Review: Lovehoney Desire App-Controlled Knicker Vibrator

Over the last month I’ve been taking a look at three of the hottest panty vibrators on the market right now, firstly in the hopes of understanding a toy I had little previous experience with, and secondly so that I’m able to confidently recommend one to my readers. So far I’ve looked at the Bestvibe Remote Wearable Vibrator, a remote control and budget-friendly toy which featured an internal arm for added G-Spot stimulation (not that it could reach mine), but was let down by weak vibrations and an excessive noise level, among other things. Then, there was the We-Vibe Moxie, a practically faultless vibe which could be controlled both by a remote and an app, and that would attach to your underwear magnetically. Now, we’ve finally made it to the last product in my round-up, and it’s the brand new Lovehoney Desire App-Controlled Knicker Vibrator. This version of the classic toy is different once again, as it only has an app for external control and also comes with a compatible pair of underwear. So as a fan of the Lovehoney toy range I’ve been super excited to try out this product for them, and to see how it fares amongst my other panty vibes!

Lovehoney Desire

While this is my first review of a product from Lovehoney’s new luxury toy line Desire, it’s not actually my first product from the range. Earlier this year they sent me the Desire Double Love Ring and Desire Orgasm Balm as gifts for Sexual Happiness Week, and they also sent me the Desire Wand Vibrator for review along with the toy I’m writing about today. As such, I was really excited about the Desire App-Controlled Knicker Vibrator, as I have found every product from the range so far to be of the utmost quality despite a relatively low price point. With a colour palette of purple and black (sadly not the most original), this range features high quality silicone products that favour the aspects of toys most important to me, for instance being waterproof and USB rechargeable. My personal favourite part of the Desire range however, is the lockable zip-case some of the products come with. As someone who has a lot of sex toys, it’s these extras that make a big difference to me, and these cases go far beyond anything else I’ve ever received with a product. Sized appropriately depending on the toy it comes with (I have small ones for the Knicker Vibrator and Love Ring, and a massive one with pockets for the Wand Vibrator) these black faux leather cases (there isn’t actually much info on the material, but they’re pretty much the same as this so I’m assuming) are ultra luxurious, with the Lovehoney logo imprinted in one corner of the leather, while the inside is lined with a silky satin-like material. Plus, you never have to worry about anyone finding your sex toys again, as the two zips can be locked together with a padlock (sold separately). The only downside to these bags perhaps is that they are a little smelly when you first get them, but I find this wears off after a while.

Product Description

Now I’ve finished gushing about the storage cases, let’s move on and take a look at the actual toy! The Lovehoney Desire App-Controlled Knicker Vibrator (or Panty Vibrator if you’re in the US) is the final toy in my panty vibe series (yes, I am British and should probably be calling it knickers too, but years of selling panties to a US audience has gotten to me clearly). This toy is the newer version of Lovehoney’s previously successful Desire Remote Control Knicker Vibrator, and has been re-released to coincide with the launch of the brand’s very first phone application, Desire by Lovehoney! So as a fan of the Lovehoney brand, I was not only excited to add this toy to my review list, but also to try out the app. The toy itself looks rather simple, being about the size of my palm, saddle shaped, and with only a single button. While purple all over, the top of the toy is made from ABS plastic, while the bottom (the side that rests against you) is made with a silky silicone. It’s then intended that the smaller end of the saddle is what will rest against your clitoris whilst either wearing the compatible underwear or your own, and this is indicated by a prominent bump in the silicone area. The only other notable feature is the hole at the end of the larger side, which is where the charger connects. On that note, this toy is also USB rechargeable and fully waterproof.

The Knickers

In addition to the vibrator itself, this product also comes with one other key thing… the knickers! This is the first time I’ve ever been sent underwear for a review, and as Lovehoney make some of my favourite lingerie I’m glad it’s from them. Primarily made from a beautiful and soft black lace, these knickers feature a small Lovehoney logo tag at the front, and a care label at the back. Then, rather than being connected at the sides, they feature long ribbons which can be tied together into bows once on your body, thus making them compatible with a large range of sizes. But the bit that makes them perfect for use with the toy is an opaque black pocket over the area where the vulva is, so that the toy can sit comfortably inside this during use. I love how luxurious these seem and it’s clear Lovehoney have put a lot of effort into them, and I think the act of wearing special underwear with the toy will only add to that naughty and secretive feeling. However, on the flip side of that, being limited to using only these with the toy may not be as convenient as the magnetic universal compatibility that the We-Vibe Moxie offered. In regards to the materials used and their care, the tag lists them as being 90% nylon and 10% spandex, and only being appropriate for a cold hand wash.

