Android will soon borrow iOS 18’s anti-car sickness feature – here’s how it works

LovabledanielsDecember 11, 202495 Views

Android phones are getting a new Motion Cues feature
The feature should help combat motion sickness when reading in cars
iPhones recently got a similar feature in iOS 18

If you were paying attention to the iOS 18 launch, you may have noticed a new Vehicle Motion Cues feature that promises to help to combat car sickness. There’s now an Android equivalent on the way – and we just got a better idea of how it’s going to work.

The folks over at Android Police did some digging into the Google Play Services code on Android, discovering that the feature Google is planning – called, apparently, Motion Cues – is almost ready to be rolled out.

With a few tweaks, the Android Police team was able to get the feature working: You get a simple Motion Cues toggle switch, plus an Auto-enable when Driving option that has the feature kick in whenever your phone thinks you’re in a car.

As on iOS, the feature puts small black dots at the edge of the screen, which then move to match the motion of the vehicle you’re in. The idea is to remove the disconnect between your body feeling movement and your eyes seeing something fixed and stationary.

Coming soon

The hidden screens enabled by Android Police (Image credit: Android Police)

Google hasn’t said anything officially yet, so we don’t know when this feature is going to be pushed out – we might not see it until Android 16 arrives around mid-2025, though it could also be part of an Android 15 update. The feature was first spotted last month.

When it does turn up, you’ll be able to activate it through the Quick Settings panel, Android Police reports – so with a quick one-finger or two-finger swipe down from the top of the screen you can turn it on and try and ward off any nausea.

Here’s how Apple describes its own feature: “With Vehicle Motion Cues, animated dots on the edges of the screen represent changes in vehicle motion to help reduce sensory conflict without interfering with the main content.”

That “sensory conflict” happens when there’s a disconnect between what you see and what you feel, and Motion Cues should help – not just in cars, but in other places where you might get motion sickness (on a boat, for example).