iPhone 12 Pro Max screen not rotating? Fix

It’s natural to feel frustrated when your iPhone 12 Pro Max screen is not rotating. While the sheer frustration when something like this happens is understandable, the reason behind iPhone 12 Pro Max screen not rotating could vary anywhere from incorrect settings to faulty sensors on your device. Thankfully, there a few solutions you can try to resolve the iPhone 12 Pro Max screen Rotation problem quickly. In this article, I’ll explain why the screen on your iPhone 12 Pro Max is not rotating, how to fix the problems that can be fixed at home, and recommend some great repair options, if it comes to that.

There are a lot of reasons why your iPhone 12 Pro Max screen won’t rotate. Thankfully, there are also a lot of ways to fix those problems. Let’s get started:

Turn off your iPhone’s screen rotation lock

Before diving deep into other solutions, you should double-check the Lock Rotation setting on your iPhone. You may have toggled on this feature by accident. If you did, your iPhone 12 Pro Max will “lock” the rotation feature and you won’t be able to rotate the screen.

To turn off the rotation lock on an iPhone 12 Pro Max:

Swipe down from the top right edge of your screen to pull up Control Center.
Tap the Portrait Orientation Lock button to make sure that it’s off.

That’s it. Your iPhone 12 Pro Max screen should rotate properly now.

Restart your iPhone

One of the easiest fixes when iPhone 12 Pro Max Screen won’t rotate is to restart your phone. Restarting your phone can take care of lots of glitchy issues — including a non-rotating screen. So, if you’re having problems with getting your iPhone 12 Pro to rotate when you turn it, try restarting it. That may fix the screen rotation issue right off the bat.

Make sure the app you’re using supports screen rotation

You may think the problem with the non-rotating screen is with your iPhone, but your app could cause it. Not all apps support screen rotation. In fact, some of the more popular apps don’t support screen rotation.

A couple of popular apps that don’t support screen rotation include Starbucks and Instagram. Have you ever tried to turn your phone to view an Insta post in a different mode? It won’t work. The Starbucks app won’t support screen rotation either, and not even the barista can help.

Turn off display zoom

If you’re having issues with the screen rotation on an iPhone 12 mini, 12 Pro, 12, or iPhone 12 Pro Max, the display zoom might be the culprit. The home screens on these models will auto-rotate when you turn them, and you might need to turn off the display zoom to get things back on track.

To turn off Zoom, go to Settings > Accessibility > Zoom, then tap to turn Zoom off.

You can also turn off display zoom using iTunes. To do this:

Connect your iPhone 12 Pro Max to a computer.
On a Mac with macOS Catalina 10.15, open Finder. On a Mac with macOS 10.14 or earlier, or a PC, open iTunes.
Select your iPhone when it appears in Finder or iTunes.
Select Configure Accessibility.
To turn off Zoom, deselect the Zoom checkbox.
Click OK.

Make sure your accelerometer is not broken

The accelerometer feature senses movement and gravity affecting your iPhone. In other words, it’s what controls the rotation of your phone screen from portrait to landscape and then back again. It’s obviously an important part of the mix when it comes to rotating your screen. If your iPhone 12 Pro Max won’t rotate, the accelerometer could be the issue.

If that component is damaged on your iPhone, you’ll have issues with rotating your screen and will need to get it fixed. Unfortunately, there’s not really a DIY way to fix that issue yourself. You’ll need to go through the potential fixes above to rule them out. If those don’t fix the rotation issue, you can take your iPhone to the Apple Store or repair shop to have it checked.

Tap or click here to see how to make a genius bar appointment.

Update iOS

Apple constantly push out software updates to fix any known glitches or bugs in the software. Hence, we recommend you to keep your iPhone updated to the latest software version available.

To update your iPhone, open settings and navigate to General. Next, select Software Update option to download and install any available updates.

Reset all settings

If none of the other Solutions on this list fixed your iPhone 12 Pro Max screen not rotating issue, you might have to reset all of your phone settings. This is the last resort option, but it could fix the issue.

Luckily, you won’t lose any of your important information — like your contacts or calendars — by resetting your settings, but you will lose your preferred iPhone settings and network settings. You’ll also lose the cards saved in Apple Pay and maybe some other nonessential information like your Wi-Fi password, too.

Before resetting your iPhone, it’s a good idea to back it up first. Tap or click here for step-by-step instructions on backing up an iPhone.

It’s pretty simple to reset your iPhone settings. Here’s how:

Go to Settings > General > Reset
Tap Reset All Settings

That’s it, now all of your preferences and settings are reset. Information (such as contacts and calendars) and media (such as songs and videos) won’t be affected.