Google Phone App Briefly Offered Call Rotation Lock, Then Removed It
Google’s Phone app recently gained a landscape calling screen, and now offers a setting to prevent unwanted screen rotations during calls.
Why did this happen? Google introduced a landscape mode for calls in its Phone app, which some users found disruptive due to accidental screen rotations. To address this, they tested a feature to lock the screen in portrait mode during calls.
Who was involved? The advancement was carried out by Google for users of the Phone app, specifically those participating in the beta program. The feature impacted anyone using the app on a device prone to auto-rotation during calls.
What occurred? Version 202 of the Phone app beta introduced a setting called “Keep portrait mode on calls.” This option, found under Settings > Display options > Controls, prevented the screen from automatically rotating to landscape while a call was in progress. The initial update brought a landscape mode to the calling screen, displaying contact details on the left and call controls on the right.
How did it end? As of December 26th, the “Keep portrait mode on calls” setting was removed from the beta version of the app. It never made it to the stable release. While other beta features, like expressive Calling, remain available, the rotation lock is no longer being tested.
The portrait setting was initially available in the Phone app’s beta channel (where Google is also shortening the bottom bar), but has not yet been rolled out to the stable version (version 201).
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