iOS 7 Is Causing Motion Sickness

Users report headaches, nausea, dizziness
By Ruth Brown,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 28, 2013 5:29 PM CDT
iOS 7 Is Causing Motion Sickness
An iPhone with iOS 7 software displays the new look of the Control Center.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Some Apple users are sick of the company's new iOS 7 operating system. Literally. The new zoom and slide animations, and the 'floating" icons on the home screen, are causing motion sickness in many people with vestibular disorders—conditions that affect balance and vision, the Guardian reports. "I now have to close my eyes or cover the screen during transitions, which is ridiculous," says one app developer, who reports headaches and other symptoms associed with motion sickness. "Tap an app and it's like flying through the icon and landing in that app's micro world—and I'm getting dizzy on the journey there."

Other symptoms from exposure to this kind of animation can include "intense nausea, dizziness and vertigo," says a spokesperson for the Vestibular Disorders Association. One developer affected by motion sickness has already built an app to disable the offending features, reports Stuff. But others say Apple itself needs to step up. Tech writer Kirk McElhearn says Apple was once "at the forefront of providing accessibility options," but now needs to demonstrate more sensitivity to users like him. "Their apparent disregard is disturbing, and shows a trend toward paying lip service to accessibility, but not thinking it through," he writes on his blog Kirkville. (More iOS 7 stories.)

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