Dancing dots: The motion-sickness cure hidden in iPhone settings
Apple has introduced a feature called 'Vehicle Motion Cues' on iPhones, which displays animated dots to help users suffering from motion sickness while using their devices in transit. The feature uses the phone's accelerometer to sync with vehicle movement, though its effectiveness remains a subject of debate.
Why it matters
This represents a growing trend of consumer technology adapting to address physiological human needs and health-related discomforts.
A buried iPhone setting is turning heads and saving stomachs. But does relief just mean more time staring at your screen?
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.
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