The Definitive Guide to Sex and Relationship Apps

Let’s face it – relationships require work. Whether you and your partner are new to the game, have been at it for a while and are stuck in a rut, or simply want to explore new things, it can be challenging to know how to navigate the different seasons within a relationship.

Thanks to technology, you don’t have to do it alone. From fun date night ideas and guided bedroom sessions to sexual self-care and relationship coaching, there really is an app for that. 

We’ve compiled a guide to the best sex and relationship apps designed to help couples thrive no matter what the stage of their relationship. 

You’re looking to get to know your partner better (or again).

Life is busy. And yes, we may be continuously connected with our phones and social media, but how much of that connection is a deep connection? Between keeping up with work and coordinating calendars, conversations often get lost in the logistics of life. To build and maintain a fulfilling and intimate relationship, our conversations need to get to the root of who we are and what we want out of life.

Happy Couple is a quiz-style game designed to help you deepen your relationship with your partner. Each day, you answer five questions about yourself and guess your partner’s answers to the same questions. The app will reveal your matches and mismatches and allow you to message back and forth (GIFs included!) about the results. Matches earn you points, and points move you up different levels. It’s like a gamified way to spark interesting conversations and learn new things about each other. You’ll also receive daily tips to boost your relationship and personalized activities to practice alone or together. 

Couple Game is a similar partner-based concept, but with two main differences – you move at your own pace instead of receiving a set number of questions per day, and you get to choose the topic of conversation. Select between different packs ranging from career/work, date night, and music, to would you rather, future kids, and sex/intimacy. Once you complete a pack, all the answers are stored in the pack history, giving you a cheat sheet of your partner’s desires, interests, favorites, etc. that you can reference when needed. 

You could use some help with communication.

Communication really is key, but there are so many different forms of communication. One of the most important – and often most complicated – is how you convey your love and affection to each other. In 1992, Gary Chapman changed the way we talk about love and communication with his bestselling book, The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts, which outlines the different ways people express love. So for all those times you felt like you and your partner had been speaking a different language, there may have been truth to that. 

Now, there is an app, Love Nudge, based on the principals in the The 5 Love Languages. First, you and your partner will both take the quiz to learn your unique love languages. The app then guides you through setting individual goals for activities that fit your partner’s love language, ensuring their “love tank” stays full. You also have the ability to nudge your partner when you need some lovin’ in your language, making sure your tank stays full as well. 

Perhaps the communication you want to work on is slightly more risqué. Dirty talk over text (aka “sexting”) can be a fun form of foreplay leading up to an in-person rendezvous with your partner. But if you’re not well versed in sexting, it can seem scary or embarrassing. Fear not, for Juicebox collaborated with sex educators and erotic fiction writers to create a free virtual coach (Slutbot) to teach you how to talk dirty. Simply text SLUTBOT to 415-212-6448, and you’ll receive education, inspiration, and a safe space to practice talking dirty via text. You can choose between the Slow & Gentle style if you’re just getting started, or go for the Hot & Sexy option if you want a more erotic experience.

Need help coordinating calendars with that special someone? Then, Between has you covered. It gives you a simple shared calendar to help organize everything from date nights to weekend getaways, as well as to help you remember birthdays and anniversaries. You can also store photos and videos, and chat or call within the app.

You desire more in the bedroom, but it’s a touchy subject.

While sex is often one of the most intimate and enjoyable aspects of a relationship, it can be a highly sensitive subject. Maybe you want to have sex more often but fear being rejected. Perhaps there’s something you want to try but you don’t feel comfortable asking your partner. Or perhaps you just know things could be more passionate but don’t know where or how to start. Understand that these are not unique struggles in a relationship. That’s precisely why the following apps were developed. 

Coral combines science and education, practical exercises, and real-life stories to help you reach horizontal happiness. With personalized lessons and new content added weekly, no topic is off-limits for this app. It covers everything from anatomical refreshers and understanding different desire types to mastering orgasms and navigating sex and parenthood. Shared stories and a community discussion board will confirm you are not alone in whatever you are going through. 

Understanding your sexual personality is an essential step in having better sex. That’s why Lover developed a sexual profiling tool to help you uncover what type of lover you are, while providing insights on everything from your turn-ons to your sexual style. Choose your goal, and the app will create a course based on expert advice and scientifically proven exercises. Use the app alone or connect with your partner to swipe through hundreds of potential activities and see the matches that you both want to try.

Pillow is another site definitely worth checking out. It offers 35 emotional and physical intimacy exercises to try with your partner. The audio practices focus on cultivating more quality time, appreciation, creativity, relaxation, confidence, and communication. Simply press play and follow along.

You feel distracted or disconnected during sex.

