Google brings Motion Assist to Android to combat motion sickness
Google's new "Motion Assist" feature is designed to prevent you from feeling motion sickness while looking at your smartphone in a moving car. However, the idea is not new: Apple and Honor already offer comparable solutions.
Google is beginning to roll out Motion Assist to Pixel smartphones running Android 17. The feature displays moving dots or shapes along the edges of the screen. These react to acceleration, braking, and turns, and are intended to alleviate symptoms of motion sickness. Google has not yet specified which Pixel models will receive the feature in the long term.
Motion sickness can occur when the eyes and the vestibular system send conflicting information to the brain. In a car, your body registers the vehicle's movement while you are looking at a largely static screen. Motion Assist supplements this movement information on the display.
The displayed elements move in sync with the ride and are intended to reduce the conflict between sensory impressions. The extent to which the feature alleviates discomfort can vary from person to person.
Apps and other content remain visible, as Google places the indicators primarily along the edges of the display.
Automatic start in the vehicle
You can turn on Motion Assist yourself via the settings or have it activate automatically when trips are detected. The shape, size, color, and transparency of the displayed elements can be customized.
Source: Android Authority
Google is apparently distributing Motion Assist via Google Play Services. However, the rollout is currently limited to select Pixel devices running Android 17. Whether the feature will later reach smartphones from other manufacturers remains open.
Apple and Honor were faster
The concept is not new. Apple introduced its «Vehicle Motion Cues» in May 2024 and launched them in the fall of the same year with iOS 18. There, too, dots move along the edge of the screen in sync with the ride. In the meantime, patterns, color, size, and quantity can be customized.
On Android, Honor was faster than Google. Since the beginning of 2025, the manufacturer has offered a comparable feature in MagicOS 9 called «Motion Sickness Relief». It also reacts to acceleration, braking, turns, and other vehicle movements. With the Honor 400 series, Honor expanded the feature internationally in 2025.
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