Aug. 08, 2012 - Issue #877: Corb Your Enthusiasm

Lust For Life

There’s an app for that

Helpful sex apps exist despite Apple's no-porn policy

The porn industry has always been an early adopter of technological advances and some cases even the driver of them.  When smart phones came onto the scene, porn producers must have been wetting themselves with glee. The possibilities for sex-themed applications are endless and multitudes of them came onto the scene almost as soon as the first iPhone was rolled out. But notoriously prudish Apple quickly killed those silicone dreams, barring any application that contained sex or nudity. You may think then, that there are no sex apps for the iPhone. But you would be wrong. No, you can't download actual porn apps, and nudity is banned—if surfing on the web on your phone isn't enough and you really want a porn app, you'll have to get an Android. But there are lots of sex-themed apps for iPhone. Most of them are either silly or useless or both, but these are the ones I found that actually do something useful, or at least fun.
Sexulator: This little app lets you keep track of all of your sexual adventures and then keeps stats about your weekly, monthly and yearly averages.  You can even make notes about each encounter so you can keep a record of who you've had sex with, when and what you did—you never know when that will come in handy.
iPeriod: I discovered this awesome app after berating myself once again for not keeping track of my period.  I thought "there must be an app for that." Sure enough, there is. iPeriod lets you record everything there is to know about your cycles. It keeps track of your average days and lets you know when you're likely to get your next period. If you're using fertility awareness method to get pregnant or to not get pregnant, it lets you chart your temperature and cervical mucous and then shows you when you're likely to be ovulating. Just make sure you turn off the automatic ovulation tracker—this is essentially calendar method that guesses when you're ovulating based on the number of days in your cycle—it's a good way to get pregnant when you don't want to.
101 Positions: I usually despise sex position books and charts but this app is fun.  It has a two-sided spinning dial that lets you choose the position you want each partner to be in (ie. standing, sitting, face down) and then shows you a sex suggestion. If you want a random suggestion, you can spin each side of the deal.  It describes the position and lets you mark it as something you've done or something you want to try. This is a great one for people looking for inspiration or for anyone with injuries or mobility issues who is more comfortable in particular positions and would like some new ideas. Unfortunately, 101 positions is designed for straight folks and it features mostly penis/vagina sex positions—although there are some oral ones in there too.
OhMiBod: Plug any ohmibod music vibrator into the earphone jack of your iPhone, and this app will let you control the toy by moving your fingers across your touch screen. It's the most fun with the remote version of the ohmibod.
Adult Truth or Dare: There are about 200 truth or dare apps but this one by Appsent Minded is pretty good.  You can put your own name into the game and add as many players as you want. The app will then pick the player whose turn it is and offer a choice of truth or dare or surprise me. You can access the list of truth and dare questions and delete ones you don't like or add your own. They also have an option to download more questions so you're not likely to get repeats. 
All of these apps are free or only a dollar for an upgraded or ad-free version. V

Brenda Kerber is a sexual health educator who has worked with local not-for-profits since 1995. She is the owner of the Edmonton-based, sex-positive adult toy boutique the Traveling Tickle Trunk.

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