How to Keep Auto-rotate Off on your Pixel 3 XL

If you’re looking for a new Android smartphone, the latest Google Pixel 3 XL seems like a pretty inspired choice. The company’s handsets promise cutting-edge hardware and instant updates to all the latest software and this one is no exception. Plus, it looks pretty good and since it runs on Pie already, you have the chance to get a taste of what others can only dream of at the moment.

Do you know about that new smart rotation tool in Android 9 Pie which makes it possible to leave the auto-rotate toggle turned off all the time? When your phone’s display rotation is locked, you finally get rid of one of the issues that we all have to deal with on our devices. This comes as the ideal implementation rather than having to deal with an overly sensitive auto-rotate system.

So, if you are also sick and tired of your Pixel 3 XL screen constantly rotating when you shift orientation, this might be the solution that you are looking for.

To be more precise, when your Pixel‘s display rotation is locked, if you turn the handset to landscape, a tiny 4th icon will show up in the navigation bar letting you change the rotation to landscape. It’s a much faster way to force the rotation to landscape and stick to it even when the smartphone moves a bit.

Up next, when you’re done with the landscape mode, you can turn your phone back to portrait and get the icon again to lock back the rotation in portrait.

How to Keep Auto-rotate Off on your Pixel 3 XL:

1. Well, first you actually do need to turn screen auto-rotate off, so pull down the notification bar all the way down until you see the quick settings tiles;
2. Do you see Auto-rotate there? Do not hesitate to tap on it to disable it. Now your phone is locked to one orientation;
3. Up next, go into any app and rotate your screen to landscape (note that some apps, like Instagram, don’t support a landscape mode);
4. Now, you’ll see a rotate icon pop up next to the home button. Tap it, and the screen’s contents will rotate to the correct orientation and it will stay locked;
5. When you return into portrait orientation, the button will pop up again, and just press it to lock it back to portrait.

This is a much faster system of swapping through screen orientations, as you don’t need to swipe down to open the notification drawer, don’t you think?