Are you susceptible to motion sickness? Apple already offers a solution on the iOS 18 version of its operating system. On compatible iPhones, the Cupertino company offers a feature called “vehicle movement indicators” which represents vehicle movements with dots displayed on the edge of the screen. Indeed, as motion sickness can be caused by a sensory conflict between what a person sees and what they feel, these points serve as cues for the brain, in order to avoid this sensory conflict during the use of the smartphone.
Android could take inspiration from it
And the good news is that Google could offer a very similar feature on its Android operating system. At the moment, nothing is official. But by digging into the code of the beta version of Google Play Service, our colleagues at Android Authority discovered character strings presenting a functionality which shows “visual cues to alleviate motion sickness.” And if the clues discovered by Android Authority do not give more details, everything suggests that this future Android novelty should work exactly like the functionality already available on the iPhone. Otherwise, as the site notes, this functionality is also offered on Android by third-party applications. But it is always better to use a service directly integrated into the OS.
A future accessibility feature for Android?
It remains to be seen when Google plans to launch this feature. As a reminder, the firm is shaking up the Android ecosystem, by changing the way the operating system is updated. Instead of releasing one new version of Android per year, Google will offer two. In 2025, there will first be a new version released in the second quarter, then another version (with less significant changes) released in the fourth quarter. It is possible that this novelty against motion sickness will be included in one of these new versions. But it is also possible that this new feature will be launched independently of new versions of the OS.
- On iOS 18, Apple offers a feature against motion sickness
- When activated, the OS displays visual indicators that represent vehicle movements, so that there is no sensory conflict between what the user sees and what they feel
- And according to an article from Android Authority, Google is developing a very similar feature for its Android operating system
- But at the moment it is unclear when this accessibility feature might be rolled out
