YouTube on the iPhone takes up many hours of our time, but that is not entirely without irritations. Here’s how to solve YouTube’s biggest problem on iPhone.
YouTube on the iPhone
If there’s an app that makes you completely lose track of time, it’s YouTube. It often starts innocently by watching a short film while visiting the toilet, and before you know it you are completely immersed in a video essay about why the Pixar film Ratatouille is actually about capitalism.
But although the YouTube app does a great job of facilitating this addiction, it does cause a major annoyance. Because suppose you tap on a video, sit down in front of it, turn your phone to full screen and… nothing. Oh yes, the directional lock is still on. Sigh. Fortunately, you can fix this problem permanently using the Assignments app.
This is how you fix the directional lock
In Assignments you can ensure that your directional lock is automatically disabled as soon as you open YouTube. Very handy. That’s how you do that:
- Open Assignments and select ‘Automation’ from the tabs at the bottom.
- Tap the ‘+’ and choose ‘app’ from the list.
- Tap Choose, select the YouTube app, then click Done. Then check ‘Run immediately’, make sure ‘Report when run’ is not checked and tap ‘Next’.
- Use the search bar to find the ‘Set Direction Lock’ task. Tap it.
- Then tap ‘On/Off’, choose ‘Turn’ and then tap ‘on’ so that it says ‘off’. Then tap ‘Done’.
Now when you open YouTube, Shortcuts will remove the directional lock from your iPhone. This way, the app always rotates with the screen when you hold your iPhone horizontally!
More subtle option
Do you sometimes want to use the directional lock with YouTube, and sometimes not? And is the assignment therefore a bit too rigorous for you? Then there is a more subtle option. When you’re watching a YouTube video, you can just swipe it up to watch full screen. A swipe down makes the video small again.
-
This is how you solve the biggest YouTube irritation on your iPhone
-
iPhone tips: you just need to know these features for your AirPods
-
NameDrop in iOS 17: sharing contacts with your iPhone now much easier
-
This is how you remove the silent mode icon on iPhone 15 Pro (Max)
-
This is how you add multiple actions to the action button on the iPhone 15 Pro