How to Automatically Set IPhone Screen Orientation for Each App in IOS 14.5
Apple has added some useful new shortcuts in iOS 14.5. We’ve already talked about one that allows you to add a new ” Take Screenshot ” action to any of your programmed shortcuts. Joining it is a new action to lock your device’s orientation , which allows you to fine tune when you want it to be on (almost always) and when you can’t (Netflix time).
At least that’s what I prefer. You can use orientation lock however you like. To turn it on and off for each application, all you have to do is create an automation to launch the specified application with or without orientation lock. You can even have the automation “reset” the orientation lock back to its default settings as soon as you close the app.
Before I get started, remember that you can always turn Orientation Lock on or off by swiping in the upper right corner of the iPhone and tapping the lock icon with a circle rotating clockwise around it:
It’s easy to set up an automation that enables or disables orientation lock for a specific application. Launch the Shortcuts app and click the Automation tab at the bottom. Create a new Personal Automation, scroll down and click Application when prompted for a type.
Before choosing the app you want to automate, make sure you’ve turned on Open, Closed, or both, depending on how you want to set up orientation lock. (And you can always do a second automation later if you want to toggle the lock to one setting when the app starts and then toggle it back on close.)
Then click Select under Application to choose which application (s) you want your automation to work with. You can select more than one app at a time, which is useful if, say, you want to set up orientation lock for all of your streaming apps. There is no need to do separate automation for each individual application.
On the next screen, you will need to add an action. Press the blue button and navigate to Scripts> Set Orientation Lock (under Device). By default, the action is set to Toggle orientation lock, that is, set it to the opposite of the state it was in before the automation was started.
If you want to force a certain state to be “on” or “off”, click on the blue Toggle link in action and toggle it to “Enable”. Finally, do the same with the word “On” to toggle it to “Off” if you like it that way.
When you’re done, click Next in the upper right corner to view the automation for one last time. Feel free to turn off Ask Before Run if you don’t want to be disturbed. Now, depending on how you set up your automation, you can use Orientation Lock whenever you need it and automatically turn it off when you don’t.