Samsung Galaxy phones have a handy feature that lets you manually rotate your screen even when auto-rotate is off. When auto-rotate is disabled, and you tilt your phone, you’ll see a small manual rotation icon in the bottom-left corner of your screen.
This icon allows you to quickly switch between portrait (vertical) and landscape (horizontal) orientations without having to enable auto-rotate. For example, if you’re watching a video in portrait mode and tilt your phone sideways, the icon will appear, allowing you to tap it and switch to landscape mode.
It’s meant to be temporary and disappears automatically after a short period of inactivity or when you tap it to rotate the screen. However, this icon can be bothersome for some users. Here’s how to disable it:
- Swipe down to open the Quick Settings panel on your Samsung Galaxy phone.
- Long-press the Auto-Rotate icon.
- Turn off the toggle nex to Show rotation button on navigation bar.
You can also manually turn on or off screen rotation for the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Voice Call Screen. These settings will apply when auto-rotate is enabled.
Bonus: Locking the Screen in Landscape Mode
Portrait mode keeps the screen in an upright position, while Landscape mode displays the screen sideways. To lock your phone in landscape orientation, turn on Auto Rotate in the Quick Settings panel (it will turn blue). Then, tilt your phone to landscape orientation and tap the Auto Rotate button again. It will turn into a gray padlock icon, locking the screen in landscape mode.
If manually turning auto-rotate on or off, or tapping the rotation icon every time, isn’t your thing, you can create Bixby routines to automatically turn on auto-rotate in apps where you need it, like YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, Gallery, etc., and turn it off once you leave the app.
Beyond tiny tweaks like these, Samsung also lets you add further customizations to your phone through Good Lock. Here are some of my favorite Good Lock modules you might want to try.
