Auto Vehicle Motion Cues in iOS 18 Explained

Vehicle Motion Cues is an accessibility feature introduced in iOS 18 designed to reduce motion sickness for individuals looking at their iPhone or iPad while traveling. The feature includes an automated activation setting that engages when motion is detected. However, while it can turn on automatically when traveling, iOS 18 does not provide a specific setting to restrict this automation solely to passenger cars versus other modes of transport like buses or trains.

How Vehicle Motion Cues Function

Vehicle Motion Cues places animated dots around the edges of your screen that shift in response to the vehicle's movement. By matching the motion detected by the device’s built-in sensors (accelerometers and gyroscopes) with the visual feedback on the display, the feature resolves the sensory conflict between what your inner ear feels and what your eyes see.

Automatic Detection Capabilities

Under iOS 18, you can configure Vehicle Motion Cues with three options:

  • On: Always displays the animated dots.
  • Off: Disables the feature entirely.
  • Automatically: Uses device sensors to detect when you are in a moving vehicle and activates the cues accordingly.

The system cannot distinguish between different categories of vehicles. When set to "Automatically," the feature triggers based on acceleration, inertia, and movement patterns typical of general vehicular travel. Consequently, it will activate whether you are in a passenger car, a bus, or a train.

Additionally, the system does not differentiate between whether you are the driver or a passenger. It assumes that anyone actively interacting with the device while vehicular motion is sensed is a passenger, as drivers should not be using their phones while operating a vehicle.

How to Enable Automatic Activation

To configure the feature to turn on automatically during travel:

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad running iOS 18.
  2. Tap Accessibility.
  3. Under the Vision section, select Motion.
  4. Tap Vehicle Motion Cues.
  5. Select Automatically.

You can also add Vehicle Motion Cues to your Control Center for quick manual toggling if you only want the cues active during specific car trips. To do this, open Settings, go to Control Center, and add the Vehicle Motion Cues control.