Unlike some other Google apps, the Phone app doesn’t get too many major updates. That’s probably a good thing, as you don’t want a dialer app you frequently use to change things around too much. That changed recently as the Phone app received a significant M3 Expressive makeover in beta, with the broader rollout commencing in July.
At around the same time, Google’s dialer app also started switching the call screen to landscape mode at certain angles. Needless to say, this became annoying pretty fast, particularly for users who keep the system-level auto-rotate setting turned on. Fortunately, Google has a workaround for this issue months after it first surfaced.
Version 202 beta of the Phone by Google app includes a new “Keep portrait mode on calls” toggle that “Prevents accidental auto-rotation when on a call.” When available, this toggle can be found within Settings > Display options under the Controls section (via 9to5Google).
We’ve waited a while for this
New portrait mode toggle in Settings and the call screen in landscape mode
The landscape call screen was meant to offer users a better way to access call controls from certain angles. However, this also meant the call screen would switch to landscape mode even when you didn’t need it, such as while moving or lying in bed.
For people who make several phone calls every day without using earbuds or headphones, the only remedy for this behavior would be to turn off auto-rotate entirely. Thankfully, this upcoming settings toggle should put an end to that workaround once and for all.
It’s worth noting that the portrait mode toggle is only available in the latest beta version of the Phone app, and I’m currently not seeing it in version 201, which is the most recent stable release.
You can head over to APKMirror and pick up version 202 beta of the Phone app if you can’t wait to fix this landscape mode behavior. However, we encourage waiting for the toggle to appear in the stable version of the app, as betas may not be suitable for use on your primary smartphone.
Exactly how long it will take for this portrait mode toggle to reach the stable version of the Phone app is unclear right now. However, considering the mounting online complaints about this specific issue over the past few months, we’re hoping Google doesn’t make affected users wait too long for a fix.
