A display method and a portable device are provided. The portable device has a touch screen, and a plurality of application programs is installed in the portable device. The touch screen displays a menu interface and an object corresponding to each application program. When the object corresponding to each application program is displayed, obtain a display format supported by the application program, and determine whether the display format supported by the application program matches a first display format of the touch screen of the portable device. When the display format supported by the application program does not match the first display format of the touch screen, a first annotation message is shown on the object corresponding to the application program.