Feeling Sick When You Look at Your Phone? It Could Be iOS 7

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By Samantha Dean2013-09-30 20:46:40 UTC

It looks like iOS 7 is making some users sick — quite literally.

If you, like most, jumped to download the latest upgrade when it became available on Sept. 18, you probably noticed the zooming transitions and parallax effects of Apple's newest operating system.

SEE ALSO: The 11 Worst Things About iOS 7

These new features are causing some to feel a bit queasy.

"The zoom animations everywhere on the new iOS 7 are literally making me nauseous and giving me a headache," one user reported on the Apple Support forum.

The experience isn't uncommon.

"I now have to close my eyes or cover the screen during transitions, which is ridiculous," Jenni Leder, a mobile app developer, told The Guardian .

So, what's causing the vertigo? It's all in your brain.

As Wired explains, when iOS 7's home screen background shifts, your brain automatically assumes your viewpoint is moving relative to the floating icons on the screen. This is the same reason why some people can't read in the car — your brain is so used to associating a shifting background with motion, it thinks things have moved.

While it's possible to disable some of these features (for example, you can turn off the parallax effect by checking “reduce motion” in the iPhone’s accessibility options), other features are permanent. The zooming effect when you launch an app is here to stay, as are the shifting speech bubbles in Messaging.

Apple had an initial grace period for users to downgrade to iOS 6, but that has since expired. For now, it looks like there's no turning back, so download with caution if you haven't already.

Feeling dizzy? Let us know how iOS 7 is affecting you in the comments below.

Image: Mashable

Topics: apple, iOS 6, iOS 7, iPhone, Mobile, operating systems, Tech