5 ms·

IPhone auto-rotation: out of control

65 points by bensummers 17y ago

robin_reala 17y ago
I like this idea. It does need to be a system-wide thing really, and while this does add a bit of settings and UI clutter it’s a common enough problem that Apple should be doing something to address it.
- chrismear 17y ago
  It might actually reduce clutter, since plenty of apps are now individually adding rotation options to their settings. Having a system-wide setting would simply consolidate all of these in one place.
  - bensummers 17y ago
    It was Tweetie 2's auto-rotation which pushed me over the edge and into writing 800 words about a telephone.
    - rwmj 17y ago
      Not sure I recognise your problem with the iPhone on British trains. Maybe the trains wherever you are move faster than London Midland :-)
      - bensummers 17y ago
        It's mainly a problem when standing up on a busy commuter train. Luckily I don't do that much.
    - ja2ke 17y ago
      Tweetie 2 is one of the few apps with reasonably robust settings exposed to turn off or selectively use auto rotation.
haseman 17y ago
Could easily be solved by a setting that turns off accl switching and allows users to make a two finger twisting gesture on the screen to rotate it.
- bensummers 17y ago
  I'm not sure (see article) -- it would mean every app developer would have to test with it on and off to make sure that gesture didn't get in the way of their UI. It's also hard for users annoyed with the feature to discover. I suspect that particular gesture is a little awkward. Try it! Getting enough motion to reliably detect it as something different to a scroll or pinch is almost painful.
- Zev 17y ago
  The iPhone's accessibility makes use of a lot of the two finger gestures already. Not this one, but most others. http://www.apple.com/iphone/how-to/index.html#accessibility.voiceover-gestures http://www.apple.com/iphone/how-to/index.html#accessibility..... This particular gesture doesn't really make sense for Apple to use (for rotation, or anything else); its not very intuitive. It doesn't map to any other gesture that users have done on the computer before. Apple would have to teach users how to use this gesture. Its one thing for a game to have ann instruction screen, but quite another for the iPhone to do so.
  - haseman 17y ago
    I wouldn't suggest it as a default setting. If power users want an alternative to holding the device up and shaking it until it switches, this could be it. You make good points, it's not intuitive, but it is a solution that wouldn't require more cluttering UI
    - bensummers 17y ago
      However, if it's an option deep in Settings, it's likely that many people who are infuriated with auto-rotation won't find it. By making the UI offer more control and responsiveness, it will help even those users who don't want to go digging into Settings.
anigbrowl 17y ago
I read this wrong...is that an iPhone in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me.
msluyter 17y ago
I was reading in bed just the other day wishing that I could turn off autorotation. This is a serious need.
- pronoiac 17y ago
  If you turn it so the home button points up, it won't rotate. Edit: for clarity, hopefully.
akirk 17y ago
I haven't jailbroken my iPhone yet, but SBSettings has a solution for autorotation, and brightness, and almost anything that annoys me with my iPhone on a daily basis. Now that I have seen SBSettings, I am considering jailbreaking. Apple should do something like SBSettings. http://theappleblog.com/2009/06/22/sbsettings-why-i-still-jailbreak-with-3-0/ http://theappleblog.com/2009/06/22/sbsettings-why-i-still-ja...
- bshep 17y ago
  Amen!
- bensummers 17y ago
  You're right, it's almost enough to push one into jailbreaking. But I think I'd prefer to run a supported configuration. Computers shouldn't be unnecessarily exciting.
  - aerique 17y ago
    Jailbreaking made my iPhone twice as useful. I wouldn't be as enthousiastic about it as I am now if I wasn't able to install a lot of useful software that's only available outside of the Appstore. I buy most of my software in the Appstore but I've also paid for software on Cydia. Lookup SBSettings (has a button for quickly toggling WiFi on and off, awesome for battery life and my initial reason to jailbreak), RotationInhibitor, Lock Calendar and iDitDahText (brilliant!).
- hyyypr 17y ago
  I have a Jailbroken iPhone with SBSettings and the Rotation switch. First I find no problems with the rotation, I have a 1g iphone for more than a year now, and the only problem I had with rotation was when I was laying, with that SBsettings switch, it's solved. Second, I agree that SBsettings is the most useful iPhone App and Apple should really look into its features and make them builtin.
devin 17y ago
Amen. The most annoying 'feature' on my iPhone is auto-rotate. I'll be driving along in my car with my iPhone being used as my iPod, and every time I lay the device down it goes into landscape and I need to put it back when I want to change a song.
jimbokun 17y ago
I recently acquired an iPod Touch, and have not been able to deduce how to activate the rotation feature reliably. I twist it around various which ways trying to make it rotate, and sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Reading this article actually gives me a better idea of how to make it happen reliably. Specifically, I didn't realize that the accelerometer detects motion relative to gravity (makes sense, but I didn't know that).
- bensummers 17y ago
  It's not exactly a sign of successful UI design that knowing an implementation detail of the hardware is helpful in controlling your phone.
bnoland 17y ago
I'd like to be able to disable rotation in a web-app. Like a meta-tag or something.
bprater 17y ago
It's worth checking out how Amazon did their iPhone Kindle. When you initiate a rotation, it pops up a little button at the corner of the screen for about 2 seconds that allows you to lock that orientation. Most elegant implantation I've seen. It doesn't solve the issue of the user wanting to initiate a rotation without the accelerometer.
- drinian 17y ago
  On the other hand, unless you're on the International Space Station, you probably have enough space to rotate the screen relative to gravity and lock it.
bonaldi 17y ago
Surely this solution is still going to fail the walking/train test -- the icon will be on the screen permanently in those situations. The phone will detect movement, the icon will appear, it'll fade after a few seconds, the movement will be interpreted as the "shake to bring it back", it'll reappear, then fade, and repeat ad nauseum.
- bensummers 17y ago
  To solve this very problem, the idea of the "cross out" delete-like gesture is to disable it until it's really sure that it's been rotated back.
phil 17y ago
See also: shake to undo typing

