If you get queasy reading your phone in a moving car, Android now has a built-in fix for that. It just became available to far more phones than before. Motion assist is Google’s answer to carsickness while scrolling. It has expanded beyond the Pixel 11 series it launched on and is now generally available on any phone running Android 17.
What Motion Assist Actually Does
Motion assist shows small, subtle bubbles along your screen’s edges. Those bubbles move in real time, using your phone’s motion sensors to track how the vehicle you’re in turns, speeds up, or brakes. The idea, according to Google, is to help your brain sync up what your eyes see with what your inner ear feels. That mismatch between the two is what causes motion sickness in the first place.
It’s Google’s version of a feature Apple shipped on iPhone as Motion Cues. Google rolled Motion assist out to the Pixel 11 family in late August, then announced a wider rollout as part of its September Android Feature Drop. That expansion has now landed: any phone running Android 17 with an updated Google Play Services can use it, not just Pixels.
How to Turn On Motion Assist
- Open the Settings app on your phone.
- Tap your profile picture, then tap All services.
- Under “Personal & device safety,” tap Motion assist.
- Turn on Start in a moving vehicle so the bubbles appear automatically whenever your phone detects you’re travelling.
You can also just search “Motion assist” from the top of the Settings app to jump straight to the menu, without navigating through the profile and services steps above.
Add a Quick Settings Tile for Manual Control
Google also lets you add a Motion assist tile to your Quick Settings panel, in either a small or large size. That way you can switch it on manually without digging into Settings every time. Google specifically recommends turning on both the automatic vehicle detection and the manual Quick Settings tile. That way you’re covered whether or not the automatic detection kicks in right away.
Once it’s on, you can further customize the bubbles. Adjust their opacity, pick a color theme (red, yellow, green, or blue), or change their shape. You can also turn on randomization so the colors and shapes shift every few seconds.
Requirements
Motion assist needs Android 17 or higher and an up-to-date Google Play Services. If you don’t see the option under “Personal & device safety” in Settings, your phone likely hasn’t received the Android 17 update yet. Your Play Services install could also be out of date.
Source: Google Android Help
