iPhone: You're holding it wrong

If you use your iPhone to take photos and import them onto your computer or send them via email, you may have come across an issue where the photos display sideways or upside down on the computer or the recipient’s email. It’s frustrating for most users because they’re not sure why it’s happening. The reality is that there’s nothing wrong with your phone.

If Steve Jobs were alive today, he would simply tell you that “you’re holding it wrong!”

The iPhone supports an Orientation Tag in the image EXIF data under iOS 4 and above. It stores the information that tells the display the device what direction the photo was taken and how to display it properly. The problem is that most software doesn’t implement the Orientation Tag.

Until all Windows and Mac developers update their software to read the Orientation Tag, the solution is to make sure that you hold your iPhone with the home button either at the bottom for portrait photos, or to the right for landscape shots.