These App-Controlled Sex Toys Are Cult Faves for Cam Girls and Long-Distance Couples Alike

If you want to know how the sausage is made, you’ve got to learn the tools of the trade. This is true of deli meat, ballet, and welding, but today, it is particularly true for camming. If you’ve been a cam girl or done sex work through Onlyfans or Chaturbate, you likely know about the arsenal of remote-controlled, app-based vibrators by Lovense. They rule the trade with smartphone-connected toys like the Lush, which has undergone not one, but three incarnations. The rumbly G-spot stimulator rules the sex worker forums, and comes in the form of a wear-anywhere, Lanternfish-shaped vibrator that either you or your partner(s) can control with the application. 

As a result, Lush and its Lovense brethren, from the Domi wand vibrator to the insertable panty-liner vibrator; the cock rings, butt plugs, and more, have given the cam-girl-approved toys a kind of crossover appeal into the sex lives of non-cammers—especially during lockdown.

During the constant bob and weave of COVID-19 restrictions, long-distance sex toys piqued the sexual interest of people who were just looking for ways to have a safe, horny time. As Molly, a former cammer, explained about the popularity of Lush’s app-controlled toys, “Even if I wasn't a sex worker I would use [them]. I've never had a toy I enjoyed this much, honestly.” 

So, why the cult fave status? Lovense has its own smartphone application, and you can use for solo, long-distance, and even discreet public play. But what is it that really makes its toys cut the mustard, and which ones are worth the investment if you’re planning on video-chatting with a partner, camming, masturbating, or gifting your favorite user? We asked Molly (who has cammed on Onlyfans as @xxxmolly) and Alice (on Instagram and Onlyfans as @ask_alice1) for some advice on why the following are some of the best long-distance sex toys available.  

Alice said she invested in a Lovense about a year into camming. "I thought it might incentivize viewers to tip more," she said. "The Lovense is set to go off to tips, with a higher number of tokens in a single tip causing higher vibrations." Molly said she'd "always been told by everyone I knew who was in a similar line of work that I absolutely had to invest," and loves it for personal use, outside of cam time. "It has become literally the only vibrator I own now because even with solo play, it's incomparable to anything else," she said. 

There are about a dozen toys on Lovense’s website, but Molly and Alice stand by two in particular: Lush and Domi. “The Lush is amazing, and honestly the one that I've seen most frequently,” says Molly, and “It may be more popular because it has both penetration and clitoral stimulation.” But for personal play, Molly says she prefers the Domi wand. Not necessarily because it’s better, but because that’s her vibe, and Lovense is slinging enough dildos and wands and G-spot targeters to give pretty much everyone what they’re looking for in le sexual pantry, plus the remote-functioning, which has us thinking, “Damn. Why don’t all sex toys have that kind of function built-in already?” 

Maybe it will just take time for app-controlled vibrators to be so ubiquitous, as was (and honestly, still is) the case with USB-rechargeable vibrators, and luxury vibes that care about having better product engineering than a dollar store wind-up toy. For now, Lovense has set the standard for product range, and bar high for experience. As Molly says, “The app itself is amazing. The interface is wonderful, you can create your own vibrational patterns and give clients access to your username so they can add you and control it from their own smartphone.” That also means it's great for chatting with a partner who's away or lives in another part of the country (or the world); you can use the app to activate the toy remotely for a truly participatory experience on both ends. 

And if you are interested in camming? “My investments in the Lovense toys were definitely worth it,” another former cammer named Alice told VICE. “I made back all that money in a single cam show.” Molly says the toys "are the only ones I've ever used that have directly benefited my earning potential. Having a toy that gives them that personal connection makes it so [that the experience] transcends just the relationship of screen to screen, because they hold the key to your pleasure for as long as you allow.” With their solid design and integrated app that allows users to custom-control the effect, it's no wonder they're so damn buzzy (pun intended). 

Vibe on!

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals? Sign up for our newsletter.