Remove portrait orientation locking from native Android/iOS apps

[WolfWings]

https://github.com/bluesky-social/social-app/blob/c8c308e31e63607280648e3e9f1f56a371adcd05/app.config.js#L13

Can we get this line either removed, or explicitly changed to 'default' so the native apps stop forcing Portrait orientation please?

https://docs.expo.dev/versions/latest/config/app/#orientation

This appears to have been done blindly as part of moving to "react-navigation" without any consideration for if it was actually needed or not, when it was still using the older app.json format before the file was renamed:

https://github.com/bluesky-social/social-app/blob/56cf890debeb9872f791ccb992a5587f2c05fd9e/app.json#L6

The UI works just fine in Landscape mode if you load it on any number of browsers on mobile (worst case on my 2:1 aspect ratio 2160x1080 6" device is the navigation icons get a scrollbar?), but that results in a sub-par experience due to fighting with browsers built-in gestures on mobile at times.

[chrismarquardt]

+1, landscape rotation, especially for images, is an essential usability requirement

[pfrazee]

We'll try to get this done when we fix up the native tablet behaviors. The web version handles this well because they have different codepaths for some critical layout elements

[WolfWings]

Not unexpected! I lack the technical patience to setup a whole android build environment so I didn't test with the native compile and expected there was likely something I'd missed, but if nothing else the overall progress can be tracked here I figured and all the other various "orientation" things can reference down to this issue hopefully for other folks convenience. :)

[DrMcCoy]

Any news here? It's been a year. This is really annoying.

[Swandog]

I would also like to argue for this. I am presuming that this change would allow users to view images in either portrait or landscape mode?

Specifically, a lot of users like to post images of text to pull quotes from articles, etc., and these images are often wider rather than longer and have long sentences. With the orientation locked, it's very difficult to read them unless you zoom in, which then forces you to scroll the image back and forth to read. If the image was allowed to rotate, it would make it a lot easier to read these images.

[WolfWings]

@Swandog Not just images, but the entire interface if you run in a browser supports running in landscape mode, so you can have a much larger touchscreen keyboard, generally larger UI, etc.

[DrMcCoy]

For me, the use case is my tablet, which I use in bed before sleep, etc. To help with reading while lying down, it has a case with a segmented magnetic lid that can folded to create a stand. Of course, that only works on one side, so if I want to lie down the other way, I set my tablet into 180° rotation mode. I.e. I'm still in ~landscape~ portrait, but everything is upside down.

Now, when an app forces a specific rotation, it also undos the 180° rotation. Meaning, the app is upside down, even though the tablet is nominally rotated.

I can "lock" the rotation, which makes it work for the app, but that then breaks the Android GUI elements, for example when selecting an image to attach to a post. Also, locking the rotation has a habit to screw with the launcher; it generally behaves in a weird way.

If the app doesn't force an orientation, everything is well and I can use the app right-side down on an upside-down tablet.

EDIT: Confused portrait and landscape in one sentence. Fixed.