Taming a bumpy ride: How iPhone's hidden feature can ease your long commute

Amidst the morning rush of Dhaka, Barsha goes to her office in Motijheel from Kallyanpur every morning. 

She boards the bus or a CNG at Kallyanpur Bus Stand but often feels sick while looking at her phone during her commute. 

Even when visiting her family in Rangpur during the holidays, which involves at least ten hours of bus ride, she cannot look at her phone for more than two minutes without feeling dizzy. 

This dizziness eventually leads to nausea, headache and makes her feel like throwing up. 

This dizziness is caused by motion sickness.

According to the UK National Health Service (NHS), Motion sickness is caused by repeated movements when travelling, like going over bumps in a car or moving up and down in a boat, plane or train.

The inner ear sends different signals to your brain from those your eyes are seeing. These confusing messages cause you to feel unwell.

Just last week, Barsha discovered a hidden feature on her iPhone that promised to ease this daily ordeal: Vehicle Motion Cues.

What is Vehicle Motion Cues?

Hidden within the iPhone's accessibility settings, Vehicle Motion Cues is designed for those who need to commute on a regular basis. Especially those who find long bus rides between cities like Dhaka and Chattogram or Rangpur a bit too adventurous. 

The feature shows eight dots across your phone's display, and then the sensors in your iPhone signal change in the vehicle's motion. As the vehicle moves faster, slower or takes a turn, these dots change their location in the display accordingly. 

The eight animated dots represent how the vehicle moves without interfering with what you're doing on your iPhone, and thus reduce motion sickness significantly. 

Does it really work?

This feature has mixed reactions from its user base. While many iPhone users have said it has significantly reduced their motion sickness on social media and Reddit, some said it did nothing. 

Lauren Mazzo is a freelance writer and editor specialising in health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness content. She wrote in SELF Magazine that she tried the feature and risked puking. 

I personally found this feature to be helpful. As someone who needs to commute 300 miles once every two weeks, I always had issues using my phone inside a moving vehicle. 

Since turning on the Vehicle Motion Sickness feature, I have noticed that I can use my phone for a longer time, maybe half an hour, compared to a mere five or ten minutes before. 

That being said, this one cell phone feature alone will not completely prevent motion sickness for all its users. It will reduce the intensity and frequency of nausea and other symptoms that appear due to motion sickness. 

How to enable the feature

Turning on Vehicle Motion Cues is straightforward:

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Motion.

1. Tap Show Vehicle Motion Cues, then tap an option. If you choose Automatic, animated dots appear on the screen when the iPhone detects that you're riding in a car or other on-road vehicle; the dots are hidden when the motion stops.
2. To manually show or hide Vehicle Motion Cues, open Control Center, tap the Vehicle Motion Cues icon, and then tap one of the available options based on your preference.

Overall, features like Vehicle Motion Cue are not just about comfort; it's also about inclusivity and accessibility. Apple's initiative to include such functionalities, considering the unique challenges that affect a small portion of its users, speaks to a broader commitment to making technology usable for everyone.

Next time you're gearing up for a journey across the city or outside, do keep in mind that your iPhone isn't just for calls and texts — it's equipped to help you tackle the literal ups and downs of travel, too.