Kegel trainers, app-connected devices and vaginal weights explained

Kegel trainers are devices that help you exercise your pelvic floor by giving resistance, feedback, or both. They range from simple vaginal weights to app-connected sensors that show your squeezes on a phone screen. For women with a weak pelvic floor who struggle to stay consistent or to feel their muscles, they can be a useful aid. For women with pain or a tight pelvic floor, they are often the wrong tool.

The main types

Vaginal weights and cones

Small weighted cones or balls that you insert into the vagina. The pelvic floor has to work to keep them in place, first lying down, later standing. Sets usually come in graded weights so you can progress. Some are a single ball or a pair of balls on a cord, sometimes called kegel balls or ben wa balls, though not all of these are designed for structured training.

Biofeedback trainers

A probe inserted into the vagina measures pressure or muscle activity and shows it on a screen or app. You see whether you are squeezing, how strongly, and whether you let go fully afterwards. In clinics, the same principle is used with professional biofeedback equipment.

App-guided programs without a probe

Apps that time your holds and rests, send reminders and track progress. They do not measure anything but can help with consistency.

Electrical stimulation devices

Units that deliver a mild current to make the muscles contract. These are used for women who cannot contract their pelvic floor voluntarily, and are usually started under professional supervision.

What the evidence says

• Vaginal cones. A Cochrane review of 23 small trials found cones were better than no treatment for stress urinary incontinence, with little evidence of a difference compared with standard pelvic floor muscle training. The trials were small and many women dropped out, so the evidence is limited.
• Pressure biofeedback at home. A 2024 randomized trial in more than 450 women with stress leaking after childbirth found that adding a home pressure biofeedback device to supervised training improved cure rates, muscle strength and adherence compared with training alone.
• Apps. A 2023 randomized trial of an app with animations and reminders found that it clearly improved how often women did their exercises, though cure rates at 12 weeks were similar to standard instructions.
• Guidelines. UK national guidance recommends supervised pelvic floor muscle training as the first treatment, and suggests adding biofeedback, electrical stimulation or vaginal cones for women who cannot produce an effective contraction on their own. Devices are positioned as a supplement to supervised training, not a substitute.

In short: trainers are aids to good training, and their main benefit is feedback and motivation.

Who they may suit

• women with stress leaking who find it hard to know if they are squeezing correctly
• women who lose motivation without seeing progress
• women in the months after childbirth, once healing is confirmed (see the pelvic floor after childbirth)
• women who have been taught pelvic floor exercises and want to continue at home between therapy sessions

Who should not use them, or should ask first

• Women with pain during sex, vaginismus or vulvodynia. Strengthening devices can increase tension in a hypertonic pelvic floor. Release work comes first.
• During pregnancy, unless a professional advises otherwise.
• In the first weeks after birth or after pelvic surgery, before you have been checked.
• With an active infection, unexplained bleeding or vaginal sores.
• With moderate to severe prolapse, unless guided by a specialist.
• With an IUD, if a device could catch on the strings. Check with your provider.
• With a pacemaker or other implanted electronic device, electrical stimulation units are generally not suitable.

If you are unsure which group you fall into, an assessment by a pelvic floor physical therapist will answer it.

Neutral buying criteria

If a trainer seems right for you, these points matter more than features or design.

A device that only rewards harder squeezing, with no attention to release, is less useful than one that shows the full cycle.

Using a trainer well

• Use a little water-based lubricant for insertion. Our guide on how to choose a lube explains why silicone lube can damage silicone devices.
• Keep sessions short, a few minutes once or twice a day.
• Always finish with a full relaxation of the muscles.
• Clean the device after each use according to its instructions, and do not share it.
• Stop and seek advice if you feel pain, heaviness, bleeding or increased leaking.

A trainer is a helpful extra, not a cure. If leaking or other symptoms are not improving after three months, ask for a professional assessment rather than buying a stronger device.