Every once in a while an iOS device or app will get stuck in the wrong orientation, unresponsive to rotating the device and it either stays in portrait or horizontal mode, despite every effort to rotate the device any which direction. Though this seems to happen more often on the iPad than the iPhone or iPod touch, it can still occur on every iOS device and with just about any app.
Thankfully, resolving this inconvenience is usually a very simple process.
1: Toggle Orientation Lock On & Off
Though this may seem like a no-brainer, it’s not terribly uncommon to either forget that the orientation lock is on (or off), and it’s easy to double-check. Also, sometimes just toggling the switch off/on again is enough to dislodge a device stuck in either horizontal landscape or vertical portrait mode. For the iPad, just flip the side-switch ON and OFF again. Or you can do it through software as follows:
In iOS 6 and before:
- Double-tap the Home button to summon the multitasking bar, and scroll to the left until you see the Orientation Lock button
- Tap the button to toggle it ON and OFF again, then go back to the app that was stuck and try rotating to the desired orientation again
In iOS 7 and newer:
- Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to summon Control Center
- Tap the Orientation Lock button in the upper right corner so that ON and OFF
This is particularly effective on the iPad for those who set the side switch to be function as an orientation lock rather than as a mute button.
2: Kill the App & Relaunch
Sometimes the app is just stuck, and in this case just quitting and relaunching it usually enough to dislodge the orientation weirdness.
In iOS 6 and before:
- Double-tap the Home button to bring up the multitasking bar
- Tap and hold on the app icon until it starts jiggling, then tap the red (-) button to quit the app
- Relaunch the same app to find orientation functioning as usual
In iOS 7:
- Double-tap the Home button, then swipe over to the app that is stuck
- Swipe up on the app window to quit it, then relaunch the app
If the app is unresponsive and actually frozen, you will need to use force quit instead.
Quitting and relaunching most apps will resolve the issue entirely, and it’s pretty rare to have to reboot the device unless the home screen itself is stuck in an orientation.
3: All Else Fails? Reboot iOS
Though iOS is remarkably stable, sometimes just rebooting the iPhone, iPod, or iPad is enough to set orientation working again (not to mention other stubborn bugs or quirks). This is particularly true if the Home Screen and Springboard are stuck in portrait or landscape mode and the above tricks didn’t do anything. The simplest way to reboot the device is to basically just turn it on and off again:
- Hold down the Power button until the “Slide to Unlock” message appears, then slide
- Now hold down the power button again until you see the Apple logo on boot
Once the iPad, iPod, or iPhone has rebooted, orientation should be responsive again, but don’t forget to double-check the settings again to be sure.
This is the same approach when a device freezes up or is relentlessly crashing, and it often works to resolve the more peculiar unexplained issues of all sorts.
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