Google's anti-nausea Motion Assist dots finally rolling out on Android

Ars Technica News

Summary

Google is rolling out the Motion Assist feature on Android 17 for Pixel phones, which uses moving dots on the screen to reduce motion sickness by mimicking real-world motion.

<p>Some people are cursed with motion sickness, which can make it impossible to read or use a phone in a moving vehicle without suffering waves of nausea. There's a surprisingly simple trick that can make smartphones usable in such situations. Apple deployed it on the iPhone a couple of years ago, and now Google's own version is finally coming (slowly) to Android.</p> <p>Motion sickness is caused by a disagreement between what your inner ear senses and what your eyes see. If you're looking at a book or a screen while in a car, the sensory mismatch can lead to a pretty unpleasant time. As part of <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/06/ios-18-is-all-about-customization-but-also-improves-android-users-sms-life/">iOS 18</a> in 2024, Apple released a feature called Motion Cues that places a network of moving dots on the screen to alleviate motion sickness, and it seems to work surprisingly well. Google's version is similar, but it's called Motion Assist.</p> <p>Google began testing Motion Assist back in 2024, but it never expanded beyond an internal test until now. Android Authority <a href="https://www.androidauthority.com/google-android-17-motion-assist-rolling-out-3702494/">reports</a> Motion Assist is appearing on Pixel phones running Android 17, but there's no app or update you can install to get the feature—it's being delivered by Play Services as part of a staged rollout.</p><p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/08/google-begins-rolling-out-anti-motion-sickness-feature-on-android-17/">Read full article</a></p> <p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/08/google-begins-rolling-out-anti-motion-sickness-feature-on-android-17/#comments">Comments</a></p>
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# Google's anti-nausea Motion Assist dots finally rolling out on Android Source: [https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/08/google-begins-rolling-out-anti-motion-sickness-feature-on-android-17/](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/08/google-begins-rolling-out-anti-motion-sickness-feature-on-android-17/) Some people are cursed with motion sickness, which can make it impossible to read or use a phone in a moving vehicle without suffering waves of nausea\. There’s a surprisingly simple trick that can make smartphones usable in such situations\. Apple deployed it on the iPhone a couple of years ago, and now Google’s own version is finally coming \(slowly\) to Android\. Motion sickness is caused by a disagreement between what your inner ear senses and what your eyes see\. If you’re looking at a book or a screen while in a car, the sensory mismatch can lead to a pretty unpleasant time\. As part of[iOS 18](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/06/ios-18-is-all-about-customization-but-also-improves-android-users-sms-life/)in 2024, Apple released a feature called Motion Cues that places a network of moving dots on the screen to alleviate motion sickness, and it seems to work surprisingly well\. Google’s version is similar, but it’s called Motion Assist\. Google began testing Motion Assist back in 2024, but it never expanded beyond an internal test until now\. Android Authority[reports](https://www.androidauthority.com/google-android-17-motion-assist-rolling-out-3702494/)Motion Assist is appearing on Pixel phones running Android 17, but there’s no app or update you can install to get the feature—it’s being delivered by Play Services as part of a staged rollout\. When activated, Motion Assist adds small dots around the edges of your phone screen over top of the content\. It plugs into your phone’s accelerometer and gyroscope, allowing the dots to move in concert with the motion of the vehicle; they travel down the screen while the vehicle is moving forward, to the left when turning right, and so on\. They basically mimic the way objects in the real world would move through your vision if you weren’t glued to the screen\. Here’s how Apple’s version works\.

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Android is getting its own weird dots to cure car sickness

The Verge

Google introduces Motion Assist on Android 17, a feature that uses moving dots on the screen to alleviate car sickness by syncing with vehicle motion, similar to Apple's Motion Cues. It is rolling out first on Pixel phones and leverages device sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes.