← How To Use
How to Use Aurora: The Air-Pulse Massager
Device Guide
8 min read
Aurora works best when it is barely touching you. Almost everything people get wrong with it comes from pressing harder.
← How To Use
Aurora is three devices in one shell. With the cap on it is an air-pulse massager: it does not vibrate and it does not suck, despite the category name. It moves a column of air inside a soft silicone nozzle, and those pressure waves reach the clitoral glans across a small gap without ever pressing into it. With the cap off: steady vibration, and a distinct tapping action. If Aurora is not doing much for you, the cause is nearly always placement, arousal or pressure, in that order.
Charge it fully. A half-charged air-pulse motor produces noticeably weaker pressure waves than a full one, which is the commonest reason a first session underwhelms.
Wash it before first use. Rinse the nozzle and body under warm water with a mild unscented soap, shake the water out of the nozzle channel, then leave it to dry inside. Nothing antibacterial, alcohol-based or heavily fragranced.
Have water-based lubricant within reach. Water-based only, with every silicone device, because silicone lubricant slowly degrades a silicone surface. You need about two drops.
Then give yourself time to get turned on before Aurora is anywhere near you. Air-pulse acts on engorged tissue: the glans becomes more prominent and far more responsive once blood flow has increased. Used cold, Aurora underperforms.
This is the whole skill. Everything else about Aurora is straightforward, and this one thing takes two or three sessions to learn properly.
Part the labia with your free hand so the clitoral glans is exposed rather than sitting under folded tissue. Bring the nozzle in at a slight downward angle toward your body rather than straight on, and centre the opening over the glans so that the silicone rim contacts the surrounding skin while the glans itself sits inside the opening, untouched. Then rest. The weight of the device is the correct amount of pressure. If you find yourself pushing, back off.
Two drops of lubricant, one on the rim of the nozzle and one on the clitoris, help the silicone settle against skin instead of dragging on it. That contact matters, because the rim is what holds the air gap steady. What you are aiming for is a light, continuous ring of contact with an untouched space in the middle. Pubic hair crossing the rim breaks that contact and is a common and entirely unglamorous reason people feel nothing.
Turn Aurora on at level one before you have finalised the position, not after. Feeling the pressure wave is what tells you whether the nozzle is centred, and hunting for the right spot while managing an already strong intensity makes both jobs harder. Adjust angle first, position second, intensity last.
One. Warm up without the device. Ten minutes is not excessive.
Two. Two drops of water-based lubricant, one on the nozzle rim, one on the clitoris.
Three. Place the nozzle as described above and switch on at level one.
Four. Adjust the angle in small increments, a few millimetres at a time, until the pressure registers clearly rather than vaguely. Tilt matters more than sliding.
Five. Stay at level one longer than feels necessary. Air-pulse does not produce the friction adaptation direct vibration can, so low intensities build further than expected. Many people find their best setting is one or two.
Six. When you do climb, go one level at a time and be willing to drop back down. Stepping back a level as sensation builds is how you extend a session rather than end it early.
Seven. Afterwards, come down through the lower settings rather than switching off at full intensity. The tissue is very sensitive right after orgasm.
Take the air-pulse cap off and Aurora stops being a touchless device. Underneath sits a slim tip that gives you two more sensations, and they are genuinely different from each other rather than two names for the same thing.
Vibration is the familiar one: steady mechanical oscillation delivered straight into the tissue through contact. It is precise and easy to aim, and it suits the days when you want to feel exactly where the sensation is landing rather than a broad wash of pressure.
Tapping is the one worth experimenting with. Instead of a continuous buzz, the tip delivers separate rhythmic pulses against the skin, closer to a fingertip patting than to a vibrator running. Because each tap lands and lifts, the tissue is not being held under constant stimulation, and a lot of people find they can stay with tapping far longer before sensation starts to flatten out. It works particularly well as a build, with tapping for the long middle stretch of a session and a switch to air-pulse or steady vibration to finish.
Three ways of reaching the same place, in short. Air-pulse is diffuse and touchless. Vibration is targeted and continuous. Tapping is rhythmic and lands in pulses. Most people settle on a favourite within a few sessions, and having the other two on the same device means you can change your mind on a given evening without changing devices.
