If you need to use your Android device while riding as a passenger in a vehicle, motion assist can help reduce motion sickness. Motion assist shows small, subtle visual bubbles along your screen edges. These bubbles move in real time using your phone's motion sensors. They'll match how the vehicle turns, speeds up or brakes and help your brain synchronise what your eyes see with what your body feels, making your phone usage more comfortable during travel.
To use motion assist, you'll need an Android device running Android 17 or higher with Google Play services updated.
Find motion assist on your phone
To set up or use motion assist, you must first locate it in your settings.
- Open your device's Settings app
.
- Tap your profile
All services.
- Under 'Personal and device safety', tap Motion assist.
Tip: You can also find this setting quickly by searching for 'Motion assist' at the top of the Settings app.
Turn motion assist on or off
From motion assist settings, you can choose how you want to turn the feature on or off.
Tip: For the best experience, we recommend both turning on automatic activation in a moving vehicle and adding the manual Quick Settings tile to your panel.
Automatically start in a moving vehicle
You can set your phone to automatically show motion assist bubbles when a vehicle's motion is detected.
In the motion assist settings, turn on Start in a moving vehicle.
Tips:
- When you turn on this setting for the first time, you'll have the option to add the motion assist tile to your Quick Settings. If you skip this step, you can still add the tile manually at any time using the options below.
- Your device may not always be able to detect when you're in a moving vehicle. To make sure that you have access to Motion assist, you should add the tile to your Quick Settings too.
Manually control with Quick Settings
For faster control, you can add a motion assist tile to your Quick Settings panel. You can add the tile either directly from the motion assist settings page or through the Quick Settings edit menu.
- On the motion assist settings page, tap Add tile to Quick Settings.
- Select your preferred tile format: Small tile or Large tile.
You can also swipe down from the top of your screen to open Quick Settings at any time. Learn how to use and change Quick Settings.
Customise motion assist appearance
You can change the design and visibility of the visual bubbles.
- Open your Android phone's Settings app
- Tap your profile and then All services.
- Under 'Personal and device safety', tap Motion assist.
- Select Customise. You can adjust the following options:
- Opacity: Change how dark or see-through the bubbles appear on your screen.
- Colour theme: Choose from options like red, yellow, green or blue.
- Shape: Select different shapes for the bubbles
- Randomisation: Turn this option On or Off. This changes the colour and shape of the bubbles every few seconds.
You get live previews of your customisation choices directly on the customisation page.