Anyone else having the auto-rotate keep turning on by itself on Android 12?

[Andy Burnelli]

Anyone else having the auto-rotate keep turning on by itself on Android 12?

Bearing in mind my phone is in my side pocket at the moment, as I'm using
my phone on the Windows monitor (because that makes my phone screen 20
inches tall & I can use my keyboard on the phone, that's why)...

Recently I updated Android 11 to Android 12 and then my "auto rotate"
settings went back on. No big deal. I'll just turn it off.

Then it's back on a day or two later.
Hmmmm... maybe I turned it on by mistake.
I'll just turn it off.

Wait a day or so.

WTF? It's back on?
What's going on?
I turn it off again, and I look for settings to _keep_ it off in "Display",
and yet I don't see them.

Just now, with my phone in my side pocket, it rotates sideways on my
computer screen. OK. That's it. What's going on with this phone!

Searching, I find that it's apparently an annoying new feature.
*How to use Android 12's clever new auto-rotate system*
<https://www.theverge.com/22634339/android-12-auto-rotate-google-how-to>
"Improve your screen with an extra dose of intelligence"
"With Android 12, Google has introduced a smarter way to control
when your screen switches between its vertical and horizontal
orientations."

Oh Geez. Thanks a lot. I almost never want my phone to rotate.
"In short, instead of relying solely on your phone¢s accelerometer to
figure out which way you¢re holding the device and then rotate
your screen accordingly, Android 12 allows your device to use
its front-facing camera as a guide."

Settings > Display > Auto-rotate screen (it does not exist on my Samsung)
Hmmm... it supposedly is done differently from Pixels (which the article
describes, so how the hell does Samsung do it?)

Note to the world: Why do they make this so hard when it is supposed
to be simple shit? Jesus Christ. I do NOT want my screen rotating.
Can't that just be a button like it used to be on Android 11?

Googling some more, adding the word "Samsung" to the search...
*My screen keeps reverting back to portrait since new update*
<https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/galaxy-s21-series/my-screen-keeps-reverting-back-to-portrait-since-new-update/td-p/3988809>
"Go to Settings->Apps->tap the three vertical dots on top right
corner->special access->appear on top. And here disable all applications. "

Hmmm... doesn't sound right. Let's dig deeper...
*Samsung Android 12 (One UI 4.0) update breaks auto-rotate
(does not recognize orientation) for some*
<https://piunikaweb.com/2022/02/16/samsung-one-ui-4-0-android-12-update-breaks-auto-rotate-for-some/>
"The bug seems to have surfaced after the February 1 security patch
and is inconveniencing many. Users say they tried restarting their phone,
disabling and enabling the toggle, and performed a self-test but
nothing seems to work."

But that's not the same problem. Neither is this as it's from 2018.
*Auto-Rotate keeps turning on*
<https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/auto-rotate-keeps-turning-on.3789141/>

Anyone else having the auto-rotate keep turning on by itself on Android 12?

[Carlos E. R.]

On 2022-05-13 21:46, Andy Burnelli wrote:
> Anyone else having the auto-rotate keep turning on by itself on Android 12?

I don't know, mine is activated full time.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

[The Real Bev]

On 05/13/2022 01:21 PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2022-05-13 21:46, Andy Burnelli wrote:
>> Anyone else having the auto-rotate keep turning on by itself on Android 12?
>
> I don't know, mine is activated full time.

So is mine, but the Pixel only turns two ways. I'd really like to
rotate it so that the USB connector is at the top so I can set it in the
cupholder in the car without resting it on the connection, but NOOOO!

--
Cheers, Bev

[nospam]

In article <t5mffk$8sk$1...@dont-email.me>, The Real Bev

<bashl...@gmail.com> wrote:

> So is mine, but the Pixel only turns two ways. I'd really like to
> rotate it so that the USB connector is at the top so I can set it in the
> cupholder in the car without resting it on the connection, but NOOOO!

nothing prevents you from doing that, but it's up to the app to support
upside-down.

you could also get a car dock.

[Andy Burnelli]

nospam wrote:

>> So is mine, but the Pixel only turns two ways. I'd really like to
>> rotate it so that the USB connector is at the top so I can set it in the
>> cupholder in the car without resting it on the connection, but NOOOO!

