Should viewport rotation be an option rather than a default on mobile devices?

Question

Rotating a mobile device has unpredictable effects: Depending on OS and app rotating the device can have no effect, or it lays out the content to the new screen orientation, potentially showing a very different interface or different elements, or scrolling to a different part of the content.

From my personal experience, I find that I barely ever rotate the device to "access" the different viewport layout. However, on a daily basis I struggle with apps that react to the rotation change. Often this is caused by accidentially tilting the device, or sometimes I'd even just like to hang out on the couch but am forced to hold the device in ackward position to get the desired orientation.

What are the reasons for not allowing users to disable or lock the device rotation in the device OS or app settings? Does the gain from allowing responsive layouts outweigh the negative user experience of forced rotation change?

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As a little background: Amongst other advantages from building a dedicated app instead of a mobile website, I find this control over viewport orientation particularly compelling. As far as I know there is no way to control the orientation change from a mobile website, however, some applications are simply designed for only one viewport layout. My question thus is merely to figure out what are the reasons for not offering this kind of setting.

Answer 1

Just a quick thought - there is a number of situations, that might make the locking necessary:

1. When the application uses some accelerometer mechanisms and pivoting it may result in interface to switch to another orientation (upside down or landscape<>portrait)

2. When your application gives access to a lot of content, you may consider it as well. One can read the articles in bed for example, and just movements can rotate the view. You have this option in Pocket or Goodreader.

In the same time, you can still use it, especially in apps offering some screen consuming features, where content is crucial, by hiding some parts of the interface. Take Facebook app for iPad - depending on rotation it displays chat or not. Everything depends on the case.

Answer 2

For starters, I am a little puzzled as to why you say that some Mobile OS's dont offer the option to prevent rotation. To my knowledge Android has the option among the basic default settings to prevent rotation as shown below :

With regards why there is a need for supporting both the portrait and landscape view in mobiles, I recommend reading this excellent article Designing For Device Orientation: From Portrait To Landscape. To quote the article:

YouTube’s mobile application is a great example of device orientation design. Portrait mode offers a feature-rich interface for video discovery and the user’s account. Landscape mode provides an immersive experience with a full-screen video player and playback controls. When the video ends, the display switches back to portrait mode, prompting users to quickly tilt the device back and browse for additional videos.

The article also calls out what additional benefits are there when rotation is enabled such as:

EXTENDED VIEWS

This interface adjusts to the screen’s size, adding or subtracting layout components according to the dimensions of the chosen orientation. For example, IMDb for the iPad uses the wider screen in landscape mode to add a filmography on the left. This list is also accessible in portrait mode by clicking the “All filmography” button in the middle-right of the screen.

COMPLEMENTARY VIEWS

With this interface, a changed orientation triggers an auxiliary screen with relevant supplementary information.

CONTINUOUS Like YouTube, a continuous design enables the user to access a secondary interface by a simple rotation of the device

With regards to why some apps only support a specific view, I recommend going through the answers in this question as they give some valuable inputs on why designing for a specific layout might workout better