[android] Force "portrait" orientation mode

I'm trying to force the "portrait" mode for my application because my application is absolutely not designed for the "landscape" mode.

After reading some forums, I added these lines in my manifest file:

<application 
  android:debuggable="true"
  android:icon="@drawable/icon" 
  android:label="@string/app_name"
  android:screenOrientation="portrait">

But it doesn't work on my device (HTC Desire). It switches from "portrait" lo "landscape", ignoring the lines from the manifest file.

After more forums reading, I tried to add this in my manifest file:

<application 
  android:debuggable="true"
  android:icon="@drawable/icon" 
  android:label="@string/app_name"
  android:configChanges="orientation"       
  android:screenOrientation="portrait">

and this function in my activity class:

public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig)
{
    super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
    setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT);
}

But again, no luck.

Short answer: Don't do it.

Redesign your app so that it can run in both portrait and landscape mode. There is no such thing as a UI that can't be designed to work in both portrait and landscape; only lazy or unimaginative developers.

The reason why is rather simple. You want your app to be usable by as wide an audience as possible on as many different devices as possible. By forcing a particular screen orientation, you prevent your app from running (usably) on devices that don't support that orientation and you frustrate and alienate potential customers who prefer a different orientation.

Example: You design your app to force portrait mode. A customer downloads the app on a 2-in-1 device which they use predominantly in landscape mode.
Consequence 1: Your app is unusable, or your customer is forced to undock their device, rotate it, and use it in an orientation that is not familiar or comfortable for them.
Consequence 2: The customer gets frustrated by your app's non-intuitive design and finds an alternative or ditches the app entirely.

I'm fighting with this with an app right now and as a consumer and a developer, I hate it. As useful as the app is, as fantastic as the features are that it offers, I absolutely hate the app because it forces me to use an orientation that is counter to every other way that I use my device.

You don't want your customers to hate your app.

I know this doesn't directly answer the question, so I want to explain it in a little more detail for those who are curious.

There is a tendency for developers to be really good at writing code and really terrible at design. This question, though it sounds like a code question and the asker certainly feels like it's a code question, is really a design question.

The question really is "Should I lock the screen orientation in my app?" The asker chose to design the UI to function and look good only in portrait mode. I suspect it was to save development time or because the app's workflow is particularly conducive to a portrait layout (common for mobile games). But those reasons neglect all the real important factors that motivate proper design.

1. Customer engagement - you want your customers to feel pulled into your app, not pushed out of it. The app should transition smoothly from whatever your customer was doing prior to opening your app. (This is the reason most platforms have consistent design principles, so most apps look more or less alike though they don't have to.)

2. Customer response - you want your customers to react positively to your app. They should enjoy using it. Even if it's a payroll app for work, it should be a pleasure for them to open it and clock in. The app should save your customers time and reduce frustration over alternatives. (Apps that annoy users build resentment against your app which grows into resentment against your brand.)

3. Customer conversion - you want your customers to be able to quickly and easily move from browsing to interacting. This is the ultimate goal of any app, to convert impressions into revenue. (Apps that don't generate revenue are a waste of your time to build, from a business perspective.)

A poorly designed UI reduces customer engagement and response which ultimately results in lower revenue. In a mobile-centric world (and particularly on the subject of portrait/landscape display modes), this explains why responsive web design is such a big deal. Walmart Canada introduced responsive design on their website in November 2013 and saw a 20% increase in customer conversion. O'Neill Clothing implemented responsive web design and revenue from customers using iOS devices increased 101.25%, and 591.42% from customers using Android devices.

There is also a tendency for developers to focus intently on implementing a particular solution (such as locking display orientation), and most of the developers on this site will be all too glad to help implement that solution, without questioning whether that is even the best solution to the problem.

Locking your screen orientation is the UI design equivalent of implementing a do-while loop. Are you really sure you want to do it that way, or is there a better alternative?

Don't force your app into a single display mode. Invest the extra time and effort to make it responsive.

