A little bit of discomfort is to be expected on a commercial airplane. But air travel can be a nightmare for people who suffer from motion sickness. A flight attendant has a fix for motion sickness. And it’s already built into the iPhone.
So how does it work?
Savannah (@savannah0191), whose TikTok channel mixes opinions and stories from her life with stories from her work as a flight attendant, posted the one-minute which has since drawn more than 169,000 views.
She opens the video by promising anyone who gets carsick, or feels ill looking at a phone on a plane, that she has “a little hack.”
“It’s on the iPhone. I’m not sure exactly how you can turn it on for an Android,” she says, then films her phone as she taps through Settings, Accessibility and Motion to Vehicle Motion Cues.
She reads the description: “The dots will appear near the edges of your iPhone screen. They follow the movement of the vehicle and may help reduce motion sickness.” If you toggle the “Automatically in Vehicle” setting, she says, your iPhone will keep them “always off unless you’re in a vehicle and then it’ll automatically turn on.” The menu further lets users change the dots’ pattern, color, size and number.
“So anytime you move, these dots also move, and they help your eyes and adjust for your motion sickness,” she says.
How Does The Science Work?
shakingmyhead_ wrote asked the question on many minds: “I’m trying to understand the mechanics around how moving dots is gonna help you with motion sickness.” Savannah replied, “I Don’t Quite Understand The Science, But It Works.”
When Apple announced the feature in 2024, it said research shows “motion sickness is commonly caused by a sensory conflict between what a person sees and what they feel,” and that the dots “represent changes in vehicle motion to help reduce sensory conflict.”
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Yellow Book, the agency’s travel medicine reference, calls sensory conflict “the most widely accepted explanation for motion sickness.” Commenter suspiciousgiraffe explained that the brain “can’t understand why it feels like it’s moving in its balance senses but it looks visually like you’re staying still, and it freaks out.”
The approach deployed on Apple’s devices is not new. In 2019, University of Salzburg researchers built a phone app that floated sensor-driven bubbles along the margins of the screen, and a small study of 10 people reading in a moving car “showed mitigating effects on motion sickness symptoms.”
Built With The Backseat In Mind
Savannah’s caption says it works for people who get motion sickness on cars and planes, but Apple’s support page describes the feature for passengers “in a car or other on-road vehicle” and doesn’t mention aircraft.
Its automatic setting kicks in “when iPhone detects that you’re riding in a car or other on-road vehicle,” so flyers who want the dots in the air can pick “On,” which keeps them on screen until they’re switched off, or toggle them from the control center.
Some viewers say they already use it in the air. “It really works! Planes and cars!” wrote dogmom101814. Another self-described flight attendant, taytaytaytaytaytay888, wrote, “I’m an FA and use these, even on my work phone. Everyone always asks about them and then they ask why I’m an FA if I get motion sickness.”
By Savannah’s account, motion sickness has already cost her airline’s training class one recruit. When sarawills38 wrote that airsick passengers “would be my biggest reason not to become an attendant,” she replied, “There was a girl in my training class who had never flown before, and she got sick the first week and quit.”
Commenters pointed out that Android owners, whom Savannah wasn’t sure how to help, now have their own version called Motion Assist. Google’s help page says its “small, subtle visual bubbles” match “how the vehicle turns, speeds up, or brakes,” but the feature needs Android 17 or later, and Google warns that phones “may not always be able to detect when you’re in a moving vehicle.”
Other “Cures” For Motion Sickness On Flights
Commenters in the thread traded other remedies, which don’t all have solid scientific backing.
“I need to be over the wings,” wrote joyful402, which matches the Yellow Book’s advice for flyers: “in aircraft, sit near the wings.”
Another commenter, maryannmermelstei, wears acupressure wristbands, which the CDC says have done no better than placebo in lab trials, though “if an individual finds they work, they may still be useful.”
A commenter posting as harrysdiscohouse wrote, “Dramamine and a glass of wine work for me.” The CDC says alcohol increases motion sickness and should be avoided.
Not everyone was sold on the tech fix for motion sickness. “I used to get motion sickness, but I turned that on and now I do,” wrote cmd42966. Savannah’s advice: “Turn it off.”
Others said it changed how they travel. “I can’t look at my phone for more than 10 minutes in the car without getting sick,” wrote krazyart17, and Savannah replied, “I was the same way until I used this!” A commenter posting as mindilabella80 had a trip coming up: “Flying soon, and this is going to save me!”
BoardingArea reached out to Savannah via TikTok direct message and to Apple by email for comment. We’ll be sure to update this if they respond.
@savannah0191 car/plane sick? try this 🙂
♬ original sound – Savannah