A practical note for the cap-off modes: use more lubricant than you would with air-pulse, since you now have direct skin contact and friction to manage. Keep the tip moving rather than parking it on one spot. And the exposed tip works perfectly well on nipples, the perineum, inner thighs, or a knot in your shoulder. That last one is not a joke, it is the same motor.
Aurora runs perfectly well with no phone involved. The buttons cycle intensity and patterns, and if you never open the app you lose nothing essential.
The steady modes deliver a continuous stream of pressure waves. The patterned modes introduce rhythm, pulses, waves and build sequences. Patterns are better for extending arousal, steady modes better for finishing, because at the point of orgasm most people want predictability rather than variety.
The Velvet Vibes app adds what buttons cannot: custom patterns you build and save, sound and music reactive modes, and control handed to a partner. For what the pattern types actually do, see our guide to vibration modes and patterns.
Aurora is small and quiet enough to bring into partnered sex without dominating it. Two placements work best: held against the clitoris during penetration from behind or side-lying, where there is room between bodies for the nozzle to sit properly, and used by a partner during oral or manual sex, adding a sensation that hands and mouths cannot produce.
Missionary tends to crush the nozzle flat, which kills the air gap and therefore the entire effect. Reach for positions with space between the pubic bones.
Across distance, a partner can take control through the app and run intensity, patterns and builds in real time. Agree beforehand on the highest level either of you will go to, and on a word that means stop now. That conversation takes thirty seconds.
For the app side of that, creating a room, inviting someone and passing control back and forth, see Love Bridge and long-distance sessions.
Immediately after use, run warm water through the nozzle channel to flush it rather than only wiping the outside. Mild unscented soap on the body, a soft brush or cotton bud in the channel if anything is clinging, then rinse again.
Do not dry the inside of the nozzle with a towel or tissue, because fabric leaves lint in the channel. Shake the water out, then leave it nozzle-down with air circulating for a few minutes. In a humid Indian summer, give it the extra few minutes.
Store it dry, in its pouch, away from direct sunlight and away from other silicone items. Check the nozzle now and then for fine cracking, and retire a cracked one. Our full guide to cleaning and storing intimate devices covers shared-home storage.
Barely any sensation. In order of likelihood: the nozzle is not centred, you are not aroused enough yet, you are pressing too hard and have flattened the air gap, hair is crossing the rim, or the battery is low.
Too intense immediately. Drop to level one, hover slightly rather than resting, or place it over a thin layer of underwear for the first minute.
It will not charge. Nearly always residue on the magnetic contacts, usually lubricant or soap. Wipe both sides with a dry cloth or an isopropyl swab, and lay the device flat so the cable weight is not pulling the magnet off.
It will not turn on. Check the travel lock first. It is the commonest cause of a device that seems dead.
It will not pair. Power the device fully off for five seconds, force-close the app, toggle Bluetooth, and stay within a couple of metres.
It sounds louder than it did. Usually water still in the nozzle channel, occasionally a low battery.
If none of that resolves it, Aurora carries a 180-day warranty and support would rather replace a unit.
What is the cap actually for? The cap creates the air chamber that makes air-pulse possible. Leave it on for touchless pressure waves. Take it off and the same device gives you steady vibration and a separate tapping mode, both through direct contact.
Why can I barely feel it? Placement, not power. The nozzle needs to sit loosely around the glans with the air gap intact. Pressed flat, sitting too high, or broken by pubic hair, the pressure wave has nowhere to travel.
Can I use it in the bath? Yes, fully waterproof. Water in the channel softens the pressure wave, so it feels gentler than it does dry. Some people prefer that.
Is there a time limit? No hard limit, but twenty to thirty minutes is a sensible ceiling for one session, and soreness means stop.
Will it desensitise me? No. Survey research on vibrator use found that a minority of people report temporary genital numbness and that it resolves on its own, typically within a day. There is no evidence of lasting loss of sensitivity. If you do feel numb, stop and come back another day.