Android screen not rotating? Here is how to fix it

If your Android phone’s screen won’t rotate, make sure auto-rotate is enabled for apps and your home screen, and that you and your case aren’t touching the screen when you try to rotate. Restarting your phone, calibrating your screen, and removing recently installed apps can also fix the problem.

Does your phone screen not rotate when you turn it sideways? If so, it is possible that Android’s automatic screen rotation option is disabled or your phone has another error. We will show you some ways to fix this problem.

RELATED: 5 common Android problems and how to fix them

Enable auto rotate option

The most common reason why your Android phone screen is not auto-rotating is that the auto-rotate option is disabled. Activate the function and your phone will make sure that all the contents on the screen rotate automatically.

On almost all Android phones, you can activate the option by pulling down twice from the top of your phone’s screen and tapping on “Auto-rotate”.

Advice: Depending on your model and settings, you may need to swipe left to see the auto rotate button.

After enabling the option, go to an app on your phone and your screen will change its orientation. However, if the auto-rotate toggle was already enabled, continue reading for other solutions.

Make your phone home screen rotatable

Most Android phones by default will not rotate the home screen even if you have enabled the auto-rotate option. To avoid that, turn on the home screen rotation option, and that screen will rotate as well. Instructions for this will vary depending on your specific phone model, but as examples, we’ll cover Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones.

samsung galaxy

To enable home screen rotation on a Samsung Galaxy phone, first launch the Settings app. In Settings, select “Home Screen”.

On the “Home screen” page, turn on the “Rotate to landscape mode” option.

And that is. Return to your home screen, turn your phone on its side and the screen will use landscape mode.

Also, to make your phone’s always-on screen rotate, head to Settings > Lock screen > Always on display > Screen orientation and tap “Landscape”.

pixels

Although you can’t rotate the always-on screen on a Pixel, you can still make the home screen rotate. First, touch and hold the home screen until the settings menu pops up, then tap “Home settings”.

Scroll until you see the option “Allow home screen rotation” and tap it to enable it.

Make sure you don’t touch the screen of your phone

If you have enabled all the rotation settings, but your phone’s screen still won’t rotate, make sure you don’t touch the screen while trying to rotate it. Remember that your phone locks the screen orientation when you place your finger on it.

To avoid that, just make sure your fingers aren’t on your screen when you’re rotating it. You’ll need to be careful around the edges of the screen, as it’s easy to unknowingly touch the screen there.

Remove your phone case

If you have a case on your phone and screen rotation doesn’t work, the case may not be compatible with your phone or it may be broken. This may cause the case to touch parts of the screen and prevent the screen from rotating.

To check that, remove the case from your phone and then lay it on its side. If the screen rotates, your case is to blame. You can try to fix your case or get a new compatible one.

restart your phone

Sometimes a minor bug in Android can cause system functions to not work properly. Fortunately, you can resolve many minor system issues simply by restarting your phone. This gives your phone a fresh start, possibly fixing your screen rotation issue.

To reboot most Android phones, press and hold the power button for a few seconds. Then, in the power menu that opens, select “Restart”.

When your phone turns back on, place it on its side and the screen will rotate.

Advice: If your power button is broken, learn how to reset a phone without the power button.

Calibrate your phone’s touch screen

Your phone’s touchscreen may be detecting touches when you’re not actually touching them. This could prevent your phone from rotating the screen because it thinks you have placed your finger on the screen (where the phone blocks screen rotation).

To solve that problem, calibrate your phone’s touch screen with a free app like Touchscreen Calibration. It will let you know which points on the screen are detecting touch, thus revealing potential problems. You can then use the app to recalibrate your screen.

Delete recently installed apps

If your phone’s screen stopped rotating after you installed a specific app, that app might be interfering with your phone’s functions. In this case, remove that app from your phone and see if your problem is still there.

It’s easy to delete an app on Android (or multiple apps). Once you have done that, see if your phone screen rotates. If so, avoid reinstalling the app you just uninstalled (and perhaps look for an alternative app that does the same or similar tasks).

And this is how you fix your android phone screen not rotating. We hope the guide will help you solve your problem.

If you can’t rotate your screen after trying these fixes, it may be time to upgrade to a new Android phone.

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