Question :

Today, I noticed there was a “lock”-icon on the top menu bar of my iPhone. (It looks a little like the TimeMachine-icon in the OSX-menubar) More accurately described, it is a “padlock with a clock-wise rotating circular arrow” icon.

What does it mean ? And how do I get rid of it ?

Answer :

The “padlock with a circular arrow” icon means that you the Screen Rotation is locked on your iPhone or iPad, so your display will not automatically change between “portrait” and “landscape” view when you rotate your iOS device.

To get rid of this icon, you simply need to turn on Screen Rotation back on, like this :

When you have iOS 7, do this :

– ‘slide up’ with your finger from (just outside) the bottom of the screen upward, to reveal the ‘underwater view’

– in the ‘underwater view’, just click on the “padlock with a circular arrow”-icon jou see top right

…that’s it !

When you have iOS 5 or iOS 6, do this :

– double click on the menu button (the only real, round button on the front of your iPhone/iPad, just below the screen ; a.k.a. the “main button”)

– then in ‘underwater view’, you can see all apps that are running ‘in the background’ on your iPhone/iPad (a.k.a. “are invisibly consuming power because you did not really shut them down”)

– then swipe (a.k.a. “slide”) the ‘underwater bar’ to the right, so it will reveal the Music Player buttons …and another “padlock with a circular arrow” icon ; click that and your Screen Rotation will be back on and the icon will be removed from the top menu bar also

…that’s it !

NOTE : Only on iPads (so not on iPhones) there is a physical switch on the top right side that can be used as a screen rotation lock (or unlock) switch. But… this physical switch can also be ‘programmed’ as an audio mute-switch. The function you want to give the physical switch can be set like this :

– click on the Settings-icon on your iPad

– in the window that opens, click General

– in the window that opens, go to “Use Side Switch to:” and select either “Lock Rotation” or “Mute” (the choice you make will be indicated with a check mark)

…that’s it !

enjoy !