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How to Turn Rotation Lock On or Off on iPhone

Open Control Center and tap Lock Rotation to lock or unlock your iPhone screen's orientation. Here is where to find it, how to read its color, and what to check if the screen still will not rotate.
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To lock your iPhone screen in its current orientation or let it rotate, open Control Center and tap the Lock Rotation button. Apple’s guide describes it as red while orientation is locked and gray while it is unlocked. If the button is not in Control Center, add it there. Apple’s troubleshooting article labels the same control “Portrait Orientation Lock,” so you may see either name in Apple’s documentation.

Turn rotation lock on or off

  1. Open Control Center. On an iPhone without a Home button, swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen.
  2. Tap the Lock Rotation button (Apple’s troubleshooting article calls it Portrait Orientation Lock). Red means orientation is locked; gray means it is unlocked.
  3. Close Control Center.
  4. To test rotation, turn the iPhone sideways in an app that supports landscape mode.

Tap the button again to reverse the change. The control only governs whether the screen follows the device’s physical orientation, so it has no effect on the content of any app.

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Check the lock state

The button’s color is the main indicator. On supported iPhone models, a lock indicator also appears in the status bar while orientation is locked. Apple’s guide does not say which models show it, so if you do not see the icon, rely on the button color in Control Center instead.

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If the Lock Rotation button is missing

Apple’s guidance is to add the control to Control Center. If it is absent from the list of controls, add it through the Control Center settings on your iPhone, then open Control Center again to confirm it appears. Apple’s sources reviewed for this article do not spell out the exact menu path for adding controls, so check Apple’s iPhone User Guide for the steps that match your iOS version.

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Why the screen still does not rotate

If the lock is off and the screen stays in portrait, work through these checks in order.

Check whether the app supports rotation

Turning the lock off does not force every app into landscape. Some apps do not support screen rotation at all, and in those apps the screen stays in portrait even when the lock is off. Apple’s support article puts it this way: “Some apps don’t support rotation, so your screen may not rotate even if Portrait Orientation Lock is turned off.” (Apple Support, “Rotate the screen on your iPhone or iPod touch,” published April 30, 2026.)

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Test with an app known to support landscape, such as Calculator or Safari. If the screen rotates in those apps, the lock and the sensor are working, and the problem is limited to the app you first tried.

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Check whether the iPhone detects orientation changes

Apple suggests opening the Measure app and using its Level tool. Lay the iPhone flat, then tilt it sideways and watch whether the level readings respond. If the Level display stays stuck and does not respond to movement, the device may not be detecting orientation changes correctly.

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Restart the iPhone

If Level is stuck, or if the display still does not rotate in an app that supports landscape, Apple recommends restarting the iPhone. Restarting clears a temporary software state and is the step Apple gives before anything more involved. The published troubleshooting steps do not establish whether a persistent failure after a restart points to hardware, so if rotation still fails after a restart, contact Apple Support or an Apple Store for diagnosis.

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Terminology Apple uses

Apple’s iPhone User Guide calls the control “Lock Rotation,” and its troubleshooting article calls it “Portrait Orientation Lock.” Both names refer to the same screen-orientation setting, so a search for either will lead to the same control.

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