Skill: Orientation Support

Purpose

Detects missing iPad orientation keys, portrait-only orientation locks, and forced-rotation patterns that cause layout failures when an iPad reviewer rotates their device, violating guideline 2.4.1.

Apple Guideline

• Primary: 2.4.1 — Hardware Compatibility
• Related: 2.1
• Reference: references/guidelines/2-performance.md

Real-World Rejection Cases

• Case: iPad app locked to portrait — reviewer rotated device and layout broke
  Source: App Store Connect rejection feedback
  Root cause: The app returned only .portrait from supportedInterfaceOrientations, so the iPad reviewer could not use the app in landscape; Apple requires universal apps to support both orientations on iPad.

• Case: Missing UISupportedInterfaceOrientations~ipad — app treated as iPhone-only on iPad
  Source: Apple Developer Forums
  Root cause: Without the iPad-specific plist key, iOS applies the iPhone orientation mask on iPad, which may be portrait-only; the app appeared non-universal and was rejected under 2.4.1.

Trigger

Invoke on any app that declares iPad support (UISupportedInterfaceOrientations~ipad present or UIDeviceFamily includes 2) to verify orientation handling is complete.

Inputs

Name	Type	Default	Description
project_root	path	cwd	iOS/macOS project root
shared_context	object	nil	Pre-collected context from appstore-full-audit Phase 1

Actions

Phase 1: Context Collection

Skip this phase if shared_context is provided.

1. Glob **/Info.plist — locate all Info.plist files.
2. Glob **/*.swift — collect Swift source files for code-level orientation overrides.
3. Glob **/*.m — collect Objective-C source files for the same.

Phase 2: Checks

1. iPad orientation key in Info.plist
   Read each Info.plist found in Phase 1.
   Check that UISupportedInterfaceOrientations~ipad is present and contains at least one landscape value (UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeLeft or UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight). Absence of the key → 🟡 MEDIUM. Key present but landscape values absent → 🟡 MEDIUM.

2. Portrait-only orientation return in code
   Grep pattern supportedInterfaceOrientations.*portrait in **/*.swift and **/*.m
   Any UIViewController or AppDelegate override that returns only portrait masks on iPad → 🟡 MEDIUM.

3. Forced orientation lock
   Grep pattern \.lockOrientation|lockToPortrait in **/*.swift and **/*.m
   Third-party orientation-lock calls (e.g., SwiftUI-Introspect or Rotator libraries) that lock the app to portrait → 🟡 MEDIUM. These calls override the plist and break iPad landscape.

Phase 3: Output

Collect all findings from Phase 2 and build the prioritised findings list below. Include file paths and line numbers. Omit tiers with no findings.

Output Format

## Orientation Support — Findings

### 🔴 CRITICAL — Guaranteed rejection
- [ ] TODO: <exact actionable step> — `file:line` — Guideline 2.4.1

### 🟠 HIGH — Very likely rejection
- [ ] TODO: <exact actionable step> — `file:line` — Guideline 2.4.1

### 🟡 MEDIUM — Possible rejection
- [ ] TODO: <exact actionable step> — `file:line`

### 🟢 LOW — Best practice
- [ ] TODO: <exact actionable step>

Tools Used

Glob, Grep, Read

Constraints

• Read-only. No file edits.
• No network calls.
• Skip Phase 1 if shared_context is provided by orchestrating agent.
• Works on Swift, Objective-C, React Native, Flutter projects.

Quick Commands

Run these in your project root to check manually:

# Check iPad interface orientations
!find . -name "Info.plist" -not -path "*/Pods/*" | head -1 | xargs plutil -convert json -o - | python3 -c "import sys,json; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print('iPhone:', d.get('UISupportedInterfaceOrientations',[])); print('iPad:', d.get('UISupportedInterfaceOrientations~ipad','MISSING'))"

# Find orientation locks in code
!grep -rn "supportedInterfaceOrientations\|lockOrientation\|\.portrait\b" . --include="*.swift"

Swift Anti-Pattern Reference

examples/swift/LayoutPatterns.swift

Detection Steps

1. Find target files

   • Glob: **/Info.plist, **/*.swift, **/*.m

2. Search for rejection patterns

   • Read Info.plist → check UISupportedInterfaceOrientations~ipad for both portrait and landscape values
   • Grep supportedInterfaceOrientations override returning portrait-only mask
   • Grep shouldAutorotate returning false
   • Grep UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait\b without UIInterfaceOrientationMaskLandscape

3. Determine verdict

   • iPad app with only portrait orientation declared → 🟠 HIGH (Guideline 2.4.1)
   • shouldAutorotate returns false on iPad → 🟠 HIGH
   • Both orientations supported on iPad → 🟢 pass

4. Report

   • UISupportedInterfaceOrientations~ipad value found (or missing)
   • File path + line of portrait-only lock
   • Fix: Add landscape orientations to UISupportedInterfaceOrientations~ipad; remove or conditionalise shouldAutorotate = false