Google announces 5 new Android features

Google has announced five new features for Android, including tools to reduce motion sickness, enhance accessibility for visually impaired users, and improve collaboration in Google Messages. The updates, detailed in a blog post on September 1, 2026, are part of a broader feature drop for the operating system and are rolling out to users in the coming weeks. The most prominent addition is Motion Assist, a feature designed to alleviate motion sickness when using a phone in a moving vehicle. It overlays subtle, animated shapes on the screen that move in sync with the vehicle's acceleration, braking, and turns. This visual cue is intended to bridge the sensory disconnect between what a user's eyes see on a static screen and what their inner ear feels. Users can customize the shape, color, and opacity of the bubbles and set the feature to activate automatically or via a Quick Settings tile. Motion Assist is available to users on Android 17, with a staged rollout beginning on select Pixel devices. Another significant update is Guided Vision, a tool within Gemini Live aimed at assisting blind and low-vision users.