How to auto rotate home screen in Android phones (use home screen in landscape mode)

You can auto rotate home screen in Android phones

By default, the home screen and apps screen of all Android hones are in portrait mode. And most vendors force you to stay in portrait mode when you are in home screen or apps screen (app drawer).

But some phone owners want a flexible solution.  Forced portrait mode for home screen or app screen is not a limitation of Android. All Android tablets support both portrait and landscape modes for home screen and apps screen if you turn on auto rotate feature. Some tablets, by default, are in landscape orientation.

The main reason why you are not allowed to auto rotate home screen is the aesthetics considerations of Android vendors. It is harder to design an appealing home screen in landscape mode  than in portrait mode.  Phones are presumably held in portrait orientation.

There are some apps forcing you to stay in portrait mode because the developer is too lazy or the developer believes portrait mode gives better experience for his app.

To meet such demands,  there are some apps in Play store to help you rotate home screen and rotate screen for individual apps.  They can also help you force certain orientation for individual apps.

Now, for Android phones with Jelly Bean or later,  if you are using Google Now launcher, you can now rotate home screen to get portrait mode and landscape mode automatically.

Actually, this is a new feature of the Google Now launcher. It also works for apps screen (app drawer).

What are the requirements to auto rotate home screen in Android phones?

To auto rotate home screen (i.e. use home screen and apps screen in landscape mode) in Android phones, you only need Google Now launcher.

If your current launcher is not Google Now launcher, you need download and install it from Play store. Then set the default home screen as Google Now.

Actually, Marshmallow is NOT required.  You only need install and switch to Google Now launcher.

Of course, you need enable auto rotate in quick settings as shown below (from quick settings panel).

How to setup Google Now launcher to auto rotate home screen in Android phones?

By default, auto rotate home screen is not enabled in Google Now launcher. You need enable it in Google settings.

For phones with Android Marshmallow or later, Google settings is under Settings— Google.

You may not  find Google under phone Settings in your Android Marshmallow phones. Some Android OEMs may put Google settings somewhere else. For example, in Samsung Galaxy phones with Android Marshmallow update, Google Settings is under Settings-– Applications (please refer to this guide on Google settings if you are using a Samsung Galaxy device).

For phones with Android Lollipop, KitKat, Jelly Bean, there is an app named Google Settings, which is always pre-installed in your phone already.

In Google settings page, tap Search & Now, as shown below.

In the Search & Now settings page, you can find Allow rotation under Hone screen as shown below.

Tap the switch to turn auto rotate home screen on or off.

Caveats of auto rotate home screen in Android phones

As shown below, compared to landscape home screen mode in Android tablets, the landscape mode of phone home screen are different in at least 3 aspects

1. Google search bar becomes two icons (marked as 1 in the screenshot below).
2. The icons in favorite tray do rotate automatically, but the favorite tray always in the right side, not bottom.
3. the 3 software buttons (back, home and recent)  are always in the right side, not bottom.

Like it or not, Google Now launcher does not offer further customization yet.

Do you know how to auto rotate home screen in Android phones?  Can you use home screen in landscape mode in your Android phones?

If you have any questions on auto rotate home screen in Android phones, or encounter any problems when you try to use landscape mode for home screen and apps screen in Android phones, please let us know in the comment box below.

The community will help you.

For other Android guides, please check our Android 101 page.

For any questions or problems with Android Marshmallow, please check our Android Marshmallow Guide page.

If your question is about Android Lollipop, please check out Android Lollipop Guide page.