Sometimes you need to focus on yourself before bringing your partner into the mix. Mindfulness is a buzzword right now in the personal development and spiritual space, but it plays a crucial role in sex as well. After all, you can’t fully enjoy an experience if you aren’t fully in it. The following two apps can serve as audio guides to help you reconnect with your body and what feels pleasurable to you so you can be more present during sex. 

Ferly uses sensual stories, guided practices, and personalized programs to help you learn about the art of sexual self-care. After answering a few questions to gauge your current comfort level with your sexual self, the app will recommend solo practices ranging from guided masturbation to visualizations to help you create a more fulfilling sex life. 

Emjoy will help you prioritize your pleasure, put your mind at rest, and tune into your body. There’s a variety of sessions centered on loving your body, learning what you like, staying present, arousing your mind, and learning new techniques. You can select programs specific to your needs and desires. 

You want to spice things up in the bedroom just for fun.

When life gets busy and stressful, sex often gets routine. You and your partner know what works so you get down to it, get off, and go about your day or evening. For special occasions or random Tuesdays when you feel like switching it up, the following apps will help you do just that. 

It can be hard to think of new things to try together, or maybe you’re too embarrassed to let your inner freak flag fly. In either scenario, Kindu is here to help. It is a card-based app that allows you and your partner to individually sort through decks of cards – each recommending an activity – and give the idea a thumbs up, thumbs down, or maybe. You then see which ideas you are both interested in trying. (And don’t worry, those ideas you were into that your partner vetoed remain a secret between you and the app.) The starter pack of cards contains some PG-rated ideas like a drive-in movie and hiking together but quickly turns up the heat with ideas like experimenting with oils, blindfolding your partner and tying them to a chair, or watching another couple have sex. You can visit different stores within the app to purchase new decks more specific to your desires and preferences. For example, the Red Rabbit Store offers packs for light kink, BDSM, group-play, and poly and open couples, while the Rainbow Trail Store has decks for LGBT couples.

You struggle to get in the mood.

Desire gap is a common issue among couples, but sometimes the problem isn’t so much frequency of desire, but lack of desire altogether. While most of the sex-related apps previously mentioned offer advice or audio stories to help start your fire, Rosy was explicitly designed for women who struggle with low libido. Through educational videos, sexy stories, and guided sessions, the app aims to connect users to a variety of evidence-based resources proven to improve low libido. 

You need ideas to keep your date nights fresh and fun.

“What are you in the mood for?”

“I don’t know. What do you want to do?” 

Tired of having this conversation? Most couples are. Well, In the Mood to the rescue. The app has you play a matching game with your partner to create a mutual list of fun date ideas. You can plan dates, send private messages, and store photos and memories from your dates all in one place. And not all dates have to be rated G. Surprise your partner with an intimate gift from the in-app store or send disappearing photos leading up to your rendezvous. 

Also, don’t forget about Kindu. Their starter pack includes several fun date night ideas. They also have decks dedicated to weeknight romance, daytime fun, newly dating couples, specific celebrations, and even city-specific decks to be used while traveling.

You’re one step away from couples counseling/therapy.

Sometimes it just gets too complicated to work through on your own, and all the fun date nights and guided sex sessions just aren’t enough to undo the years of miscommunication and misaligned lives. If the thought of couples counseling seems scary, daunting, or like your partner will never go for it, there are several apps dedicated to helping couples work through the toughest of times.

LifeCouple takes a practical approach to monitor your relationship’s health, almost like checking your credit score. Ideally, both you and your partner download the app, but it can also be used solo. It first takes you through 17 questions about your level of satisfaction with different aspects of your relationship, including affection, emotional connection, appreciation, finances, daily chores, communication, commitment, trust, healthy conflict, couple time, and more. You then receive a score for the four main indexes of Intimacy, Communication, Trust, and Conflict. From there, you are given tools and activities to work through the areas that need help. If your partner is connected through the app, you can make deposits in each other’s “emotional bank account” by sending points for appreciation for certain activities. The app also provides a daily challenge, date ideas, and helps you schedule and navigate uncomfortable conversations. You will both periodically check in with questions to assess your satisfaction with the relationship and receive alerts when there is a sizable difference in index scores. 

Not sure you’ll be able to get your partner on board? Relish, which aims to be personal training for your relationship, is built to give you control. The app focuses on the power that comes with changing how you view your relationship and how you behave in it. You will start with a short assessment where you will share the most significant issue in your relationship and pick the first goal to work on. You will receive a weekly customized relationship improvement plan and be paired with a relationship coach who will offer you unlimited one-on-one support via text. 

And finally, Lasting is marriage counseling made simple. The app is rooted in attachment theory and Emotionally Focused Therapy, meaning it treats clients as emotionally based people with unique attachment needs. It is designed to target the underlying emotional need that is driving the relationship problem(s). The app is built to be partner-based and begins with a relationship health assessment and Marriage Health Intro series. The app will recommend a plan, but you will be able to add additional topics you want to work on.