Avoid Vehicle Motion Sickness With This New iOS 18 Feature

[uacd]

I remember being excited looking at license plates from different states and counting animals when I was young. Car rides were always fun to me.

I think those days are over for today’s generations. It’s all Angry Birds and Tap Tap Revenge now a days, or whatever the kids are playing.

I remember I took my PSP when I was going to vacation with my parents. I tried to play it in a car during trips and the screen was really dim and I got very nauseated that I stopped and never tried to do this again. Since then I went thru many smartphone generations and yeah, still no luck. But I don’t really want to, nature is much more beautiful than some useless text walls I will forget the next day

 

[sjebleu]

Holy..! I'm now excited to try this feature out.
I suffer relatively bad from motion sickness, not fully sure if so or that my wife drives like a maniac.
However, if this work, I might be able to fulfill my wife's requests regarding "Can you check this or that on your phone" while I'm shotgunning.

 

[Porco]

Umm...they have for several years. It's literally called Screen Time, and it's in your Settings.

Yes, …that was the joke. Unless your post is also a joke, in which case well played, joke-ception! 🙂

 

[b.inazawa-fan]

I have it on since installing iOS 18 but can't say if it made a difference.

 

[Cheesehead Dave]

How do those dots prevent motion sickness?

Some motion sickness is caused by your body feeling movement but you not seeing the movement such as if you’re looking at your phone, reading a book, or just in a place where you can’t see the outdoors. The motion detection in the phone senses when the car is going around curves, accelerating and decelerating, etc. and the dots move accordingly. You eyes and brain will see that motion which matches up with what you body is feeling and that will supposedly help.

 

[iOS Geek]

You do realize that some people get motion sickness just by doing what you demand of them, don't you?

Exactly. When I was a kid, looking outside and watching everything go by while we were in the car was what triggered mine. If I wanted to avoid it, I had to bring something to look at in the car...or just sleep.

 

[chfilm]

This is brilliant!

 

[tanglemac]

If Apple cured Cancer, this Forum's response would be "Apple increases the chance of death from Heart Disease!"

Or maybe:

“Apple is so greedy, they only wanted to cure cancer so people will live longer and buy more iPhones!”

- morons

 

[matthewcc]

My wife gets motion sickness immediately whenever she looks at the phone in the car. That means even simple things like reading/using the Map app while driving or browsing for music is challenging. (edit: to be clear, as a passenger)

If this feature works for her that is a pretty decent quality of life improvement for us.

 

[theluggage]

Exactly. When I was a kid, looking outside and watching everything go by while we were in the car was what triggered mine.

...which raises the question, would this system - which seems to work by adding the motion cues that you would get by looking out of the window - actually help you, or make it worse? I'm sure there are many different forms and causes of travel sickness...

Personally, I'm fine on land or sea as long as I'm facing forwards and can see out - but reading or operating a mobile is a sure-fire path to nausea. OTOH I know people who's problem is very clearly anxiety-induced rather than actual "motion sickness".

This tech solution - which works by adding motion cues to the screen - seems specifically focussed on the particular type of sickness caused by not looking at the surroundings - in which case I think it is reasonable to ask whether this is actually helping people or just making sure that they keep using Apple's product.

Meanwhile, please explain why I can sit quite happily in a metal tube flying high above the ground (even without a window) practically going "whee, let's go again!" when it banks or passes through turbulence, while simultaneously stressing out over whether I'll have to walk down an escalator to the subway after we land... These things don't always follow the laws of logic...

 

[matthewcc]

I spy with my little eye.

Mum played this endlessly with me in the car. I played it endlessly with my kids.

You just don’t need an app for everything. Just play games which make your kids look out of the windows.

This is true but this is not the only or even primary use case. Adults get motion sickness, too, and that makes them unable to use their phones to do all sorts of things that would be helpful, like reading the Map app or getting other information (as passengers).

As for kids, sure thats fine for shorter drives but what about 2-5+ hours? "I spy" or "soda pop" or sing-a-longs will only get so far, and you can only listen to so many kid-friendly audio books.

I'd ask you to consider that most people that this feature is useful for aren't just ****** parents.

 

[ApAx]

I have it set to turn on automatically, since I am prone to motion sickness when I’m a rear seat passenger.

But it turns on when my phone is in the shopping cart while using the grocery list feature on reminders app. Needs better calibration to detect vehicle motion from cereal aisle shuffling.

 

[theluggage]

If Apple cured Cancer, this Forum's response would be "Apple increases the chance of death from Heart Disease!"

...I think it's more the other way round (with all the heart monitoring that the Watch does) and, all joking apart, there are scenarios where these innovations will have knock-on implications for healthcare provision. Not least if there's potential for false positives arising from mass monitoring/screening.

 

[kagharaht]

I got motion sickness just by scrolling down this thread. lol

 

[Unregistered 4U]

If Apple cured Cancer, this Forum's response would be "Apple increases the chance of death from Heart Disease!"

And they’ll maintain that position until Apple starts making wireless access points again… and brings back Final Cut 7… and iWeb. 🙂

 

[Ctrlos]

Jesus. Just look outside.

I don't know who downvoted when you're right!

Use the car journey to spend time with your thoughts. Listen to music. Watch the world go by. Talk to each other. Put on an audiobook or podcast.

We don't need more excuses to look at our phones

 

[coffeemilktea]

I hope this helps a lot when I'm driving one-handed and going 20 over the speed limit. 🤪🏎️

 

[syklee26]

Turn on focus mode which restricts access to onlyfans while in car in order to avoid motion sickness

 

[jagolden]

The lengths companies will go to get children addicted to their products.
Disgraceful.

Duh! I’m 66 and still occasionally get motion sickness. Apparently you did not read the article. HOWEVER, I don’t think this “solution” will do a damn thing.

 

[cwedl]

I’ve tried it as I get motion sickness on the bus, unfortunately it doesn’t work for me.

 

[Alexndar]

I'm so happy Apple decided to do this. It has helped my wife tremendously. While she does still miss her Galaxy Ultra for its amazing one handed navigation, she couldn't be happier I got her the 14 plus after I let her know about this new feature.
The only issue is that you must keep looking at your phone, once she looks away from it for enough time, it hits back.

 

[Alexndar]

Duh! I’m 66 and still occasionally get motion sickness. Apparently you did not read the article. HOWEVER, I don’t think this “solution” will do a damn thing.

My wife suffers from this and it does

 

[dasmb]

The lengths companies will go to get children addicted to their products.
Disgraceful.

This post secretly funded by the "Are We There Yet" lobby.

 

[generationrex]

Jesus. Just look outside.

We did a cross-country drive to Florida and back (24+ hours in the car each way), and my daughter was quite content to listen to music and "look outside" for most of it. But even just a few mins looking at her phone to change playlists or send pics to her friends was a problem. If this feature can help her even a bit and doesn't impact your user experience then why does it bother you? Perhaps take your own advice and find something better to do than posting snarky comments on an Internet message board about something that doesn't affect you..

 

[victorvictoria]

I have a simpler and better method. If you get motion sickness, don't look at an iPhone or iPad while riding in a car. It's about the scenery. Look out the window, keep your eye on the horizon, and you're golden. And by all means, NEVER look at your iPhone or iPad while driving; Motion sickness will be the least of your problems.