A note on this review of the Cellmate V2 : This was a team effort, with much of the work falling to my adorable Stunt Cock, Bear. The main body of the review is in the usual format with editorial comments from both of us, colour-coded as such:
Bear’s Comments (The Wearer)
Violet’s Comments (The Keyholder)
The Cellmate V2
We wanted to love the Cellmate V2 chastity cage. We really did.
The promise of it was a exceptional: A Bluetooth-enabled chastity cage that could be controlled over the internet! For the chastity enthusiast without a keyholder—or in circumstances where the keyholder was temporarily or permanently at a distance—this seems the ideal solution. What better way to keep a cock under lock and key, whether by personally setting a timer or remotely being locked.
Sadly, the reality is more than a little bit different …
The Promise Of So Much
When you think about the potential for a really great chastity device, the idea of having a remote controlled cage—managed via Bluetooth and the internet—has a lot of promise. Historically, most remote toys have been sketchy and of questionable reliability, we’ve come so very far in the last few years. There have been vast improvements in Bluetooth reliability, in product design, and particularly in app development. The Qiui Cellmate 2.0 is the second generation of the original remote-controlled chastity device. So far, so promising. One imagines that the manufacturers have taken the time to learn from and substantially evolve the design based upon the experience of the first device, and the second should be all the awesome. Right? Right?!
Such Promises
- A built-in rechargeable battery
- Updated to have a single, integrated ring, rather than a separate ring and cage
- Wearers can set up their own timed sessions
- Keyholders can control the device from anywhere in the world
If you have a fetish for chastity and denial, there is a lot to like about these ideas. Not everyone has a keyholder, so the idea of surrendering control to an impersonal timer counting down inexorably in the background can be altogether hot. For those who do have a keyholder but find themselves distant—whether occasionally or on an extended basis—the ability to surrender locking and control to an internet-enabled device seems like a perfect solution.
Electro Stim Too!
Even better, the Cellmate V2 promises an electro-shock capability. Whether on a timed basis or because your keyholder has a whim, the consequence is that your caged and locked parts are subject to the inevitable and unavoidable stimulation of an on-board e-stim unit.
No matter where I am, the Cellmate promises that she can subtly but insistently let me know exactly where my priorities lie. Not going to lie, I was genuinely excited by that prospect as well. The idea of not just being locked, but also actively controlled and stimulated, was a next-level proposition.
It’s true, I was really curious at the prospect of being able to zap him when the whim struck. E-stim is not really a thing I’m into so it was exciting to be so intrigued by it. I was eager to see how it played out in real life.
First Impressions Of The Cellmate V2
First impressions of the Cellmate 2.0 device were positive. It is sturdy, well built and appears to be manufactured from quality materials.
Truth-be-told, it looks unlike any other chastity device that you might have tried. The need for on-board electronics creates a different packaging requirement (pun intended) than your typical metal or plastic cage. If you are a sci-fi fan that likes the idea of your equipment being put beyond use, high-tech electronics and ominously flashing LED lights warning of your status as a chastity slave, you’re probably going to swoon over the mere prospect of what the Cellmate offers.
Opening the box reveals what on the surface appearances is a well-engineered device.
- There are no hard edges.
- The ring encompassing the balls is steel, and fully integrated into the overall cage.
- The rest of the cage is delightfully soft-touch plastic, similar in feel and quality to what you would find on the dashboard of a high-end car.
- The interior is smooth, and any area with potential contact with your sensitive parts has well-finished edges.
In addition to the cage itself, there is a slide-on contactless charging enclosure as well as a charging cable (USB-A at the power source end and USB-C at the business end).
How It Is Supposed To Work
The essential steps of how the Cellmate 2.0 is supposed to work are fairly straightforward.
First, charge the device (charging can take up to eight hours). Download the companion app from the Apple or Google app store, create an account, and pair the device via bluetooth.
If you have a keyholder, you are then able to connect with them and surrender control of your device (it’s up to them whether they allow you to retain any control of the cage or not).
From there, you are on the chastity journey. Your penis is locked up, and depending upon the arrangements for its care you theoretically have very little control over what happens next. As a promise, there is a lot to like there. In reality, however, the experience was somewhat different.
