Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is addressing the long-standing issue with its Messages app, which auto-rotates the built-in gallery UI even when system settings have auto-rotation disabled.
- The upcoming fix enables Messages’ built-in image and video picker to respect device rotation preferences.
- Additional improvements include rounded corners on various parts of the interface and a more refined landscape mode when needed.
Google is continually working to add new features to Google Messages, its primary messaging experience on Android flagships. We’ve spotted the company working on a new Trash folder, and even a new context menu with centralized buttons. Google is also focusing on fixing bugs and improving the Messages experience, as we’ve now spotted clues that it could be fixing the long-standing auto-rotate bug in Messages’ gallery UI.
Google Messages has a built-in gallery that can be accessed by tapping the gallery icon, located beside the emoji icon. Here, you can take a quick photo or record a video to send to users, and even select from existing images and videos to send.
The issue with this gallery UI is that it does not respect your system’s auto-rotate settings. If you tilt your phone slightly, the app hides the images at the bottom and instructs you to rotate your device to access the gallery, even when auto-rotation is disabled on your phone.
Here’s a demo of the auto-rotate bug:
As you can imagine, this can become annoying in certain situations, such as when you are lying in bed.
Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority?
Google Messages v20251114 beta now includes code to resolve the annoying issue with the UI of the built-in gallery. We successfully activated the change ahead of its rollout, and so now, Google Messages will respect your device’s auto-rotate settings and will not auto-rotate if you tilt your phone.
Google has also tweaked the UI with rounded corners at various places, so it looks a bit better.
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
There’s also a better landscape UI now, which shows up only when auto-rotate is enabled.
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
The bug fix and refined UI are not currently rolling out, so you’ll have to wait a bit longer for the annoyance to be resolved. We’ll keep you updated when we learn more.
⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
Thank you for being part of our community. Read our Comment Policy before posting.
