iPhone Motion Sickness Settings: How to Turn on Dots

I try not to look at other people's phones, but you get unintentional glances jammed in the crowds on the New York subway, bodies lurching around as the train blasts through tunnels. Lately I've noticed something strange. I keep seeing people with dots dancing across their screens.

The more I saw it, the more I needed to know. It turns out all these people have something in common: they get motion sickness.

This choreographed dot ballet is a lesser-known iPhone setting called "Vehicle Motion Cues" that's supposed to help. It puts animated dots on the edges of your screen, which move in sync with the motion of the vehicle you're in, thanks to the phone's accelerometer.

Reviews are mixed, but over the past few months, some people have gone wild for it. One man I met on the subway told me he loves the feature so much he keeps it on 24 hours a day, even when he's not moving – though he declined to share his name with the strange journalist asking questions on his commute.

The dots could be an antidote if you're cursed with a history of queasy car rides. I was born with an iron stomach, so I'm afraid I can't relate. But I think there's something more interesting happening. Bit by bit, our devices are adapting to infiltrate more of our lives.

With Vehicle Motion Cues, animated dots on the edges of the screen represent changes in vehicle motion to help reduce sensory conflict without interfering with the main content. Using sensors built into iPhone and iPad, Vehicle Motion Cues recognizes when a user is in a moving vehicle and responds accordingly. The feature can be set to show automatically on iPhone, or can be turned on and off in Control Center.

As things stand in the latest iOS 18 beta, the Vehicle Motion Cues switch does not work in Settings ➝ Accessibility ➝ Motion, likely because of a bug that hasn't been fixed yet, but that doesn't mean you can't try it out and see if it works for you. Fortunately, the same option works in Control Center. If you're running the iOS 18 beta, here's how to enable it.

Invoke Control Center with a diagonal swipe from the top-right corner of the screen (or with a swipe up from the bottom if your iPhone has a Home button).
Press and hold on any space in the Control Center to enter the customize mode, then tap Add a Control at the bottom.
Swipe up to the "Vision Accessibility" controls, then choose Vehicle Motion Cues.

4. Press and hold a space in the Control Center to exit the customize mode. Press and hold a space in the Control Center to exit the customize mode.

5. Tap the Vehicle Motion Cues button, then choose On or Only in Vehicle.

If you turned on the feature, you should now see the motion cues – roving little dots – around the edges of your iPhone or ‌iPad‌ screen. If you opted for the automatic activation, wait until you're in a moving vehicle for the cues to appear.

Tap the Vehicle Motion Cues button, then choose On or Only in Vehicle.

There's no guarantee that it will work, but with a bit of luck, the feature will allow you to look at what's on your device for the duration of your journey without you starting to feel nauseous.