Getting It Charged
The first challenge is charging. Simply connecting the charging device doesn’t initiate charging. Nor does plugging the cable into the wall. The only thing that appears to initiate charging is to have everything else connected, and to finally plug the USB-C cable into the charging shield.
The charging enclosure has its own sensitivities. The first time that I charged it, I slid it firmly over the cage to make sure that it wouldn’t lose contact. An overnight charge later, the red light was still illuminated, indicating the device was still charging. Sliding the charging device off and on a little more gently, however, and the light quickly shifted to green—indicating a full charge. Slide it on a little more firmly, and the light went back to red, implying there was more charging to be done. I can’t begin to speculate as to why this is the case, but it is consistent and repeatable. As with so many things in life, a soft touch and not forcing the issue produces much more positive results.
Installing The App
Once charged, the next order of business is installing the app. Finding it in the app store is straightforward enough (just search for the manufacturers name, “Qiui,” and you will find it relatively quickly).
The first thing to give you pause, however, are the reviews of the app. The current user rating in the Apple app store as of the time of writing is 1.2 stars, and many of the reviews are less than complimentary. Being candid, the app is not the most intuitive on the planet. While the device itself seems to be well engineered, the app has a number of challenges that quickly reveal themselves.
For starters, the app is very clearly not written with English as a first language, and suffers with a number of sections that are poorly translated. Worse, there are a number of updates and responses in the app that aren’t translated at all. Navigation elements are missing on several screens, meaning that there is no “back” button where you would expect to see it (although hitting the top-left corner still often winds up accomplishing this result; in other instances, a swipe accomplishes the same thing. Neither of these are obvious). Overall, the app requires a level of patience. Where you might think something should be happening, it very often isn’t. Taking actions that should have consequences don’t necessarily. Occasionally actions happen even when you haven’t specifically requested them.
Installing The App, Take 2 …Take 3 …
Signing up for the app the first time took several passes before it was ultimately successful. That means jumping through the following hoops:
- being prepared to identify who you are
- the name of the device that you are managing
- your role with that device
- your desired account name and password
- and the image that you want to use as an avatar.
Not having any one of those piece of information (including the avatar image) results in your account creation failing, and needing to go back to the beginning of the process.
Bear: A big part of the sign-up process is how you will identify yourself to the app. It starts with needing a cell phone number (and the corresponding country code). While I was able to create an account and work through to the end, I was never able to use the username and password I created to login. Every time I needed to authenticate myself or re-install the app (stay tuned for that drama) I needed to use my phone number. Every time, my account details were remembered as well. But the ability to simply login with an identifier and password was a step too far.
A point that many people seem to struggle with is the provision of an activation code to confirm your phone number. That seems to have gotten easier with recent app updates, but it is still a manual process. You need to provide your cell phone number (including country code) and respond to a CAPTCHA. From there, you need to specifically click on a button to ask for an activation code (which will then show up in just a few seconds).
Pairing The Device
This step was thankfully relatively simple and straightforward. Make sure the cage is powered on and hold the button on the cage until it lights solid blue, and release it (it will start flashing green). From here, you can identify the device you are adding, pick the id of the cage in question, and the app and the device are paired. Keeping them in contact is a separate issue. But the initial linkage is easy enough to establish.
Exploring Anxieties & Trying It Out
When contemplating chastity one needs to be honest about the commitment of your genitals to a form of locking that you potentially have no control of. It is an entirely reasonable and legitimate source of concern to ask yourself what happens when the device goes on and the button goes “click.”
Given the experimental nature of this exercise, the first course of action wasn’t to try on the cage. Instead, we discussed the process and Bear planned to test its locking and unlocking over a series of days. Only once he had reasonable confidence of its release would I actually let him try it on.
The first test was a timer. The timer was set to stay locked for 8 hours and then unlock. Given what transpired the next morning, testing without wearing was certainly a good idea. The timer had indeed wound down to zero. The cage did not unlock. It was very firmly locked and resistant to any attempt to use the unlock button in the app to let go of the virtual contents.
