The Google Phone app has introduced a landscape mode that activates during calls when system-wide auto-rotate is enabled. However, this feature's consistency varies across different app versions, leading to user confusion.
Introducing the Landscape Mode
Recently, the Google Phone app added a landscape user interface. When users enable auto-rotate on their devices, the app rotates to landscape during calls. Initially, the app only supported portrait, so auto-rotate settings did not affect it. Now, with landscape support, the app's behavior has changed significantly.
Issues with Stable and Beta Releases
User experiences differ largely based on the app version. While some users receive a portrait lock toggle in beta releases to keep the app in portrait mode, this option has not reached stable releases, leading to inconsistencies. Reports from Reddit users and Pixel phone owners indicate unexpected rotations during calls, which align with the global auto-rotate setting.
Preferred Solutions and User Impact
To avoid confusion, users can temporarily turn off system-wide auto-rotate to keep the Phone app in portrait. It would be ideal if Google made both the landscape UI and portrait lock toggle simultaneously available in stable releases.
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