iPad Won’t Rotate – Here’s What To Do

One of the nifty features on an iPad is that of the screen rotating as the device is turned around. If your iPad won’t rotate, you won’t be able to view anything in landscape mode, and this can be very frustrating.

However, it’s good to note that not all iPad apps can rotate the screen, so you may not seamlessly go from web browsing in portrait mode to streaming movies in landscape. If you’re using an app you can rotate the screen by clicking the Home button on iPad to go to the main screen. From here you can try to rotate the device, and if it rotates, then the issue is the app and not your device.

What to do when the iPad won’t rotate

Check the orientation

The iPad may be locked on its current rotation, but you can go to the Control Center to fix it and get it rotating again. For iOS 12 or later, swipe down from the top right side of the iPad either in portrait or landscape mode. For versions older than this, swipe from the bottom of the iPad towards the top, and then do this:

• Find Lock Rotation on the same row as Airplane icon and tap it if highlighted to toggle it off
• Close Control Panel by sliding your finger down from top of the panel or press Home button
• Try rotating the iPad again

If the Control Panel won’t appear, you may have an outdated operating system, so update it to the newest iOS version. The first iPad models aren’t capable of running newer iOS versions for iPad operating system.

To get rotation working again, do this:

• Find volume buttons on the iPad’s side
• There’s a switch that locks the screen’s position. Flip it and try to rotate the iPad
• If not, the side switch may not be set to lock rotation, but to mute. This will show with a speaker icon that has a line running through it when the switch is flipped
• Change the side switch functionality by going to Settings and then check the Touch General list of setting categories
• On the right side, there’s the Use Side Switch to: Change the setting to Lock Rotation
• Close Settings using Home button
• Flip the side switch now to rotate your iPad’s screen

If you still find your iPad won’t rotate, you can reboot it, or reset it back to default factory settings. To do the latter, first back up the iPad and all the data and then perform the reset.