I think you want to add android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden" to your activity? Otherwise the activity is restarted on config-change. The onConfigurationChanged would not be called then, only the onCreate

If you are having a lot activity like mine, in your application Or if you dont want to enter the code for each activity tag in manifest you can do this .

in your Application Base class you will get a lifecycle callback

so basically what happens in for each activity when creating the on create in Application Class get triggered here is the code ..

public class MyApplication extends Application{

@Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();  

  registerActivityLifecycleCallbacks(new ActivityLifecycleCallbacks() {
            @Override
            public void onActivityCreated(Activity activity, Bundle bundle) {
                activity.setRequestedOrientation(
                        ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT);


// for each activity this function is called and so it is set to portrait mode


            }

            @Override
            public void onActivityStarted(Activity activity) {

            }

            @Override
            public void onActivityResumed(Activity activity) {

            }

            @Override
            public void onActivityPaused(Activity activity) {

            }

            @Override
            public void onActivityStopped(Activity activity) {

            }

            @Override
            public void onActivitySaveInstanceState(Activity activity, Bundle bundle) {

            }

            @Override
            public void onActivityDestroyed(Activity activity) {

            }
        });
}

i hope this helps.

I had this line in my AndroidManifest.xml

<activity 
    android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|keyboard|screenSize|locale"
    android:label="@string/app_name" android:name="Project Name"
    android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Black.NoTitleBar">

Which I changed to (just added android:screenOrientation="portrait")

<activity 
    android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|keyboard|screenSize|locale"
    android:label="@string/app_name" android:name="Project Name"
    android:screenOrientation="portrait"
    android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Black.NoTitleBar">

This fixed things for me.

Note that

android:screenOrientation="portrait"     
android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden"

is added in the manifest file - where the activity is defined.

According to Android's documentation, you should also often include screenSize as a possible configuration change.

android:configChanges="orientation|screenSize"

If your application targets API level 13 or higher (as declared by the minSdkVersion and targetSdkVersion attributes), then you should also declare the "screenSize" configuration, because it also changes when a device switches between portrait and landscape orientations.

Also, if you all include value keyboardHidden in your examples, shouldn't you then also consider locale, mcc, fontScale, keyboard and others?..

Set force Portrait or Landscape mode, Add lines respectively.

Import below line:

import android.content.pm.ActivityInfo;

Add Below line just above setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

For Portrait:

setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT);//Set Portrait

For Landscap:

setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE);//Set Landscape

This will definitely work.

I think android:screenOrientation="portrait" can be used for individual activities. So use that attribute in <activity> tag like :

<activity android:name=".<Activity Name>"
    android:label="@string/app_name" 
    android:screenOrientation="portrait">
   ...         
</activity>

Something to complement: I have updated an app recently, the previous was working in both landscape and portrait mode, and I want the updated version should work in portrait mode, so I added

android:screenOrientation="portrait"

to the corresponding activity, and it just crashed when I tested the update. Then I added

android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden"

too, and it works.

If you wish to support different orientations in debug and release builds, write so (see https://developer.android.com/studio/build/gradle-tips#share-properties-with-the-manifest).

In build.gradle of your app folder write:

android {
    ...
    buildTypes {
        debug {
            applicationIdSuffix '.debug'
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
            // Creates a placeholder property to use in the manifest.
            manifestPlaceholders = [orientation: "fullSensor"]
        }
        release {
            debuggable true
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
            // Creates a placeholder property to use in the manifest.
            manifestPlaceholders = [orientation: "portrait"]
        }
    }
}

Then in AndroidManifest you can use this variable "orientation" in any Activity:

<activity
    android:name=".LoginActivity"
    android:screenOrientation="${orientation}" />

You can add android:configChanges:

manifestPlaceholders = [configChanges: "", orientation: "fullSensor"] in debug and manifestPlaceholders = [configChanges: "keyboardHidden|orientation|screenSize", orientation: "portrait"] in release,

<activity
    android:name=".LoginActivity"
    android:configChanges="${configChanges}"
    android:screenOrientation="${orientation}" />