People who experience motion sickness while using phones in moving vehicles gain a built-in fix after Google announced five new Android features. The headline addition, Motion Assist, places a movable bubble overlay on the screen that responds to vehicle motion, reducing the mismatch between visual input and bodily sensation. Users can set Motion Assist to engage automatically, add it to Quick Settings, and adjust the bubble’s shape, color, and transparency. Google says Motion Assist is available to Android 17 users.
Google also introduced Guided Vision, an accessibility feature that pairs the phone’s camera with Gemini to help blind and low-vision users with everyday tasks. Guided Vision can assist with reading small print on a food label, viewing menus in a dark restaurant, or identifying household objects. When the camera isn’t positioned correctly, the feature offers voice guidance, directing users to move the phone, pan, or center an object. Guided Vision will come to phones running Android 9 and newer in countries where Gemini is available.
Two of the updates fold Gemini into routine device memory and messaging. A new remembered items section in Find Hub lets users tell Gemini where they stored things and attach a photo for easier retrieval later, for example noting a passport placed in a bedroom drawer. Google Messages gains Google Keep integration, so people can share and edit grocery lists, vacation notes, and other items inside conversations. Messages also picks up finer personalization, allowing custom backgrounds, photos, and colors for individual chats, with text bubbles that match those choices.
Several of the features echo functionality already offered elsewhere, with Apple having added a similar vehicle-motion visual cue in 2024 and custom message backgrounds last year. Google is combining those ideas with Gemini’s capabilities to expand accessibility and personal organisation across Android devices. Wider availability will hinge on users’ Android version and whether Gemini is offered in their country, the company says.
