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This Smart “Condom” Will Literally Tell You If You’re Good In Bed

by Tiffany Thomas

It seems like wearable technology is everywhere right now. Tech-savvy users can find a gadget to track just about anything, from how many hours of sleep you get, to how many miles you logged on your last run, and even how often you forget your daily vitamin. But what about tracking exactly how good you are in bed? The world of wearable tech could soon be entering bedrooms everywhere. This new smart condom is basically a Fitbit for penises and it could answer every question you never realized you had about sex.

Well, to be totally accurate, the I.Con isn’t a condom in the traditional sense, according to a New York Post report. The small rubber bracelet is designed to wrap around the base of the penis, either alone or over a traditional condom. Rather than protecting wearers from unwanted pregnancy, the gadget logs data during intercourse and syncs with a smartphone app so that users can actually track sexual performance over time.

And it turns out there are quite a few ways to measure sexual performance. According to the British Condoms website, the I.Con can record the number of calories burned during sex, speed and total number of thrusts, how long each session lasts, and (of course) penis girth. There’s even a plan to have the device tell how many positions were used while doing the deed, but the product information posted online warns that feature is still in BETA testing.

But what good is having all that cool information without being able to brag to your friends about it, right? The British company behind the I.Con told UK Metro that the smart condom app can help users see how their numbers “stack up to other people from around the world.” Here’s what lead engineer Adam Leverson told that outlet:

It’s here and it’s beautiful. We wanted the i.Con to look refined, non-intrusive and lightweight – the finished article is nothing short of any of those things. There’s a lot of tech packed into the i.Con and for us to be able to deliver it in such a way that there is absolutely no hindrance to the user was our main goal – and I think we have gone above and beyond with the i.Con to make sure of this.

But recording and reporting that kind of data raises issues of privacy for some. According to the New York Post report, some online have already dubbed the product a “spy condom” and compared it to an “ankle bracelet.” Still, the developers told the Post and other outlets that user privacy would be protected, since the data can be shared anonymously or not at all.

And while the I.Con can’t offer the kind of barrier protection from sexually transmitted infection that a latex condom does, according to the UK Metro report, the device can promote sexual health in a whole new way: by detecting whether the wearer has contracted an STI.

That feature could be extremely useful, actually. According to the American Sexual Health Association, some 1 in 2 sexually active people will contract at least one STI before the age of 25. And the Centers for Disease Control estimates that of the 20 million new STIs that occur every year in the United States, half of those happen to young people aged 15–24 — but only 12 percent of young people ever get tested.

The water-resistant, reusable I.Con Smart Condom is expected to be available for sale in early 2018 for $80.99, according to the product website. For now, the company is allowing people to sign up online for updates on the I.Con — and to be the first to know when the “Fitbit for sex” is finally ready for the world.

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