65 points by bensummers 17y ago

I like this idea. It does need to be a system-wide thing really, and while this does add a bit of settings and UI clutter it’s a common enough problem that Apple should be doing something to address it.

chrismear 17y ago
It might actually reduce clutter, since plenty of apps are now individually adding rotation options to their settings. Having a system-wide setting would simply consolidate all of these in one place.
- bensummers 17y ago
  It was Tweetie 2's auto-rotation which pushed me over the edge and into writing 800 words about a telephone.
  - rwmj 17y ago
    Not sure I recognise your problem with the iPhone on British trains. Maybe the trains wherever you are move faster than London Midland :-)
    - bensummers 17y ago
      It's mainly a problem when standing up on a busy commuter train. Luckily I don't do that much.
  - ja2ke 17y ago
    Tweetie 2 is one of the few apps with reasonably robust settings exposed to turn off or selectively use auto rotation.

haseman 17y ago

Could easily be solved by a setting that turns off accl switching and allows users to make a two finger twisting gesture on the screen to rotate it.

bensummers 17y ago
I'm not sure (see article) -- it would mean every app developer would have to test with it on and off to make sure that gesture didn't get in the way of their UI. It's also hard for users annoyed with the feature to discover. I suspect that particular gesture is a little awkward. Try it! Getting enough motion to reliably detect it as something different to a scroll or pinch is almost painful.
Zev 17y ago
The iPhone's accessibility makes use of a lot of the two finger gestures already. Not this one, but most others. http://www.apple.com/iphone/how-to/index.html#accessibility.voiceover-gestures http://www.apple.com/iphone/how-to/index.html#accessibility..... This particular gesture doesn't really make sense for Apple to use (for rotation, or anything else); its not very intuitive. It doesn't map to any other gesture that users have done on the computer before. Apple would have to teach users how to use this gesture. Its one thing for a game to have ann instruction screen, but quite another for the iPhone to do so.
- haseman 17y ago
  I wouldn't suggest it as a default setting. If power users want an alternative to holding the device up and shaking it until it switches, this could be it. You make good points, it's not intuitive, but it is a solution that wouldn't require more cluttering UI
  - bensummers 17y ago
    However, if it's an option deep in Settings, it's likely that many people who are infuriated with auto-rotation won't find it. By making the UI offer more control and responsiveness, it will help even those users who don't want to go digging into Settings.

