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Google admits just how confusing Phone app landscape support has been
- Last year Google started supporting a landscape mode UI for its Phone app.
- Eventually a new option to lock the app in portrait arrived for beta testers.
- That setting is now broadly available, as Google addresses confusion surrounding the feature.
The software on our phones is constantly being updated, so we’re well aware that the appearance and functionality of apps can change on even a day-to-day basis. But last year, Android users found themselves scratching their heads about one change in particular: Google’s Phone app adding support for a landscape-style interface. Was it a bug? Was it a feature? Who was even asking for this in the first place? After a few bumpy months, it now looks like we’re finally at the end of this weird saga.
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Holding your phone upright in portrait orientation feels like just the most natural way in the world to make phone calls — so much so that we were left scratching our heads a bit late last summer when we first caught wind of new landscape mode support.
Eventually, it became clear that this support was fully intentional, and we spotted Google adding a new option that allowed users to force the traditional portrait orientation.
At least, that option had hit the beta release, but users were still confused as landscape support appeared to come and go. What in the world was Google up to?
Well, it turns out that shortly after we last checked in, Google formally announced the availability of the portrait-mode lock, which now appears to be generally available to all Phone users:
“We’re happy to share that a new Keep portrait mode setting is now available. To give you more control, this setting keeps your calls in portrait mode. Based on user feedback, your calls are now default to portrait mode, so you don’t need to take further action to keep this active. We realize that some users in our beta program are confused by this setting’s initial introduction and then disappearance. We briefly removed this setting to update it in response to community’s helpful feedback.”
It’s particularly nice to see Google acknowledge our shared uncertainty surrounding these developments — good to know we weren’t just all going crazy together.
We’d still love to meet whoever was actually clamoring for landscape phone calls to begin with, but congratulations on getting your wish, weirdo.
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