HomeGuidesReferenceLearn
ArchiveExpo SnackDiscordForumsChangelog

Expo ScreenOrientation

GitHub

npm

Screen Orientation is defined as the orientation in which graphics are painted on the device. For example, the figure below has a device in a vertical and horizontal physical orientation, but a portrait screen orientation. For physical device orientation, see the orientation section of Device Motion.

Portrait orientation in different physical orientations.

ScreenOrientation from expo allows changing supported screen orientations at runtime, and subscribing to orientation changes. This will take priority over the orientation key in app.json.

On both Android and iOS platforms, changes to the screen orientation will override any system settings or user preferences. On Android, it is possible to change the screen orientation while taking the user's preferred orientation into account. On iOS, user and system settings are not accessible by the application and any changes to the screen orientation will override existing settings.

Web support has limited support. For improved resize detection on mobile Safari, check out the docs on using Resize Observer in Expo web.

Platform Compatibility

Android DeviceAndroid EmulatoriOS DeviceiOS SimulatorWeb

Installation

Terminal
- npx expo install expo-screen-orientation

If you're installing this in a bare React Native app, you should also follow these additional installation instructions.

Warning

Apple added support for split view mode to iPads in iOS 9. This changed how the screen orientation is handled by the system. To put the matter shortly, for iOS, your iPad is always in landscape mode unless you open two applications side by side. To be able to lock screen orientation using this module you will need to disable support for this feature. For more information about the split view mode, check out the official Apple documentation.

Managed workflow

Open your app.json and add the following inside of the "expo" field:

app.json
{
  "expo": {
    ...
    "ios": {
      ...
      "requireFullScreen": true,
    }
  }
}

Bare workflow

Tick the Requires Full Screen checkbox in Xcode. It should be located under Project Target > General > Deployment Info.

API

import * as ScreenOrientation from 'expo-screen-orientation';

Methods

ScreenOrientation.getOrientationAsync()

Gets the current screen orientation.

Returns

  • Promise<Orientation>

Returns a promise that fulfils with an Orientation value that reflects the current screen orientation.

Error codes

  • ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_GET_ORIENTATION_LOCK - Android Only. An unknown error occurred when trying to get the system lock.
  • ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_MISSING_ACTIVITY - Android Only. Could not get the current activity.

ScreenOrientation.getOrientationLockAsync()

Gets the current screen orientation lock type.

Returns


Returns a promise which fulfils with an OrientationLock value.

Error codes

  • ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_MISSING_ACTIVITY - Android Only. Could not get the current activity.

ScreenOrientation.getPlatformOrientationLockAsync()

Gets the platform specific screen orientation lock type.

Returns


Returns a promise which fulfils with a PlatformOrientationInfo value.

Error codes

  • ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_GET_PLATFORM_ORIENTATION_LOCK
  • ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_MISSING_ACTIVITY - Android Only. Could not get the current activity.

ScreenOrientation.lockAsync(orientationLock)

NameTypeDescription
orientationLockOrientationLock

The orientation lock to apply. See the OrientationLock enum for possible values.


Lock the screen orientation to a particular OrientationLock.

Example

async function changeScreenOrientation() {
  await ScreenOrientation.lockAsync(ScreenOrientation.OrientationLock.LANDSCAPE_LEFT);
}

Returns


Returns a promise with void value, which fulfils when the orientation is set.

Error codes

  • ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_INVALID_ORIENTATION_LOCK - An invalid OrientationLock was passed in.
  • ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_UNSUPPORTED_ORIENTATION_LOCK - The platform does not support the orientation lock policy.
  • ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_MISSING_ACTIVITY - Android Only. Could not get the current activity.

ScreenOrientation.lockPlatformAsync(options)

NameTypeDescription
optionsPlatformOrientationInfo

The platform specific lock to apply. See the PlatformOrientationInfo object type for the different platform formats.


Returns


Returns a promise with void value, resolving when the orientation is set and rejecting if an invalid option or value is passed.

Error codes

  • ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_INVALID_ORIENTATION_LOCK - iOS Only. An invalid OrientationLock was passed in.
  • ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_UNSUPPORTED_ORIENTATION_LOCK - The platform does not support the orientation lock policy.
  • ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_MISSING_ACTIVITY - Android Only. Could not get the current activity.

ScreenOrientation.supportsOrientationLockAsync(orientationLock)

NameTypeDescription
orientationLockOrientationLock-

Returns whether the OrientationLock policy is supported on the device.

Returns


Returns a promise that resolves to a boolean value that reflects whether or not the orientationLock is supported.

ScreenOrientation.unlockAsync()

Sets the screen orientation back to the OrientationLock.DEFAULT policy.

Returns


Returns a promise with void value, which fulfils when the orientation is set.

Error codes

  • ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_MISSING_ACTIVITY - Android Only. Could not get the current activity.

Event Subscriptions

ScreenOrientation.addOrientationChangeListener(listener)

NameTypeDescription
listenerOrientationChangeListener

Each orientation update will pass an object with the new OrientationChangeEvent to the listener.


Invokes the listener function when the screen orientation changes from portrait to landscape or from landscape to portrait. For example, it won't be invoked when screen orientation change from portrait up to portrait down, but it will be called when there was a change from portrait up to landscape left.

Returns


ScreenOrientation.removeOrientationChangeListener(subscription)

NameTypeDescription
subscriptionSubscription

A subscription object that manages the updates passed to a listener function on an orientation change.


Unsubscribes the listener associated with the Subscription object from all orientation change updates.

Returns

  • void

ScreenOrientation.removeOrientationChangeListeners()

Removes all listeners subscribed to orientation change updates.

