Rotate Android screen manually

In order to be able to rotate your Android screen manually, you must first deactivate the automatic rotation between landscape and portrait mode. You can then determine by hand when the display content of your smartphone should be displayed in landscape or portrait format. This is useful, for example, with the Nexus 7, where the launcher is only shown in portrait mode by default.

Disable automatic rotation of the Android screen

Before you manually rotate your Android screen, you must first disable automatic rotation. You can find these in the system settings of your Android device:

• Android 4 and higher: System settings »Device» Display & LED »Screen orientation» Deactivate "Rotate automatically". Alternatively, the option can also be found in the status bar for some devices

Now you can rotate your Android screen manually - but how?

If you have deactivated the automatic rotation of your Android display, you can rotate it manually. With some end devices or custom ROMs, this can be done via an icon in the status bar. You can find a better solution with a separate Android app:

• The free Android app "Ultimate Rotation Control" is placed in the status bar of your smartphone or tablet. The functionally equivalent alternative "Set Orientation" is also highly recommended.
• If you pull down the status bar, you can manually rotate your Android screen using the free tool. This also enables the automatic rotation to be reactivated or - regardless of the app used - to force the landscape format.
• Tip: You get even more control with the more extensive free "Rotation Manager" app, where you can even set the rotation for each app separately.