Maybe you have seen a padlock or an arrowed circle with a lock icon symbol on your iPhone at the top right and obviously, you don’t know why it appears. You are here to know “What is the lock icon on iPhone?” In this post, I will tell you. All you have to do is read this article carefully.
You have consulted with your friends and they do not have it. So you are asking yourself a lot of questions about its meaning and how to remove it. Don’t panic, it’s nothing special.
What is the lock icon on iPhone?
The arrow circle with a lock icon (or padlock) symbol means that the screen is locked. In fact, if you turn your iPhone from a vertical to a horizontal position (portrait orientation to landscape), the icons remain in the portrait orientation.
To remove the padlock, you must from the home screen, drag the index from the bottom to the top. Open the control panel, at the top right you will find the icon with the padlock.
Just deselect it by clicking on it. With these short steps, you will have solved the problem and by turning the iPhone the icons align themselves. Obviously, if you want to lock them, you will have to activate the lock icon and that’s it.
What Does the Padlock Symbol on iPhone Mean?
To understand how to remove the lock symbol on the iPhone you must first know why it appears. This is a screen lock that prevents you from rotating it. And which, most likely, you entered without realizing it.
The symbol we are talking about looks like the one you see next door, doesn’t it?
- So the iPhone lock symbol is an icon that signals that the rotation of the screen is blocked.
- To find out if the problem is related to the rotation of the screen, open any app and rotate the iPhone.
- If the screen does not rotate it means that the screen is locked and the lock at the top is proof of this.
How to Remove the Lock from the iPhone?
If the symbol you see is just this then there is nothing to worry about. Because we will explain how to solve this problem quickly and in a few steps.
- To remove the padlock symbol on the iPhone you will first have to enter the Control Center. And if the padlock symbol appears you will have to tap it to deactivate the lock.
- At this point restart the iPhone and once turned on you can try with any app. If the screen returns to rotate or not.
- If it didn’t work, repeat the procedure again and see if it works.
- If not, you will need to contact Apple Support or a repair expert to have the device checked.
- If you have an iPhone Plus you will first need to go to Settings. Then to Screen and Brightness. And then set the Screen Zoom to the standard option.
What if I want to activate the rotation lock?
This function is the exact opposite of the one just explained. Activating it you will see the padlock appear on the screen. But now you will know “how to activate it and how to deactivate it?”
- Basically, you just unlock the iPhone and swipe up to open the Control Center.
- A gray screen will appear with various notifications and icons, including the lock screen.
- Tapping the icon turns the lock screen option on and off.
- So if you don’t want the screen to rotate when the device rotates, activate the lock.
- If you want to open the rotation, however, unlock it. And you will see the lock disappear from the screen.
How to lock rotate iPhone screen?
Have you tried using your iPhone’s auto-rotate function? But isn’t too convinced that you appreciate the fact that it rotates even when you move your smartphone slightly with no intention of activating it? Then, in that case, you can proceed by blocking the rotation of the screen to eliminate the problem altogether.
Doing so is very simple and the steps are the same as seen in the previous chapter dedicated to activating the automatic rotation.
Then open the Control Center of your iPhone and tap on the open lock icon with the arrow around it. If the icon turns red it means that you have activated the Lock vertical orientation function.
And this means that. Even if you physically move the phone in the horizontal position. The screen display remains in portrait mode, i.e. vertically.
How to rotate iPhone locked screen
Have you tried to rotate the screen following the directions above but the function freezes and does not switch from portrait to landscape mode in a short time?
Then it could be a temporary malfunction or something more serious. Such as a failure of the accelerometer, that is the sensor able to recognize the orientation of the phone.
The best attempt you can make, in this case, to bring the situation under control is to proceed with restarting your iPhone. Go to the Settings> General> Turn off the menu and then turn the device back on.
If the iPhone does not turn off for any reason, you can proceed with the forced restart of the same. To perform this operation on the most recent iPhones equipped with Face ID, press and quickly release the key to raise the volume.
Then do the same thing with the volume down key, then press and hold the side key until you see the Apple logo appear and release the key.
How to rotate the iPhone screen manually?
If you want to know how to rotate the iPhone screen manually, that is when you want, without making the physical gesture of rotating it horizontally.
You can use the AssistiveTouch function: an accessibility menu that allows you to simulate physical gestures without the need to actually perform them.
To proceed, first of all, you need to enable this function: via the Home screen of your iPhone. Then tap on the Settings icon (marked with a gear).
And, in the new screen that opened, press on the Accessibility item. Now select the item Touch under the word Mobility.
Conclusion
Now you have learned “What is the lock icon on iPhone?” If you really like this post, please share this post with your friends on social media. Please leave a comment below.

I am Joseph D. Moyer. I am the founder of virtualworldtechnology.com. I am a technology specialist. I am a professional blogger, SEO Expert, and also an expert in social media marketing as well as internet marketing too. Continue here my Experience on This Blog.