Maintaining loving relationships during quarantine can be hot—and fun!

As the old saying goes, “Lovers gotta love.”  But for many during these more-than-occasionally anxious days of the COVID-19 epidemic, this is sadly proving to be easier said than done.

But as we showed in our recent article, “6 Ways to Feel Your Loved One’s Touch During Self-isolation,” courtesy of some innovative technological solutions, couples can now actually exchange virtual touches and even sensual caresses.

The good news doesn’t stop there, for there are even cooler methods out there—four of them, to be precise—to stay intimate with those you care about. 

Devices, as we’ll soon see, that employ even more creative approaches to helping lovers share their much-needed love—even while staying socially isolated.

1. Friendship lamps

In the case of someone being “the light of your life,” Friendship Lamps make the metaphor literal.

For $188 for a set of two, you and your partner can now share tender illuminations with each other whenever you want. 

Friendship Lamps work through your WiFi-enabled router and once set up allows your lamp to control another one. 

The fun doesn’t stop there though, as the lamps can share colors as well as just going on and off and, for those perhaps in polyamorous relationships, you can link more than just two lamps together.

2. LoveBox 

Staying intimate doesn’t always have to involve a literally touch between partners. It can even be as simple as exchanging little, affectionate notes with each other.

But how to do that when you and your lover can’t be together because of social isolation?  Well, a novel solution to just this problem has come in the form of LoveBox. 

For $99.99, or $174.99 for two if you want the special note sharing to go both ways, you can get a cute little device that allows one person to send someone else little notes or even cute little doodles.

As with practically everything here, it all begins by connecting the box with the manufacturer’s app, Android or iOS. That out of the way, you can then use your phone to draw what is then be displayed on a little black and white screen on the box.

An extra cute touch is that the heart on the front of the LoveBox will spin around to show that a message that has been sent and is waiting to be read, and enjoyed.

3. Apple Watch

From Pillow Talk to HBRings, both of which highlighted in our other article, the sending and receiving of heartbeats have definitely become a hot new trend for couples wanting to feel connected while physically apart.

But did you know you can do the same without needing a standalone gadget?  Well, you can if you are your significant other both happen to be sporting Apple Watches.

Courtesy of the people over at iMore, comes their nifty little guide on how to do exactly that—and quite simply to boot. 

It turns out, all it takes is creating a new message on your Apple Watch, pressing and holding the heart-shaped Digital Touch button until it starts to pulse, and—viola—your message will arrive on another Apple phone with a matching haptic pulse.

Don’t fret if you don’t have an Apple Watch as you can do the same using a current model iPhone as well.

4. Frebble

Lastly, we dip into the wonderland that’s Kickstarter and pull out something that, though only currently available to its backers, is still just too perfect not to add to our list of ways for lovers to stay in contact with each while under quarantine.

Of the many things couples can enjoy, like sharing a kiss or a hug, inventors have so far not tried to replicate the feeling of holding someone’s hand. 

Okay, you know where this is going: until now, that is. While the Frebble might look a little silly it still might be just what people need to share that special little contact with someone they care about, and long to be with.

Connected to the net through their own app, squeezing one of a pair of Frebble’s, sends the same sensation to the other: giving the virtual impression of a held hand.

We can only hope that the project gets even more support so the rest of us can enjoy that tender sensation as well, which so many of us need so much right now.

Now’s the time for love

Anxious, concerned, and perhaps worst of all uncertain about what’s going on right now, it’s far too easy to slide into pessimism. While on the surface it might be a pat thing to say, it’s nevertheless true: we are quite the resilient species and if we approach the epidemic with a cool head and respect for science we’ll be okay.

It may not work for everyone, but often when things do get almost too much to handle it can be reassuring to know that we have these and many other high-tech ways for us to be intimate with those we love. 

A cool head and respect for science, certainly, but getting through this also hinges on caring for not just those we know but everyone, everywhere. 

Image sources: Jess Foami, Friendship Lamps, Frebble, Franck Mahon, LoveBox, Pillow Talk