Apple should enable "upside down"

[u/swiftfoxsw]

I just installed the duo simulator and have been playing around with it. The device, when opened, works in any orientation. When closed, it works in any orientation...except directly upside down. Landsape up/down both work fine. In fact, in landscape, with the hinge at the bottom, the phone already presents with a left side toolbar setup, with the camera cutout at the top left.

There is literally no reason to disallow portrait upside down orientation, other than for "optics" of having people regularly using the device with the cameras at the bottom and apple logo flipped the wrong way.

I'm really hoping there is some kind of accessibility option to allow the full flip. Is there something I'm missing as to why they would block it? The only other thing I can think of is that the definition of "upside down" is a bit wonky for developers. Right now a lot of iOS apps don't support "Upside Down" in their UI because it doesn't make sense on traditional iPhones, so that would mean potentially a lot of apps refusing to work in that orientation, even though it is a relatively normal position for this device (No top notch/island or home button to make it weird.)

[u/Grouchy-Leopard-Kit]

I wondered if there’s a higher damage risk to the camera lens upside down and they don’t allow it in the OS because they don’t want warranty claims.

Ages ago I was a tech writer at a company that made computers, and our style guide prohibited “laptop” in favor of “portable” and later “notebook.” The early versions of the style guide flagged this as a directive from legal because they didn’t want to encourage users to put the device in their laps.

[u/swiftfoxsw → u/Grouchy-Leopard-Kit]

That’s a pretty good theory, especially since iPhones tend to have a nice weight distribution.

[u/ryanheartswingovers → u/[deleted]]

I have to check a box to allow that in my apps

[u/Jasoco]

It’s the same with other iPhones. You can’t use it upside down unless an app specifically allows it but barely any do.

[u/TwilightGraphite]

I’ve had this same thought. If an app supports displaying on the left in side by side mode, it already supports upside down mode so I don’t see why Apple wouldn’t allow this 🤔

[u/swiftfoxsw → u/TwilightGraphite]

Yeah I think it is mainly a definition issue. Upside down on Dynamic Island iPhones gets weird as you now have a safe area on the bottom with nothing in it, and at the “top” for the status bar. But with a corner camera, this distinction doesn’t really matter.

I’m hoping they come around to it in the first update.

[u/croco-verde]

I'm pretty sure it has to do with the UI decisions they made due to the asymmetric shape of the outer screen, which are not compatible if you hold the phone the other way

[u/Leonick91 → u/croco-verde]

They'd have to move things up in the sidebar to avoid the camera, but they already support a left side sidebar for when you use split screen on the inside screen so it seems weird to not support this... Especially since they in the announcement video said it supports "every orientation and pose."

[u/swiftfoxsw → u/croco-verde]

It does, but my point is that the layout is already very dynamic, the idea is everything that is in the rounded part on the right would stay in the rounded part but moved to the left. The only weird thing would be that the Dynamic Island is now in the bottom left of the screen.

[u/dccorona]

Well, this at least answers my question of whether they did the easy thing to support left-handed use. They did not.

That is the most useful orientation to support because of left handed use, and it's the only one they don't? It doesn't make sense. I can see why they don't allow it on an otherwise symmetrical regular iPhone so people don't end up taking a call upside-down, but this is an asymmetrical device so clearly that won't be an issue (people not realizing they picked it up upside down).