Returns

  • void

Types

OrientationChangeEvent

NameTypeDescription
orientationInfoScreenOrientationInfo

The current ScreenOrientationInfo of the device.

orientationLockOrientationLock

The current OrientationLock of the device.

OrientationChangeListener()

NameTypeDescription
eventOrientationChangeEvent-

PlatformOrientationInfo

NameTypeDescription
screenOrientationArrayIOS
(optional)		Orientation[]Only for: 
iOS

An array of orientations to allow on the iOS platform.

screenOrientationConstantAndroid
(optional)		numberOnly for: 
Android

A constant to set using the Android native API. For example, in order to set the lock policy to unspecified, -1 should be passed in.

screenOrientationLockWeb
(optional)		WebOrientationLockOnly for: 
Web

A web orientation lock to apply in the browser.

ScreenOrientationInfo

NameTypeDescription
horizontalSizeClass
(optional)		SizeClassIOSOnly for: 
iOS

The horizontal size class of the device.

orientationOrientation

The current orientation of the device.

verticalSizeClass
(optional)		SizeClassIOSOnly for: 
iOS

The vertical size class of the device.

Subscription

NameTypeDescription
remove() => void-

Enums

Orientation

UNKNOWN

Orientation.UNKNOWN ＝ 0

An unknown screen orientation. For example, the device is flat, perhaps on a table.

PORTRAIT_UP

Orientation.PORTRAIT_UP ＝ 1

Right-side up portrait interface orientation.

PORTRAIT_DOWN

Orientation.PORTRAIT_DOWN ＝ 2

Upside down portrait interface orientation.

LANDSCAPE_LEFT

Orientation.LANDSCAPE_LEFT ＝ 3

Left landscape interface orientation.

LANDSCAPE_RIGHT

Orientation.LANDSCAPE_RIGHT ＝ 4

Right landscape interface orientation.

OrientationLock

An enum whose values can be passed to the lockAsync method.

Note: OrientationLock.ALL and OrientationLock.PORTRAIT are invalid on devices which don't support OrientationLock.PORTRAIT_DOWN.

DEFAULT

OrientationLock.DEFAULT ＝ 0

The default orientation. On iOS, this will allow all orientations except Orientation.PORTRAIT_DOWN. On Android, this lets the system decide the best orientation.

ALL

OrientationLock.ALL ＝ 1

All four possible orientations

PORTRAIT

OrientationLock.PORTRAIT ＝ 2

Any portrait orientation.

PORTRAIT_UP

OrientationLock.PORTRAIT_UP ＝ 3

Right-side up portrait only.

PORTRAIT_DOWN

OrientationLock.PORTRAIT_DOWN ＝ 4

Upside down portrait only.

LANDSCAPE

OrientationLock.LANDSCAPE ＝ 5

Any landscape orientation.

LANDSCAPE_LEFT

OrientationLock.LANDSCAPE_LEFT ＝ 6

Left landscape only.

LANDSCAPE_RIGHT

OrientationLock.LANDSCAPE_RIGHT ＝ 7

Right landscape only.

OTHER

OrientationLock.OTHER ＝ 8

A platform specific orientation. This is not a valid policy that can be applied in lockAsync.

UNKNOWN

OrientationLock.UNKNOWN ＝ 9

An unknown screen orientation lock. This is not a valid policy that can be applied in lockAsync.

SizeClassIOS

Each iOS device has a default set of size classes that you can use as a guide when designing your interface.

REGULAR

SizeClassIOS.REGULAR ＝ 0

COMPACT

SizeClassIOS.COMPACT ＝ 1

UNKNOWN

SizeClassIOS.UNKNOWN ＝ 2

WebOrientation

LANDSCAPE_PRIMARY

WebOrientation.LANDSCAPE_PRIMARY ＝ "landscape-primary"

LANDSCAPE_SECONDARY

WebOrientation.LANDSCAPE_SECONDARY ＝ "landscape-secondary"

PORTRAIT_PRIMARY

WebOrientation.PORTRAIT_PRIMARY ＝ "portrait-primary"

PORTRAIT_SECONDARY

WebOrientation.PORTRAIT_SECONDARY ＝ "portrait-secondary"

WebOrientationLock

An enum representing the lock policies that can be applied on the web platform, modelled after the W3C specification. These values can be applied through the lockPlatformAsync method.

ANY

WebOrientationLock.ANY ＝ "any"

LANDSCAPE

WebOrientationLock.LANDSCAPE ＝ "landscape"

LANDSCAPE_PRIMARY

WebOrientationLock.LANDSCAPE_PRIMARY ＝ "landscape-primary"

LANDSCAPE_SECONDARY

WebOrientationLock.LANDSCAPE_SECONDARY ＝ "landscape-secondary"

NATURAL

WebOrientationLock.NATURAL ＝ "natural"

PORTRAIT

WebOrientationLock.PORTRAIT ＝ "portrait"

PORTRAIT_PRIMARY

WebOrientationLock.PORTRAIT_PRIMARY ＝ "portrait-primary"

PORTRAIT_SECONDARY

WebOrientationLock.PORTRAIT_SECONDARY ＝ "portrait-secondary"

UNKNOWN

WebOrientationLock.UNKNOWN ＝ "unknown"

Error Codes

CodeDescription
ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_UNSUPPORTED_ORIENTATION_LOCKThe platform does not support the OrientationLock policy.
ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_INVALID_ORIENTATION_LOCKAn invalid OrientationLock was passed in.
ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_GET_ORIENTATION_LOCKAndroid Only. An unknown error occurred when trying to get the orientation lock.
ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_GET_PLATFORM_ORIENTATION_LOCKAndroid Only. An unknown error occurred when trying to get the platform orientation lock.
ERR_SCREEN_ORIENTATION_MISSING_ACTIVITYAndroid Only. Could not get the current activity.