iOS 18 includes a new feature that may prevent motion sickness while using your iPhone or iPad in a moving vehicle. The underlying problem is based on a sensory mismatch wherein the eyes prefer to perceive movement that is in sync within their moving body.

Looking at a page or screen with a static image, particularly reading content on it, or one that doesn’t move in alignment with the world around can cause the body to feel queasy.

iOS 18 Vehicle Motion Cues

Vehicle Motion Cues

Step into Vehicle Motion Cues, a way to detect and mimic the movement of a vehicle in order to dissuade motion sickness from affecting the body. On iPhone and iPad, go to Settings > Accessibility > Motion > Vehicle Motion Cues.

iPad offers only a manual toggle to turn this feature on or off. On iPhone, there’s also an Automatic option that shows cues when movement is detected and hides them when stopped.

Update: In OS 26, portable Macs get this feature as well. Additionally, on all devices, you can now set the dots’ appearance as Dynamic, specify their color, and make some other visual changes.

Add Vehicle Motion Cues to Control Center

Add to Control Center

While iPhone can toggle motion cues automatically, iPad and Mac require switching manually. Thus, it’s worth adding Vehicle Motion Cues to Control Center for easy access.

In Control Center, long-press in the empty space and tap Add a Control or click Edit Controls. This one is in the Vision Accessibility section at the very bottom, but instead you can easily search for it at the top. To confirm, tap in the empty space  or click Done.

Now, when using your device in a moving vehicle, you can toggle the feature using the Control Center widget you just added.

I have been experimenting with Vehicle Motion Cues over the last couple weeks, trying to determine whether it effectively reduces carsickness for me. Yesterday afternoon, as a road was curving beneath me, I felt a stir in my tummy and decided it does not. Maybe the jury’s still out.

But the feature does eliminate queasiness for some, so I’m interested to hear about others’ experiences, too. Share yours in the comments…