What is the Purpose of the UIDeviceOrientationUnknown Orientation?

Question

What is the purpose of the UIDeviceOrientationUnknown Orientation? When subscribing to notifications about device orientation, when can receiving this message be more beneficial than not receiving any message at all?

I'm just trying to understand why this orientation is even included in Apple's list of orientations. Does this orientation occur if you use the device in a zero gravity environment or what? :)

Answer 1

UIDeviceOrientationUnknown is a catch all for errors and hardware failure so at least you get notify when there is an issue.