If you are like me and reading on your phone during a car ride makes you nauseous, Google is rolling out a feature to specifically tackle this. Motion Assist is now rolling out to Google Pixel phones running the Android 17 update.
The folks over at Android Authority managed to spot the new Motion Assist feature on the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. Surprisingly, the team was unable to spot the feature present inside the latest Pixel 11 series phones.
How the Android 17 Motion Assist Feature Works
To counter motion sickness, Motion Assist displays animated dots along the edges of the screen on Pixel phones that move in sync with the vehicle. When the car accelerates, brakes or turns, the dots shift positions accordingly.
That helps the user's eyes have a visual reference to follow to counter motion sickness. Google is also giving users control over how the motion cues look. As evident from the above image, based on preference, users can change the colour, shape and opacity of the cue indicators.
While unsure, users can set Motion Assist to toggle between different shapes, colours and opacity to change and appear at random. Moreover, Motion Assist brings OS-level API changes compared to Motion Cues and this allows the feature to appear over both apps and system UI.
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How To Enable Motion Assist?
Google has tucked Motion Assist inside the Google Play Settings rather than the main Settings menu in Android 17. The feature can be toggled via Settings > Your profile > All Services > Personal & device safety.
The main screen has a toggle that starts the feature automatically whenever Pixel phones detect that users are inside a moving vehicle. Google has also added a Motion Assist Quick Settings tile, so it can also be toggled on and off manually.
That said, Google is gradually rolling out Motion Assist to Android 17 phones. It is currently visible on the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL and should roll out to more smartphones in the coming weeks. So, stay tuned.
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