Tuning in to get off: The rise of audio erotica and five apps worth checking out

Audio erotica apps are booming — Nicole Glennon looks at why they're proving to be a new frontier for women and queer people in embracing sexual pleasure

"Sex is as mental as it is physical," says Dipsea Founder, Gina Gutierrez.

As a features journalist, there have been many times I’ve thought about how odd my job can be, but listening to a woman moaning into my ear in the name of ‘research’ is probably the weirdest to date.

I’ve downloaded an app called Dipsea, and I am listening to a story called ‘The Exclusive.’ The episode is part of a six-part series called ‘Off the Record,’ narrated, mostly, by a semi-well-known male actor, Sarunas J. Jackson (Dro in HBO’s Insecure).

In it, Jackson portrays a fashion designer who is launching a new collection, and encounters an old college friend, Nina, tasked with interviewing him for a cover story. The episode is about 16 minutes long, seven minutes of which is sex (a red dot around the nine-minute mark indicates where things get, eh, hot and heavy).

As someone who associates porn with toe-curlingly cringey storylines, and had to skip through some of the sexy bits in Again, Rachel when listening on Audible (sorry, Marian), I was fully prepared to hate this. But, I don’t.

It’s hard to explain why this doesn’t have me wanting to crawl out of my skin the way ASMR videos on TikTok or the reading of a sexy paragraph from a book does. But it seems like I am not alone. 

The app recorded 5.4m listens in 2022 — and 82% of listeners were women. Pornhub, by comparison, says about 36% of its visitors were women last year.

Gina Gutierrez, one of the co-founders of the app, believes Dipsea is hitting the right spot (pun intended) with women because of its “mind first” approach to pleasure.

“People have been made to believe all sorts of really limiting beliefs about sex,” she says. “For example, that sex is a purely physical experience.

“It’s not. Sex is as mental as it is physical,” she says, pointing to recent research that suggests 90% of women use “mental framing” (essentially, using your imagination) to get turned on.

“Another big one [is] that sex is about penetration, touching, sensation, when in fact so much about what people crave from sex is anticipation and flirtation, chemistry and foreplay.”

Dipsea Founder Gina Gutierrez

Tuning in to our bodies

Dipsea is just one app I come across when I start looking into what some call “audio erotica” or “audio porn”. Others, like OhCleo and Ferly, have also been enjoying plenty of attention online, with all of the apps offering a much more-rounded approach to sexuality and sensuality than you might first assume.

Sessions on “erotic breathwork,” “body mapping” and “guided self-touch” are just some of the options available to me when I spend some time scrolling through the apps’ offerings.

Sex and intimacy specialist Grace Alice Ó Sé, who predominately works with women in her one-on-one coaching sessions, says she has seen clients use these tools like “guided self touch” to great effect.

“A lot of women struggle to accept and love their bodies,” the Kerry native says, and this can result in issues “being present” during sex.

“A lot of us learned to kind of tune out during sex,” she says, noting that many of us grew up “without the language to communicate what we wanted” in the bedroom.

“The guided touch [and/or] masturbation practices are great for that because there’s someone actually telling you, try touching here, try a different kind of touch.

“It’s encouraging women to explore their bodies in a whole other way, where it’s not just their breasts and their genitals. There’s so much else to touch, and to exploring your sensuality.”

And, unlike visual porn, Grace says listening alone can help aid a more “mindful” experience, that helps women “stay in their bodies”.

A re-education

Something else I noticed when flicking through Dipsea — which has been downloaded by some 1.6m people so far, 12,000 of whom are based in Ireland — was the number of labels available when searching for content.

Not only was there content flagged as her/him, her/her and him/him, but there was a range of content tagged non-binary and transgender, as well as a diverse range of voices, from Black to Latina.

“Audio erotica is proving to be a great avenue for queer people,” sex and relationship expert Dr Caroline West tells me.

“A lot of mainstream porn doesn’t quite work for queer people for a variety of reasons,” she says, “and everyone deserves to have a space around their sexuality that they feel comfortable in.”

And, she says, there are lots of bodies that aren’t as represented in mainstream porn.

“And if they are represented, they might have racist or fatphobic or transphobic labels attached ... audio can offer an escape from that.”

Sex educator Dr Caroline West

It can also be a ‘safe’ avenue to explore your sexuality, Caroline says, whether you want to listen to a couple navigate BDSM before you approach it with your partner, or if you are navigating a newly accepted sexual identity you haven’t explored in real life yet.

This idea of exploration, or a re-education if you will (one app, Kama, has the tagline “come and get the sex education you should have been given”) seems to be having a moment in the sexual wellness space.

In May, Hachette will publish This Book Will Make You Feel Something: Masturbation meditations to use on your own or with a special someone, by sex and relationship content creator Florence Bark, 25 erotic stories designed to be masturbated to, plus 25 “mouth-opening tips” on how to make the most of masturbation.

In February, Irish sex educator Jenny Keane had everyone out buying fruit on which to practice oral sex , after causing a nationwide shortage of cucumbers for a blowjob skills workshop last year.

And, when it comes to where we’re turning for knowledge and know-how, Dipsea co-founder Gina believes people are moving towards apps like hers because they have been left wanting with “hardcore porn ... designed for the male gaze” which makes up most of what we consider ‘mainstream’ porn.

A poll commissioned by Women’s Aid last year, found that 77% of women surveyed believed “pornography undermines sexual consent in relationships” with the same number also saying they believed “pornography reduces men’s respect for women”.

While a quick browse through any of the ‘Tube’ or porn sites will leave you with no doubts as to those survey findings, my experience on Dipsea has been very different, with the actors asking “where are the condoms” as casually as “can I ....”.

“Dipsea stories include enthusiastic consent,” Gina says, “they include safe sex. And they teach you about sex and about yourself as you listen.

“You know, how do I ask for and how do I give consent without killing the vibe? Or how might I smoothly bring a sex toy into bed with my partner?

“You hear someone do it and suddenly you’re inspired for how you might do it yourself.”

Why does Gina think more women should embrace and priortise sexual, particularly solo, pleasure in their lives?

“[That’s] almost funny,” she responds. “It would be so odd to ask someone ‘why should you embrace exercise?’ Or, ‘why should you see a therapist?’

“Because feeling good is important. Feeling good matters.”

Dipsea Mobile Homepage

Five apps to check out in the audio erotica and sexual wellness space

Dipsea: Explore 700+ stories, wellness sessions, and sleep scenes. A free 7-day trial is available to Irish users, with a monthly subscription priced from €9.49, and annual from €49.99.

Ferly: Over 50,000 women have used this app which claims to help you discover your pleasure, improve your relationships and enjoy sex more. Some of the exercises on the app include ones targeted at letting go of shame and anxiety, learning to stay present, and building better sensual habits.

OhCleo: Think you have a sexy voice? OhCleo is the world's first creator-driven audio erotica app — so you can listen to tracks by other users, and create your own. There are lots of free tracks available on the app, or you can subscribe for access to premium content. 

OMGYES: Technically a website, but it has been advocated for by famous ladies like Emma Watson who counts herself as a dedicated subscriber, so we had to include. It's billed as a science-backed educational platform focused on exploring and teaching techniques to women and people with vulvas, with super-honest videos, animations and how-to’s. The cheapest subscription available is a one-time payment of €45 (down from €69), while the more expensive full-access version is priced at €89 (down from €124).

Kama: A sex and pleasure education app, Kama promises to transform your sex life with just 5-10 mins of your time every day. Choose from curated programmes from sex coaches on self-pleasure and toys, squirting, oral sex and more. "Come and get the sex education you should have been given," they say. Sign us up.