Chastity apps, for couples.

The first kind is built around the lock: a timer, a combination held until the time is up, games that change how long it lasts, and often a community of people who can play keyholder. They are excellent for somebody locking themselves, or for somebody whose keyholder is someone they met online.

The second kind is built around the couple. Chastity sits beside the rest of the dynamic — the tasks, the rules, the check-ins — and the keyholder is a partner rather than a stranger or a bot. For a couple, that difference matters more than any single feature, because the lock-up is one part of a relationship rather than the whole of it.

Decide first whether you need a lock with a community, or a relationship with a lock in it.

No app physically locks anything. What an app does is keep the arrangement honest: who holds the key, when it comes off, and what happened in between. There are three common arrangements, and it is worth agreeing which one you are using before the first lock-up.

• The keyholder has it. The simplest, and the most personal. The app records the lock-up; the key is in someone’s pocket.
• A combination lockbox. The key goes in a box, and the app holds the combination until the lock-up ends. This is what lets somebody be held by a keyholder who is not in the room.
• A smart lock. A Bluetooth lock or timed box the app controls directly. More moving parts, and a device to buy, but the least room for argument.

Whichever you choose, a few things are not optional. Check for them before you start, not on day ten.

• End it for a real reason. Pain, numbness, swelling or a medical appointment mean the device comes off, whatever the timer says. An app should make that easy and honest rather than something to hide.
• Pause without ending. A flight, a doctor or a cleaning break is not a failure. The record should say the device came off for an hour, not that the lock-up ended.
• Handle photos with care. Cage checks and proof pictures are the most private thing you will ever upload anywhere. Ask how long they are kept.
• Keep the games fair. Wheels and dice are fun until they can only ever make things worse. Agree what is on them before you start.

A way out that is always available is what makes it safe to stay in.

Chaster is the best known. It runs timed locks with a keyholder who can change their length, and add-ons such as a wheel of fortune, dice, tasks and verification pictures. It is also a community: other members can add time, and profiles can be public. If you want an online keyholder, or chastity as a thing of its own, start here.

ChastiSafe is non-commercial and runs in the browser, signing in through Discord. It stores the digits of a combination lock until the lock-up ends, and offers timer and card locks, hygiene unlocks, tasks and games, with bot keyholders that can run a lock for you. Its community lives on Discord.

Chastify is built for digital keyholding and smart device control: self-locks or shared locks, session tracking, chat and games. If you own a smart lock, it is the one to look at.

Kneel is a couples’ app with chastity inside it, alongside tasks, rituals and check-ins, and only the Dominant can release. It is in both app stores and puts a lot of weight on privacy.

A lock-up rarely lives on its own. The days go better with a daily word about how it is going, a task or two to keep the keyholder involved, and a record both of you trust. That is why many couples who start with a dedicated chastity app end up wanting the rest of the dynamic in the same place — and why others are perfectly happy keeping the two apart. If October is coming up, our guide to Locktober for couples covers planning the month together.

In My Dynamic, a lock-up has two voices on it: the person wearing it confirms, optionally with a photograph, rather than the record taking one side’s word. There are goals and milestones, cage checks whose photos are deleted once seen unless you both choose to keep them, pauses and cleaning breaks that do not end anything, and a wheel that can open a lock but never close one. A combination can be handed over automatically when the lock-up ends, and there is a way out that can never be switched off. Locktober is built in.

All of it sits beside the tasks, rules and check-ins of the rest of your dynamic. See the chastity side of the app.