anigbrowl 17y ago

I read this wrong...is that an iPhone in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me.

msluyter 17y ago

I was reading in bed just the other day wishing that I could turn off autorotation. This is a serious need.

pronoiac 17y ago
If you turn it so the home button points up, it won't rotate. Edit: for clarity, hopefully.

akirk 17y ago

I haven't jailbroken my iPhone yet, but SBSettings has a solution for autorotation, and brightness, and almost anything that annoys me with my iPhone on a daily basis. Now that I have seen SBSettings, I am considering jailbreaking. Apple should do something like SBSettings. http://theappleblog.com/2009/06/22/sbsettings-why-i-still-jailbreak-with-3-0/ http://theappleblog.com/2009/06/22/sbsettings-why-i-still-ja...

bshep 17y ago
Amen!
bensummers 17y ago
You're right, it's almost enough to push one into jailbreaking. But I think I'd prefer to run a supported configuration. Computers shouldn't be unnecessarily exciting.
- aerique 17y ago
  Jailbreaking made my iPhone twice as useful. I wouldn't be as enthousiastic about it as I am now if I wasn't able to install a lot of useful software that's only available outside of the Appstore. I buy most of my software in the Appstore but I've also paid for software on Cydia. Lookup SBSettings (has a button for quickly toggling WiFi on and off, awesome for battery life and my initial reason to jailbreak), RotationInhibitor, Lock Calendar and iDitDahText (brilliant!).
hyyypr 17y ago
I have a Jailbroken iPhone with SBSettings and the Rotation switch. First I find no problems with the rotation, I have a 1g iphone for more than a year now, and the only problem I had with rotation was when I was laying, with that SBsettings switch, it's solved. Second, I agree that SBsettings is the most useful iPhone App and Apple should really look into its features and make them builtin.

devin 17y ago

Amen. The most annoying 'feature' on my iPhone is auto-rotate. I'll be driving along in my car with my iPhone being used as my iPod, and every time I lay the device down it goes into landscape and I need to put it back when I want to change a song.

jimbokun 17y ago

I recently acquired an iPod Touch, and have not been able to deduce how to activate the rotation feature reliably. I twist it around various which ways trying to make it rotate, and sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Reading this article actually gives me a better idea of how to make it happen reliably. Specifically, I didn't realize that the accelerometer detects motion relative to gravity (makes sense, but I didn't know that).

bensummers 17y ago
It's not exactly a sign of successful UI design that knowing an implementation detail of the hardware is helpful in controlling your phone.

bnoland 17y ago

I'd like to be able to disable rotation in a web-app. Like a meta-tag or something.

bprater 17y ago

It's worth checking out how Amazon did their iPhone Kindle. When you initiate a rotation, it pops up a little button at the corner of the screen for about 2 seconds that allows you to lock that orientation. Most elegant implantation I've seen. It doesn't solve the issue of the user wanting to initiate a rotation without the accelerometer.

drinian 17y ago
On the other hand, unless you're on the International Space Station, you probably have enough space to rotate the screen relative to gravity and lock it.

bonaldi 17y ago

Surely this solution is still going to fail the walking/train test -- the icon will be on the screen permanently in those situations. The phone will detect movement, the icon will appear, it'll fade after a few seconds, the movement will be interpreted as the "shake to bring it back", it'll reappear, then fade, and repeat ad nauseum.

bensummers 17y ago
To solve this very problem, the idea of the "cross out" delete-like gesture is to disable it until it's really sure that it's been rotated back.

phil 17y ago