Google begins rolling out Motion Assist to Android 17 devices
Google is gradually rolling out Motion Assist for Android 17, starting with Pixel phones, to help reduce motion sickness by showing moving dots on screen.
Motion Assist can be found in Google Play Settings. To access it, users can go to Settings > Your profile > All services, then scroll to the Personal & device safety section. The feature offers a toggle to activate automatically when a moving vehicle is detected, and it can also be added as a Quick Settings tile for manual control. When active, Android displays a notification that can be used to turn the feature off.
The feature works by using the device's accelerometer and gyroscope to display moving dots around the edges of the screen that correspond with the vehicle's motion. For example, when the car turns right, the dots sweep left, and when the car brakes, the dots slide forward. Users can customize the color, shape, and opacity of the indicators, with an option to randomize these settings.
Android Authority notes that an earlier version of the feature, previously called Motion Cues, relied on Android's 'Display over other apps' permission, which limited where the dots could appear. The current implementation appears to handle system-level restrictions differently, allowing the indicators to display more broadly.
The Verge reported that the functionality is similar to Apple's Motion Cues, introduced in 2024, and that it has proven effective in reducing nausea for its author and his wife while traveling. However, the feature has not yet arrived on some Pixel devices running Android 17, including a Pixel 10 Pro XL tested by Android Authority, indicating that the rollout is gradual.