> nothing prevents you from doing that, but it's up to the app to support
> upside-down.

Jesus Christ... look at all the options now for the rotation setting:
<https://i.postimg.cc/gjV490J7/autorotate01.jpg>

This guy suggests the "Rotation Orientation Manager" on Google Play Store.
<https://youtu.be/0a2h3zj5hIk>

Searching...
<https://play.google.com/store/search?q=rotation%20orientation%20manager&c=apps>

I think the video guy is suggesting this one, but it has ads, yuck.
*Rotation Orientation Manager* by Pranav Pandey
Free, +ads, requires GSF, rated 4.4, 500K+ installs
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pranavpandey.rotation>

Filtering out stuff in the FOSS google play store client, I can easily find

*Rotation Control* by CrapeMyrtle
Free, ad free, gsf free, rated 4.1, 5M+ installs
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.crape.rotationcontrol>
Dunno if it works yet. There were lots more if I lower my standards.

One thing I would hope we can arrange someday is each week we test a
feature, where we assign a person to test one app each per day.

That way we'd really be working as a team.

> you could also get a car dock.

These are my Android 12 Samsung settings for Auto Rotate.

Notice they're all set to off.
And yet the darn things auto rotates on its own.

My use model is simple.
a. I don't want auto rotate ever turned on.
b. If I want to rotate it, I will do that manually.
c. I agree with The Real Bev in an upside-down rotate being nice.
<https://play.google.com/store/search?q=upside%20down%20rotate&c=apps>
--
Usenet is a world-wide team sport where purposefully helpful kind-hearted
adults help each other and learn by pooling our individual capabilities.

[Andy Burnelli]

The Real Bev wrote:

> So is mine, but the Pixel only turns two ways. I'd really like to
> rotate it so that the USB connector is at the top so I can set it in the
> cupholder in the car without resting it on the connection, but NOOOO!

Dunno yet if it works, but I downloaded this one, and there were others.
<https://i.postimg.cc/SRHd3tcg/autorotate02.jpg>

Try one on your Pixel and let us know if it works well for you.
I'll try one also on my Samsung so as to be part of the team.
--
Usenet is a team sport where each person adds unique value in their own way

[Andy Burnelli]

UPDATE

In decades of solving problems on Usenet, we almost never fail in our task!

Hence, I should note that I solved this problem long ago by adding software
which disabled auto rotation, but just today I found out perhaps where the
bug lies in why I needed to disable auto-rotation only in Android 12.

I only today found out that "Android System Intelligence" (previously known
as "Device Personalization Services"), and, by association, "Private Compute
Services" (which uploads your personal data to Google servers) handle a lot
of the auto-screen-on & auto-rotate intelligence that may be the bug here.
*Android System Intelligence - Do you clear it periodically? Do you wipe it out?*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/2YuJGy6gjG8>

*Android System Intelligence*
<https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/12112173>
"To function, Android System Intelligence and Private Compute Services
collects crash logs, diagnostics, and device identifiers. "

*Private Compute Services*
<https://security.googleblog.com/2021/09/introducing-androids-private-compute.html>\
"Machine learning features often improve by updating models, and
Private Compute Services helps features get these updates
over a private path. "

Notice that Android System Intelligence has something to do with:
a. Screen Attention: Your screen wonÿt turn off while you look at it.
b. Smart Autorotate: Detects the orientation you hold your phone in.

Hence I completely wiped out Android System Intelligence (and the associated
Private Compute Services) today and I will test how that affects things.

Given ASI also handles smart copy & paste, I also added a new keyboard:
c. Improved copy and paste: Makes it easier to move text from one app to another.

The keyboard I added supposedly helps you recover from the lost cut & paste.
OpenBoard, by dslul, free, ad free, gsf free & FOSS
Rated 3.8 out of 2.26K reviews with 100K+ downloads & updated on Aug 12, 2022
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dslul.openboard.inputmethod.latin>
<https://github.com/openboard-team/openboard>

Obviously I disabled both "Android System Intelligence" & "Private Compute
Services" today the moment I found out that they existed.

Time will tell whether there are any negative (or positive) implications.
As always, 'tis better to break free than to be sheep led to slaughter.
--
Posted out of the goodness of my heart to disseminate useful information
which, in this case, is to update the technical data for future research.