alt.hn

7/29/2026 at 6:43:18 PM

The motion-sickness cure hidden in iPhone settings

 https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260728-dancing-dots-the-motion-sickness-cure-hidden-in-your-iphone-settings

by saikatsg

7/29/2026 at 9:38:48 PM

Doesn’t work for me. I used to be able to read in cars but over the years I’ve reached a point where I last maybe two minutes, except if I’m on a straight road where it takes longer. I was really hopeful this would work but clearly it doesn’t .

by Agingcoder

7/29/2026 at 7:32:53 PM

Learned about this last month from HN [0].

Subsequently took a 10 hour car trip where my wife and daughter both reported this feature allowed them both to read their books and articles while I was driving, which was definitely not the case on any prior road trip. So, add +2 to whatever Ns you're tracking.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48557530

by jodacola

7/29/2026 at 7:56:56 PM

Told my spouse about this feature when I learned about this a while back too. They have terrible motion sickness to the point that just shooting a quick text was a gamble.

Since they put this setting on, they can happily use their phone with no motion sickness. So +1 to that N.

by ihumanable

7/29/2026 at 8:17:30 PM

Seeing lots of glowing reviews of this feature. Unfortunately it does not work for me. If anything, the dots just distract me or make it worse.

Glad it works for some people though! Weird how our brains work. Surprising to me that some small dots can be so helpful.

by snailmailman

7/29/2026 at 8:05:26 PM

If they made glasses that did this I might buy them. I don’t need to look at my phone to get motion sickness, but if I do it’s almost guaranteed. It really depends on the driver, though.

by namuol

7/29/2026 at 7:27:08 PM

This has been available on Android for years as various apps, but their limitation is that certain buttons become unavailable. Apparently, Android blocks certain "secure" buttons from being pressed when there is another app overlaying the screen.

Does anyone know if Apple's version has a similar limitation? I would presume not since it seems to be implemented at the OS level or at least closer to it.

by stronglikedan

7/29/2026 at 7:49:06 PM

That limitation can be bypassed through the Accessibility API on Android. KineStop supports this, but for some reason does not advertise it particularly widely. You want KineStop → Settings → Fix blocked buttons.

by aleksejs

7/29/2026 at 7:33:42 PM

Your suspicion is correct, it does not.

by release-object

7/29/2026 at 7:44:55 PM

Any ideas why I cannot find the settings on my wife's iPhone 12 mini? She has iOS 26. I wanted her to try it last week when we drove a lot to our vacation but did not find it anywhere in the Accessibility -> Motion settings.

by MaXtreeM

7/29/2026 at 8:04:57 PM

Strange, I have a iPhone 12 Mini and can definitely see a "Vehicle Motion Cues" setting under the "Vision > Motion" part of Settings. Maybe it depends on the Region? I'm in Europe if that matters.

by embedding-shape

7/29/2026 at 7:33:42 PM

This works really well for me but, when I get out of the car or off the subway, then I get a bit of vertigo. I’m really afraid that using the feature too much would make the vertigo worse so I stopped.

by skipants

7/29/2026 at 7:51:17 PM

I m on Iphone 13, and disabling animations really gave a second life to my iphone which was really struggling

by damienmeur

7/29/2026 at 7:09:31 PM

I've been using this for a while now. It works very well while being a passenger in a car. Highly recommend enabling it if you experience car sickness.

by leetbulb

7/29/2026 at 7:16:20 PM

I have been using the feature for ages, and it really does work, but it is by no means 'hidden'. It's just an iOS feature.

by deepspace

7/29/2026 at 7:31:33 PM

>but it is by no means 'hidden'

To the average user, any feature that is not enabled by default is effectively hidden. Most people do not dig deeply into the settings of their tech devices beyond aesthetic customization.

This is why defaults matter, a lot. Settings are for power users, defaults are for everyone else.

by heaney-555

7/29/2026 at 7:40:10 PM

pretty sure it was on by default for me

by mpalczewski

7/29/2026 at 7:44:18 PM

On iOS, it's off by default (like many settings under "accessibility").

by Jtsummers

7/29/2026 at 7:20:31 PM

It didn’t work for my wife, so good to see she is the exception rather than the rule

by stranded22

7/29/2026 at 7:29:07 PM

Make that N=2, the one person I know who suffers from phone-induced motion sickness says that having this feature on makes the sickness worse.

by kukanani

7/29/2026 at 7:08:01 PM

Did I miss the part where you must be looking at your iPhone for it to work?

by fastaguy88

7/29/2026 at 7:11:01 PM

> If looking at screens makes you car sick, you might want to try the iPhone dots. Or – stop me if this sounds crazy – you could just put your phone down and enjoy the ride.

Final paragraph of the article :)

by cschep

7/29/2026 at 7:19:36 PM

It's difficult to enjoy the ride with motion sickness. So yes, it does sound crazy, most likely written by someone who isn't affected by motion sickness.

by jimt1234

7/29/2026 at 7:29:32 PM

My experience is that it helps with being able to look at screens, but not that it is better than not looking at screens while riding. I needed to occasionally leave the screen and close my eyes or look outside (depending position in the vehicle) for a bit to calm down. But otherwise I cannot look at screens on rides for more than a few minutes, so it is better in this sense.

So yeah, as somebody with (moderate) motion sickness, this advise resonates with me to some extent.

by freehorse

7/29/2026 at 7:29:15 PM

It's not for general motion sickness. Most people only experience motion sickness when they're moving but their eyes aren't seeing any movement, such as looking down at a something. That type can be prevented by simply putting down the phone/book/whathaveyou, and looking out the window. I said prevented, not cured, because once it sets in, no amount of looking out the window will cure it.

by stronglikedan

7/29/2026 at 7:14:45 PM

The first time I saw this I just took it as a given it would be a placebo, and I was rather astonished to find it actually helps quite a bit, my phone-induced motion sickness is reduced significantly with it on. If you're suspicious I'd encourage you to give it a try.

by Analemma_