Sleep Mode
This highlighted the first feature of the cage that did not appear in the documentation: if you don’t interact with it for a period of time, the cage turns itself off. Moreover, there are a couple of different modes of control (and consequential periods of sleep). When the app thinks it is controlling the device, the LED on the cage will flash a muted blue. In this state, it is responsive to control commands, whether that is opening, closing, setting a timer or administering a shock.
Waking It up
Once the app is no longer trying to communicate with the device, the LED on the cage flashes bright green. It’s still locked and not going anywhere, but it also isn’t listening for any other guidance or instruction. If the light is green, the cage turns itself off in five minutes. If it’s blue, it takes a little bit longer but within thirty minutes or so, the cage will still be asleep.
From there, it doesn’t matter what you do on the app. If the cage isn’t awake and paying attention, nothing is happening.
Wearer vs Keyholder
Apart from trying the cage out locked, I wanted to test a scenario that we had planned as part of our review. Specifically, I wanted to know what happened once control was surrendered to a keyholder. My objective here was two-fold. First, my experience of signing up for an account was not the easiest. As a consequence, I wanted to explain to my partner as straightforwardly as possible the steps required to create an account, find a user and take control over their device. Secondly, I wanted to see what control of the device was like once keyholder status had been established.Using a separate device with a separate phone number, I set about making this happen.
Account creation is not easy, but contacting and connecting with another user is even harder. There is a specific sequence of actions required to make that happen, and without following each step success isn’t going to be realized. After creating an account, you need to separately go to the messages tab, indicate that you ware looking for a particular address, tell the app that you want to add another user, and provide their unique ID as a search string. Once you have found the person, you still need to request taking control of their device (which they need to consent to). Only then can the sexy times actually begin.
Having replicated this, I again tried setting a timed chastity session to see what would happen. This is sadly where everything went sideways. Once the timed session was over, I as wearer could request being released. What this actually requires, however, is the keyholder seeing an unlock-request message while the controlling app is still paired with and talking to the cage.
This didn’t play out that way. Instead, the unlock message got lost and app got disconnected. Releasing control of the app from the keyholder will theoretically give control back to the wearer, but the unlock button still didn’t work. Firing the keyholder (yes, you can do this) didn’t help any more than the other attempts. Nor did fully unpairing the cage from the app. The cage was locked, and it was no longer responsive.
Trying To Get Support
This was the point where I was extremely grateful that incipient horniness did not get ahead of practical caution. It would have been entirely within the realm of possibility at this point to be locked in the cage, with absolutely no obvious way of extraction.
This is EXACTLY why this review took the time that it did because neither of us was willing to risk him getting stuck, which would lead to damaging the device, possibly hurting him, and more than likely an embarrassing trip to the ER.
If you search for “Qiui” or “Cellmate” you come across several very similar web sites with very similar copy, all marketing the same products in largely the same way. The response essentially said, “Who are you? Where did you buy this? We can’t find you in our system.” That response was as useless, stating that they only provided support to purchases made through their web site.
This led to a slightly more refined search of the internet, and discovery of a web site that was a great deal less marketing oriented, but claimed responsibility for the device in question. Three support requests later: still no response.
If I had actually been locked in the device, I would by the third request be edging onto day eight of involuntary confinement with no end in sight. To this day, I have still not had a response to my support request, which I consider more than a little disturbing.
At this point I was ready to stop everything because I knew he was frustrated, we were both painfully aware of how terrible this would be if he had hastily put it on without testing, and I was at a loss for any redeeming qualities of the Cellmate V2.
A Bear In A Cage
Frustrations were high, so our lovely and always helpful rep from Lock The Cock was emailed, and she gave us a suggestion! She said to try fully charging the device, deleting and re-installing the app, and trying to pair the cage once more to Bear’s phone. Amidst a great deal of scepticism as to whether or not this would work, after a couple of power-on/power-off cycles of the cage, it did in fact result in the cage once again being responsive.
Screwing my courage to the sticking post, this is where I actually submitted myself to trying on the cage.
I was so anxious I felt sick. I would never have forgiven myself if he got stuck!
Installing the cage is its own experience. As already noted, unlike most other chastity cages it is is a single unit. The cage swings away from the ring, allowing it to be installed and sized accordingly. Having everything as one unit feels a little bit awkward at the start. As with any other device, you need to first pull your balls through the ring, and then your penis.