Packaging

My order for the Lovehoney Desire App-Controlled Knicker Vibrator was placed with Lovehoney on the 18th of September, and I promptly received it on the 24th. As usual Lovehoney’s postal box was completely discreet, with no mention of the sender or what was inside. Then, since this isn’t my first toy from Lovehoney’s Desire range, I had a good idea of what to expect from the packaging. Similar to Lovehoney’s regular cardboard box packaging, the Desire range swaps out their usual white and pink boxes for its branded colours of black and purple, instantly giving the products a much more luxurious feel than the usual range. On one side a picture of the toy is displayed, while on the other side it’s not (good for discreet retail displays, perhaps?), while the sides feature information about the toy. Opening it up there is then an inner cardboard section which allows you to take the entire contents out at once rather than digging around inside, and removing this presents you with the panties in a small plastic bag, the instructions, and the storage bag, which also contained the toy and charging cord in individual plastic bags. All in all I was very happy with the packaging and how things were presented, although I feel having bags for the items inside the storage case was a little unnecessary just in regards to it causing excess waste.

Charging

Charging the Lovehoney Desire App-Controlled Knicker Vibrator is easy as it is USB rechargeable. Just plug one end of the cord into a USB port, and the other end into the charging hole on the toy. When charging a light should flash, and when fully charged this light will remain solid. Charging should take 120 minutes, and this should then give you 120 minutes of playtime. When the battery is running low the light will also flash during use to indicate it needs to be charged.

Controls

While this toy is intended to be controlled primarily via the app, the single button on the toy does also give you the ability to control it manually. To turn it on first hold the button down, which will put the toy into a stand-by mode, and confirmation of this is indicated by it vibrating quickly three times and flashing its light. While I often dislike stand-by modes, I admit they are important when the toy needs to be able to connect to a external controller, and the flashing lights on this vibe makes it hard to forget about. You can then click the button again to cycle through the eight modes the toy offers, however only the first of these is a steady speed. At this point I’ve come to expect no less than 3 steady speeds on any vibrator, especially a clitoral one, and so honestly in my opinion one speed is just not acceptable. As such, I unfortunately think the toy would be quite impractical to use without the app. Finally, to turn off the toy you can again hold down the button, and this will be indicated by it vibrating quickly twice and the light turning off. In addition, this toy also features a travel lock, and this can be activated by holding the button down for five seconds, which will be indicated by the toy vibrating quickly twice, and deactivated by either putting the toy on charge or holding the button down for three seconds, which will be indicated by the toy vibrating three times quickly.

The App

Finding the Desire by Lovehoney app in the store is easy, as I only had to type Lovehoney into the search bar before it was suggested. The app image is then pretty discreet on my home screen, just being the Lovehoney logo with a silver and black colour scheme, and only the name “desire” appears here, which is ideal as Lovehoney is a well known brand. Upon taking a look inside the app it’s then quickly apparent that it is quite simple, however I say this in a good way. I’ve tried out a few apps now and they can get really complicated with a bunch of random features that I’m left questioning the purpose of, but Desire by Lovehoney just keeps things straightforward.

The first thing you’ll want to do when you enter the app is to make an account if you’ll be using the toy with a partner, and you can do this by simply entering your email and a password, and then choosing a username. After this you’ll receive a registration email for your account, which you’ll need to confirm within 24 hours otherwise it will be deleted, although even after I did so the app didn’t seem to register the confirmation, so I fixed this by simply logging out and in again. The next thing you’ll want to do is connect your vibrator, which is incredibly easy. First, put the toy into stand-by mode, and then in the app chose “Pair a Device” in the menu and click on the “Knickers Vibe” option. This should then instantly connect the two, and it will be indicated by the toy by vibrating twice. After you’re all set up you then essentially have two ways to use the app: solo or with a partner. Choosing solo play takes you into a screen which is essentially a graph, with the vibration modes drawn out so you can see them visually. You can then swipe up and down to increase and decrease the vibration intensities, and click the left and right arrows to cycle through the vibration modes. The vibration modes are the same eight that you have to choose from when controlling the toy manually, however the app gives you access to 12 levels of intensity for them. Additionally, the menu at the bottom lets you quickly pause or end the session, as well as add the current mode and intensity as a named favourite, which essentially just means a shortcut to that setting is available in the “My Favourites” section of the app.

