say you keep the iPhone screen lock on at all times, except when you watch content in Netflix or Apple TV apps. To make things easier, you can create an iOS screen rotation automation that automatically disables the screen rotation lock when you open these apps and re-enables it when you exit them.

Also, check out:

• How to lock the rotation and orientation on iPad
• How to easily rotate videos on iPhone or iPad