The Cellmate V2 is more awkward than just trying to work with a ring, but with patience and practice it is manageable!
Don’t forget the lube!
An interesting discovery along the way is that the cage has a bias to be locked. If you take too long installing the cage, it will flip into the locked state on its own. The app is unaware of this, requiring you to hit “lock” and then “unlock” before you can continue with the installation process. Having the cage stay open on an extended basis is not an option.
Once you’ve pulled the cock through the ring, the rest of the installation is incredibly easy. My cock slides into the cage quite readily, even without the benefit of lubrication. I have a fair bit of foreskin, which has been problematic with other chastity devices, I had no issues. The cage simply pivots down on the ring until the penis is trapped. A quick tap of a button locks the entire enterprise in place.
But it’s not always … subtle
Discretion & Privacy
The Cellmate V2 arrived in a nondescript shipping box, but the customs tag had the name of the device and the brand clearly labelled. Not a HUGE issue, however, if Bear’s building’s doorman had been curious, a quick Google would tell all.
Trying It With A Virtual Keyholder
Even as I tested the device for real, I continued with a level of caution. After locking the device on directly, I tried controlling the cage via the virtual keyholder account I had set up earlier.
This is where several limitations of the app emerged relatively quickly. For the keyholder to have control of the device, there needs to be a direct connection with the cage. This depends on the wearer having the app active and talking to the cage, or the keyholder having direct control via bluetooth of the device.
For the remote chastity wearer, this creates a number of challenges. While the device will pair with the app, it very frequently requires completely shutting down the app and restarting it before connectivity can be re-established. Even where the wearer’s app is talking to the cage, the keyholder’s controls don’t always work. This means that in all instances, there needs to be a separate communication channel in place to coordinate installing or removing the device.
Just because the app thinks the cage is open or closed doesn’t mean it actually is. And just because the keyholder hits the lock button doesn’t mean the cage actually responds.
The result is an exercise in coordination not dissimilar to having a cell phone call with sketchy service. “Is it locked now? How about now? Did that lock it?”
As the Keyholder I find this so decidedly UN-sexy. Nothing kills the rush of power as you lock up a cock faster than having to coordinate and verify.
Living With The App
The most significant challenge in wearing the Cellmate V2 is not the device, but the app. It is poorly designed, and is trying to do too much while delivering the basics unsuccessfully. There is a lot that you can theoretically do with the app. You can set timers, set shock timers and use the shock function directly. As well, the manufacturer has attempted to create a community around the app. Theoretically this would allow for member voting to extend chastity sessions or offering up control to a remote keyholder. Fun!
The problem with all of these features is that they simply don’t work. The timer should be the easiest of features to use, and yet it suffers with poor implementation. Set a period of incarceration, and the app will take on board the time until release is again an option. What it will not do is provide any psychologically engaging indication of a countdown. Instead you need to start and stop the app to verify the time remaining. Once the timer runs out, moreover, the cage doesn’t automatically unlock. It simply enables the unlock button to be used once again. <insert sad trombone noise>
Just because a timer is set doesn’t mean that the device can’t be removed. You can cancel a timer at any point. The only consequence: the app will make you wait progressively longer periods before you can start a new timer. You get just 3 cancellations before it punishes you. This is no different than setting a separate timer elsewhere, and unlocking the device with the unlock button.
Worse, the functions that theoretically allow voting or surrendering control of the device never successfully accomplished their objective. That’s not to say that these options aren’t inherently risky. Although again, the app will let you cancel control and open the cage at any point. But any attempt to set the voting options resulted in an error message. Apparently I hadn’t provided the information that I had already filled in?
Shocking? Hardly.
Finally, the shock functionality failed to do as promised in the marketing or the manual. You can issue a shock through the app, set a timer, or receive a shock once it’s ready to open. None of these produced any physical sensation, even with intensity dialled up to maximum. Even putting a wet finger in the device across the two poles failed to result in any sensation whatsoever.
Even if it worked, it is anything but spontaneous. The cage has to be on and actively controlled by the app, using the feature is a multi-step process. At the best of times, a keyholder would have to message to say, “I want to shock you. Power on the cage, open up the app, and connect it with the cage so I can make that happen.” Hardly the spur-of-the-moment sexiness implied by the marketing copy.