Next I tried out the app with my partner. To do this we both needed to have an account, and then one person could send the other a request to connect by entering their username. After you’ve both connected you’ll see a “partners” list where you can select which partner you want to play with, as well as “pin” partners to the top of the list or delete them. I love this as it is clearly set up to be used with multiple partners in a way I haven’t seen an app handle before. Clicking on your partner’s name from this list will then take you into a chat style screen with the person, where you can send them text messages or photos. Video and audio calls are also an option, but I haven’t managed to get these to work yet as when I click on them nothing happens. Lastly, there is the option to “Control Partner” which lets you take control of a toy that your partner is already connected to. By choosing this a smaller version of the solo play control screen will open up under the chat box, which functions in the same way as the larger screen.

Overall I am happy with the app. It is visually consistent with the rest of the Desire branding which I appreciate, and it’s simple to use without any fuss or wacky additional features. The only thing I can really say against it, other than the call options not working, is that the vibration control screen does seem a lot like a substandard version of the one featured in We-Vibe’s We-Connect app. You can check out my review of that app, along with screenshots of what the control screen looks like, at my sex toy app round-up, but essentially it just uses the same idea of a visual graph that you can adjust the intensities of by swiping up and down, and change the modes of by swiping left and right, with a menu down the bottom to pause things. The main benefits of the control screen featured in this app over Lovehoney’s (besides how much more visually beautiful it is) is that you also have the option to adjust the vibration intensities with buttons rather than swiping (which my partner finds easier to use), and that you can see the vibrations actually move on the screen, so that your partner knows exactly what’s happening even if he cannot hear or see the vibrator. The absence of these extra features definitely doesn’t mean that Lovehoney’s app isn’t any good, but it’s just hard to not mention the similarities between the two of them when this review happens to be wedged in between two We-Vibe reviews that both feature that brand’s app, with my previous review being on the We-Vibe Moxie, and next week’s review looking at the We-Vibe Melt.

First Impressions

I was pretty eager to find out what the vibrations in this toy would be like, however I was genuinely taken aback the first time I turned it on. Firstly, I wasn’t expecting the initial setting to be a fairly high intensity steady speed (as the first time I tried it out was prior to reading the instructions), but even more so I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so loud! This toy is by far the loudest of the three panty vibes I have tried out, and by a fair margin too. Even the Bestvibe Remote Wearable Vibrator, which was quite high-pitched, is beaten out when it comes to noise by the Lovehoney Desire App-Controlled Knicker Vibrator, as this has a much deeper  sound. This is a real shame as I think that noise level is a feature of extreme importance when it comes to panty vibes, as the whole point of them is to wear them outside the house where discretion is key! As such, I unfortunately don’t feel comfortable wearing this toy outside of the house, other than perhaps in very open spaces such as the park. Perhaps if you’re a little more adventurous than me, or maybe if you even like for people to notice, then this may be good for you, but for me it’s a miss. The only upside to this is that it means the vibrations are at least quite powerful and rumbly, albeit not as strong as the We-Vibe Moxie.

My Experience

The first time I tried this toy out it was solo without the app, which was not great as it meant I only had access to one medium-intensity steady speed. Due to this I found it difficult to start with such a strong mode, and then later struggled not being able to increase this speed to reach climax. Despite these issues though I did manage to orgasm rather quickly and strongly, which is really a testament to how good the vibrations on this toy are. The next time I used it was again solo, but this time with the app, which was a lot easier as I was able to start at a low speed and slowly increase it, which let me orgasm even better than my previous test. However, as usual I am not a big fan of using apps in the bedroom, as I either want to be away from my phone entirely when masturbating (the occupational hazards of a social media manager), or be watching porn on it. Plus, when I’m using a vibrator and a dildo at the same time, I don’t also have a third hand to be able to adjust the vibration settings on my phone as well! It’s not that there is anything wrong with apps, they just aren’t for me, and so unfortunately I can’t see myself going back to using this toy for solo play again.

