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I have some apps, like Spotify for example, which for some inexplicable reason do not allow me to rotate some activities (like the player) into landscape.

I am looking for an app or method that can force these apps to follow my device rotation despite that.

Up until Android 12, I used to use rotation manager for this purpose. It wasn't perfect but it did the job.
It no longer seems to function however: Turning on "Forced Auto" still works but it now prevents touches from being registered in any other app which is obviously bad and unusable.
(I have a feeling this might be a new security "feature".)

Atemu
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  • "prevents touches from being registered in any other app" that looks like a bug with apps that have "draw over other apps" permission. Anyway, have you tried other rotation manager apps? Do they show the same issue? – Andrew T. May 26 '22 at 15:09
  • Tap 'n' turn does not exhibit this behaviour. The app did not have this issue before Android 12 however. What could have caused rotation manager's implementation to fail but not Tap 'n' Turn's? – Atemu May 26 '22 at 15:22
  • Apps that can draw over other apps, can also intercept touch, but it has been like that for a very long time, so I don't think it's an Android 12 issue. That possibly leaves with how the overlay is drawn over the apps, which might change accidentally due to an Android update. Need to check and debug the app's source code to be sure though, since looks like the app hasn't been updated since 2014. – Andrew T. May 26 '22 at 15:43

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I achieved what I personally want (always SCREEN_ORIENTATION_UNSPECIFIED) using a crude patch to android_frameworks/base:

https://github.com/Atemu/robot-config/blob/282f7bbf6477dc4c6677ece77d528eff5b833d86/0001-always-have-screenOrientation-SCREEN_ORIENTATION_UNS.patch

I'm not 100% sure all of these hunks are necessary or even complete but what it's supposed to do is stub any write access to an activity's in-code representation of its screenOrientation preference such that it's always on the default SCREEN_ORIENTATION_UNSPECIFIED.

Atemu
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