Living With The Device
If you have made it this far, you might wonder exactly what the Cellmate V2 has to offer to redeem itself. Here’s the thing: it is one of the most comfortable chastity cages that I have ever worn. At no time was any part of me pinched, compressed or trapped outside of the cage.
The Cellmate V2 is comfy because of its design. The fact that it is one piece, and made of quality materials, makes an incredible difference. The integrated nature of cage and ring folding together makes it easy and altogether painless to install the cage and lock it.
On A Long-Term Basis, Wearing The Cage Is Enormously Comfortable
Installation requires a little bit of care in making sure that the space between ring and cage is optimal, but once set there is little else to do. Erections are suppressed, and the wearer is constantly aware that they are imprisoned and constrained. If you are interested in chastity that’s the feeling that you are going into the exercise seeking. The whole point is to feel denied and contained. The Cellmate V2 device delivers on this sensation with very few downsides.
Recommendations & Considerations
Establishing connectivity
- The cage usually requires fully closing the app, and then starting over again. The cage is awesome, the app much less so. Earlier reviews have also highlighted deficiencies with the app, while expressing the hope that it would be improved in time. The reality is that this improvement hasn’t occurred. The app is difficult, cumbersome and awkward.
Two Way Street
- A keyholder can take control of the cage, but the keyholder can also be removed. The consequence is that if you really want to get out, you can. And if you really want to stay in, you are operating on the honour system. More specifically, most of the features of the app are a hindrance rather than a help. The timer prevents the unlock button from working, but it can be cancelled at any time.
The app needs fewer features, not more.
- The most recent update has revealed the intent to provide “VIP” features on a paid basis.
- This includes provisions for networking, and geofencing locking and unlocking of the device. It also includes the ability to control connections and visibility within the “community.” It is unfortunate that the app is becoming more complicated, not less. Given our experience, we do not recommend you pay for any upgrades when the baseline functionality failed.
- There should be a self-locked mode that allows you to set a timer. One that refuses release until your time is up. There should be a keyholder mode that allows for remote provision of a lock/unlock button. Apart from a fail-safe way of unlocking in the face of an actual emergency this is the minimal essential functionality. And it should be rock solid. Everything else is fluff.
A word of caution from Bear: My earnest recommendation is that the lock button should be the only part of the current app that you or your keyholder use. Anything else sets the stage for frustration or worse.
We Wanted To Love The Cellmate V2
The promise of an app-controlled chastity cage is incredible. For the chastity enthusiast without a keyholder, it offers the potential to commit yourself to a period of incarceration without release. For the chastity wearer with a remote keyholder, any number of opportunities should be possible. The reality is that the only part of the app that works with any degree of reliability is the lock/unlock button, and even this requires verification.
This represents perhaps the biggest challenge in using the Cellmate V2 as a chastity device. The Cellmate V2 is a well built piece of hardware. It is incredibly comfortable to wear, and as secure as any other device once it is on. The difficulties of using the app, however, mean that there is always a niggling question in the back of your mind: will it open when I want it to? The answer so far is, “Mostly. But not always.”
Final Thoughts
I really, really wanted to love the Cellmate V2. I love wearing it. But every time it clicks locked, I fear whether I will get out of it. And not in the good way.
I did not have the benefit of having the device in hand, nor was I physically with Bear during all the trials and tribulations with the Cellmate V2. As the Keyholder, this was a challenging review in the sense that he was helping me so much and having such a crummy time. All in all, the experience was frustrating and a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Because it failed to do the minimum expected, the Cellmate V2 has not earned the Fawkes’ Faves seal.
If you’d like to try the Cellmate V2 for yourself, get it from Lock the Cock
Tell us what you think!
Have you used the Cellmate or the Cellmate V2? How did your experience stack up to ours? Let us know in the comments below or come chat on Twitter @MsVioletFawkes and @BecomingBear. You can also find Bear on his own blog Becoming Bear.
The Cellmate V2 was furnished by Lock the Cock in exchange for an honest review. This post does not contain affiliate links.