Next, I decided to try out wearing the toy in the provided underwear. Putting the knickers on is a little bit more difficult than I anticipated, as you’re trying to essentially tie it to yourself with nothing to hold it up whilst you do it. I did find that having my partner help by holding the underwear to me whilst I made the bows was helpful, but it’s not impossible to do by yourself. Once on I found the front a comfortable fit, but the back of the underwear was a little smaller than I would have liked as it didn’t fit fully around my butt cheeks. My partner found this very sexy so it was a win in his eyes and I could appreciate this fact if the underwear was just designed for the bedroom, but as it’s for walking around with the vibrator in I found it less than convenient as it means I’m going to be getting all the wedgies while wearing it. Overall though I thought they looked quite nice on, and you can check out some more images of me wearing them here. The ribbons on the sides mean that they will show up in fitting clothes such as tight dresses and leggings however, so loose skirts and jeans are definitely preferred with these.

Placing the toy into the underwear for the first time, I put the smaller end in first as this is what the pocket seems to suggest, but I quickly realised that it should actually be the other way up to ensure that the vibrations sit directly over the clitoris. Using the toy like this does take a little more effort as the larger body is a tight fit for the narrow pocket, but overall it works okay. Then, despite the weight of the toy, I find it sits really well in the underwear and everything seems quite sturdy. I also decided to try the toy out in some normal underwear to see if this would work, and I was quite happy with the results, as even though it was a little unnerving that there wasn’t anything attaching the vibrator to my panties, I felt confident that the underwear and some tight pants could keep everything in place.

While solo play wasn’t great with this toy due to not being able to really enjoy it without the app, I was totally digging the vibrations and looking forward to finally trying it with my partner for the first time. However, we were unfortunately met with some not so great results. The good news was that we found using the app very easy and had no issues with the initial connecting of the toy, and that the vibrations felt really good and were probably the most stimulating of the three panty vibes I have tried this month. The bad news though was that it just kept… on… DISCONNECTING!! During just one roughly 10 minute test (where I was walking around with the vibe in the same room as my partner) it must have disconnected at least 5 times, if not more. Thankfully reconnecting only takes a few seconds, but it is incredibly frustrating and left my partner no longer wanting to test the toy with me. Plus, if he didn’t reconnect quickly enough then the toy would turn itself off, which meant I would need to turn it back on manually with the button. We weren’t planning on testing this toy out of the house anyway due to the noise its vibrations make, but now I don’t even know how we would have, because I certainly can’t be sticking my hands down my pants every time he isn’t quick enough to reconnect the app. It was also a real mood killer the times when he really wanted to stimulate me, as we kept having to stop what we were doing to reconnect every few minutes. A secondary issue, although less major, is that the vibrations kept making the vibrator move from its position in my underwear to going on its side, which meant I also had to be constantly readjusting it for this.

Cleaning & Care

Cleaning the Lovehoney Desire App-Controlled Knicker Vibrator is easy since it is waterproof. Just wash it with some warm water and soap, and then leave to air dry before returning it to its included storage pouch. Additionally, make sure to only use water-based lubricants with it.

Final Thoughts

It’s hard to not be disappointed with the Lovehoney Desire App-Controlled Knicker Vibrator. This was a toy I really wanted to like, but I seemed to have issues no matter how I tried using it. Solo play without the app was almost impossible as I don’t like patterns, and so one lousy steady speed was far from enough. But then trying it with the app meant either being subjected to work messages while I tried to masturbate, not being able to efficiently watch porn, or just straight-up struggling to adjust the vibrations when using the toy in combination with anything else. While frustrating, this toy isn’t really designed to be used solo however, so I wasn’t too phased by all of this and was mostly just eager to try it out with my partner. Who knew that too would be a nightmare, as we both struggled to even complete basic testing with the constant reconnecting and readjusting of the toy, which made the idea of using it anywhere outside of the house seem like a fast-track for being arrested. Plus, don’t even get me started on that noise level! Overall, I would recommend this toy to someone who enjoys using app-controlled vibrators, as while this isn’t my jam it did work perfectly as one, but as a panty vibrator I think it missed the mark. Thankfully, since the connection issues seem to lie in the app rather than the toy, I do hope Lovehoney are able to fix this and send out an update, as I think that alone would make a huge difference.

Sadly, the Lovehoney Desire App-Controlled Knicker Vibrator has now been discontinued.

However, the OG Lovehoney Desire Remote Control Knicker Vibrator is still around. Get it here for just $129.95 AUD / $89.99 USD, plus use my code GRACE15 to get 15% OFF your total order!

Last updated: 30/4/24

Price at the time of writing: $199.95 AUD / $139.99 USD

I received this product in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Affiliate links have been used in this post.