iOS device orientation disregarding orientation lock

Question

I want to query the orientation the iPhone is currently in. Using

[UIDevice currentDevice].orientation

works as long as the device isn\'t

Answer 1

Handling all 6 orientations

Though we don't often care about FaceUp / FaceDown orientations, they're still important.

Taking them into account leads to a much more appropriate sensitivity for orientation changes, while leaving them out can lead to metastability & hysteresis.

Here's how I handled it -

- (void)startMonitoring
{
    [self.motionManager startAccelerometerUpdatesToQueue:self.opQueue withHandler:^(CMAccelerometerData * _Nullable accelerometerData, NSError * _Nullable error) {

        if (error != nil)
        {
            NSLog(@"Accelerometer error: %@", error);
        }
        else
        {
            float const threshold = 40.0;

            BOOL (^isNearValue) (float value1, float value2) = ^BOOL(float value1, float value2)
            {
                return fabsf(value1 - value2) < threshold;
            };

            BOOL (^isNearValueABS) (float value1, float value2) = ^BOOL(float value1, float value2)
            {
                return isNearValue(fabsf(value1), fabsf(value2));
            };

            float yxAtan = (atan2(accelerometerData.acceleration.y, accelerometerData.acceleration.x)) * 180 / M_PI;
            float zyAtan = (atan2(accelerometerData.acceleration.z, accelerometerData.acceleration.y)) * 180 / M_PI;
            float zxAtan = (atan2(accelerometerData.acceleration.z, accelerometerData.acceleration.x)) * 180 / M_PI;

            UIDeviceOrientation orientation = self.orientation;

            if (isNearValue(-90.0, yxAtan) && isNearValueABS(180.0, zyAtan))
            {
                orientation = UIDeviceOrientationPortrait;
            }
            else if (isNearValueABS(180.0, yxAtan) && isNearValueABS(180.0, zxAtan))
            {
                orientation = UIDeviceOrientationLandscapeLeft;
            }
            else if (isNearValueABS(0.0, yxAtan) && isNearValueABS(0.0, zxAtan))
            {
                orientation = UIDeviceOrientationLandscapeRight;
            }
            else if (isNearValue(90.0, yxAtan) && isNearValueABS(0.0, zyAtan))
            {
                orientation = UIDeviceOrientationPortraitUpsideDown;
            }
            else if (isNearValue(-90.0, zyAtan) && isNearValue(-90.0, zxAtan))
            {
                orientation = UIDeviceOrientationFaceUp;
            }
            else if (isNearValue(90.0, zyAtan) && isNearValue(90.0, zxAtan))
            {
                orientation = UIDeviceOrientationFaceDown;
            }

            if (self.orientation != orientation)
            {
                dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{

                    [self orientationDidChange:orientation];
                });
            }
        }
    }];
}

Additionally, I've added a threshold value of 40.0 (instead of 45.0). This makes changes less sensitive, preventing hysteresis at inflection points.

If you only want to react to changes of the main 4 orientations, just do this

if (UIDeviceOrientationIsPortrait(orientation) || UIDeviceOrientationIsLandscape(orientation))
{
     // Do something
}