RE: Native mobile app orientation

1.3.4 states that the orientation should not be locked unless a particular orientation is essential. For most applications that will not be the case.

I don’t know about Android or platforms like PhoneGap and Unity, but when developing iOS apps in XCode there are checkboxes that allow the author to specify which orientations are supported. By default, all orientations are supported, so you would need to make a conscious decision to restrict the orientation.

My experience is that some apps display in all orientations but most don’t. I have also had variations on this, whereby the orientation of some screens in an app are locked but others are not (for no good reason). In other cases, the orientation is not locked, but the functionality only works in one orientation.

Having provided app testing services for some 15 years, I have formed a few main conclusions:


  1.  Most developers intentionally lock the orientation even though it is not essential, because it makes their job easier.

  2.  Almost no product owners are even aware that orientation support is a factor that they should be specifying, so it is not mentioned in any design documentation or testing requirements. The developers do know it’s a factor but they choose not to ask about it in case they are given the “wrong” answer i.e. orientation must not be locked.

  3.  The quality of almost all app testing (both for functionality and accessibility) varies between extremely poor and non-existent. Of the 2 million or more apps that exist, I doubt if even 1% have been tested professionally.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd


From: Cunningham, Karly <KCunningham1@northwell.edu>
Sent: 30 August 2019 17:59
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Native mobile app orientation

My team is building native iOS and Android apps in healthcare and I am looking for some guidance to understand compliance in regards to 1.3.4 Orientation when it comes to native mobile apps.  As I understand it, apps should not be locked into portrait mode and should rotate to the orientation of the device.  I am having a hard time finding apps that comply to this standard.  When I look at Facebook, banking & travel apps etc. they are all locked in portrait.  What am I missing? Any guidance is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Karly Cunningham
Director, User Experience
Digital Patient Experience Transformation
2 Huntington Quadrangle
Melville, NY 11747
Office: (934) 420-6142
Mobile: (516) 510-3463
Email: kcunningham1@northwell.edu<mailto:ksorrenti1@northwell.edu>

Northwell Health
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