Web/API/Screen/lockOrientation

DeprecatedThis feature is no longer recommended. Though some browsers might still support it, it may have already been removed from the relevant web standards, may be in the process of being dropped, or may only be kept for compatibility purposes. Avoid using it, and update existing code if possible; see the compatibility table at the bottom of this page to guide your decision. Be aware that this feature may cease to work at any time.

The lockOrientation() method of the Screen interface locks the screen into a specified orientation. The ScreenOrientation.lock() method should be used instead.

Note: This method only works for installed Web apps or for Web pages in full-screen mode.

Syntax

lockAllowed = window.screen.lockOrientation(orientation);

Parameters

orientation

The orientation into which to lock the screen. This is either a string or an array of strings. Passing several strings lets the screen rotate only in the selected orientations.

The following strings represent the possible orientation requirements you may specify:

portrait-primary

It represents the orientation of the screen when it is in its primary portrait mode. A screen is considered in its primary portrait mode if the device is held in its normal position and that position is in portrait, or if the normal position of the device is in landscape and the device held turned by 90° clockwise. The normal position is device dependant.

portrait-secondary

It represents the orientation of the screen when it is in its secondary portrait mode. A screen is considered in its secondary portrait mode if the device is held 180° from its normal position and that position is in portrait, or if the normal position of the device is in landscape and the device held is turned by 90° anticlockwise. The normal position is device dependant.

landscape-primary

It represents the orientation of the screen when it is in its primary landscape mode. A screen is considered in its primary landscape mode if the device is held in its normal position and that position is in landscape, or if the normal position of the device is in portrait and the device held is turned by 90° clockwise. The normal position is device dependant.

landscape-secondary

It represents the orientation of the screen when it is in its secondary landscape mode. A screen is considered in its secondary landscape mode if the device held is 180° from its normal position and that position is in landscape, or if the normal position of the device is in portrait and the device held is turned by 90° anticlockwise. The normal position is device dependant.

portrait

It represents both portrait-primary and portrait-secondary.

landscape

It represents both landscape-primary and landscape-secondary.

default

It represents either portrait-primary and landscape-primary depends on natural orientation of devices. For example, if the panel resolution is 1280*800, default will make it landscape, if the resolution is 800*1280, default will make it to portrait.

Note: It's possible to set several locks at the same time. So, if the lock is set for only one orientation, the screen orientation will never change until the screen orientation is unlocked. Otherwise, the screen orientation will change from an orientation to another as long as the orientations are amongst the orientations the device has been locked to.

Return value

Returns true if the orientation was authorized to be locked or false if the orientation locking was denied. Note that the return value doesn't indicate that the screen orientation is indeed locked: there may be a delay.

Examples

Usage with a DOMString argument

screen.lockOrientationUniversal = screen.lockOrientation || screen.mozLockOrientation || screen.msLockOrientation;

if (screen.lockOrientationUniversal("landscape-primary")) {
  // Orientation was locked
} else {
  // Orientation lock failed
}

Usage with an Array argument

screen.lockOrientationUniversal = screen.lockOrientation || screen.mozLockOrientation || screen.msLockOrientation;

if (screen.lockOrientationUniversal(["landscape-primary", "landscape-secondary"])) {
  // Orientation was locked
} else {
  // Orientation lock failed
}

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Screen Orientation APIThe definition of 'lockOrientation()' in that specification.	Working Draft	Initial definition (Not present in the draft anymore)

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
lockOrientation	Chrome Full support 38	Edge Full support 12 Prefixed' Full support 12 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: ms	Firefox Full support Yes Prefixed' Full support Yes Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: moz	IE Full support 11 Prefixed' Full support 11 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: ms	Opera Full support Yes	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 38	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support Yes Prefixed' Full support Yes Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: moz	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0

Legend

Full support  

Full support

No support  

No support

Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.'

Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.

See also

• Screen.orientation
• Screen.unlockOrientation()
• Screen.onorientationchange
• Managing screen orientation

Screen.lockOrientation() by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.