By Thirdbase Wellness · 13 September 2026
"100% waterproof" appears on almost every sex toy listing in India and means almost nothing. The actual rating, if there is one, is a code like IPX6 or IPX7, and those two are not a ranking. This guide explains what each digit means, the exact test behind every level, and the rule that surprises everyone: a higher number is not always better, and an IPX6 toy must never go in the bath.
The short answer
IPX6 means a device survives powerful water jets, so rinsing under a tap and using it in the shower are fine. IPX7 means it survives 30 minutes at 1 metre underwater. Neither implies the other, because they test different things. If a listing says "waterproof" with no digit attached, nothing was tested at all.
Contents
- What IPX actually stands for
- The full scale, with the real test conditions
- Why IPX7 is not "better than" IPX6
- The fresh-water catch: soap, lube, salt and heat
- Where a rating fails in real life
- Shower, tap or bath: which rating you need
- Can you boil it?
- Ratings expire even though the label does not
- Buying in India: what to check
- What our products are rated, and why
- Frequently asked questions
What IPX actually stands for
IP stands for Ingress Protection. The code is defined by the international standard IEC 60529, and it is two digits, not a word.
- First digit: solids. Scale of 0 to 6, covering everything from fingers to fine dust.
- Second digit: liquids. Scale of 0 to 9, with an additional 9K level used in vehicle standards.
- The letter X is not a zero. It means that characteristic was not tested or no figure is being claimed.
So IPX6 means the device was tested to liquid level 6, and no dust claim is being made. IP68 would mean dust-tight and tested for continuous immersion. For sex toys you will almost always see an X in the first position, which is fine: dust ingress is not the threat, water is.
This matters because a listing that says "IPX" with no number, or "waterproof" with no code, is not making a claim that any laboratory checked. Most competitor explainers treat "IPX" as though it were a single word meaning waterproof. It is not.
The full scale, with the real test conditions
Here is what each level actually involves. No other guide in this category publishes the test figures, which is a shame, because the figures are the only way to judge what a rating buys you.
| Rating | What it protects against | The actual test | In plain terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| IPX0 | Nothing | No test performed | Keep it dry |
| IPX1 | Dripping water | Vertical drips equal to 1 mm per minute of rainfall, for 10 minutes | Survives condensation |
| IPX2 | Dripping at an angle | 3 mm per minute, device tilted 15 degrees, four positions, 2.5 minutes each | Survives light drips while tilted |
| IPX3 | Spraying water | Spray up to 60 degrees from vertical, 10 litres per minute, 50 to 150 kPa, at least 5 minutes | Survives light rain |
| IPX4 | Splashing from any direction | Same flow, sprayed through a full 180 degrees, 10 minutes | Splash-proof. Fine near a sink |
| IPX5 | Water jets | 6.3 mm nozzle, 12.5 litres per minute, about 30 kPa, from 3 metres, at least 3 minutes | Rinse under a tap |
| IPX6 | Powerful water jets | 12.5 mm nozzle, 100 litres per minute, 100 kPa, from 2.5 to 3 metres, at least 3 minutes | Shower-safe and tap-safe. Not submersible |
| IPX7 | Temporary immersion | Submerged to 1 metre for 30 minutes, still water | Survives being dropped in a basin |
| IPX8 | Continuous immersion | Deeper than 1 metre, with depth and duration set by the manufacturer | Only means something if the maker states the depth |
| IPX9K | High-pressure, high-temperature jets | About 80°C water, 14 to 16 litres per minute, 8 to 10 MPa, from 100 to 150 mm, at four angles for 30 seconds each | Industrial. You will not see this on a toy |
Look at IPX6 for a moment. One hundred litres per minute is a fire-hose-grade jet, far more force than any tap in your bathroom produces. That is why an IPX6 toy handles rinsing and showering without concern.
Why IPX7 is not "better than" IPX6
This is the part everyone gets wrong, including most of the pages that rank for these terms.
The liquid scale is cumulative only up to level 6. A device rated IPX6 is deemed to also satisfy IPX1 through IPX5. Above that, the logic breaks:
- IPX6 does not imply IPX7. An IPX6 device may fail at 1 metre underwater.
- IPX7 does not imply IPX6. A device that survives half an hour submerged may leak under a forceful jet.
The reason is engineering, not bureaucracy. A jet test applies brief, high, directional force to a seal. An immersion test applies low but sustained hydrostatic pressure from every side at once, which finds slow leaks a jet never would. They are different failure modes, so a device that genuinely does both must be tested twice and marked with both, which is why you occasionally see IPX5/IPX7 or IPX6/IPX8. A dual mark is the tell that a manufacturer paid for both tests.
Practical rule: if a toy is marked IPX6 and nothing else, do not submerge it. Not in a bath, not in a bucket, not in a pot of water to clean it.
The fresh-water catch: soap, lube, salt and heat
Every IEC 60529 water test uses clean fresh water at roughly room temperature. IPX9K is the only heated exception. That single fact undoes most of what people assume a rating covers.
| What it meets | Covered by the rating? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Tap water | Yes | This is exactly what was tested |
| Soap and body wash | No | Surfactants lower water's surface tension, so it seeps through micro-gaps that plain water bridges over |
| Silicone or oil-based lube | No | Not a water test at all. Silicone lube also degrades silicone toy surfaces separately |
| Hot water | No | Heat expands the housing, and as it cools it contracts and draws air, then moisture, past the seals |
| Pool water | No | Chlorine attacks rubber gaskets over time |
| Sea water | No | Salt crystallises inside seams and holds them open |
So the practical version: rinse with plain water first, use a small amount of mild soap on the outside, rinse again, and never leave a device soaking in soapy water regardless of what it is rated.
Where a rating fails in real life
A rating is measured once, on a new sample, in a lab. Five things in the real world undo it.
1. The charging port
This is the single most common failure point. A port under a rubber flap depends on you closing that flap perfectly every time, and the flap's seal degrades with every open and close. Magnetic contact charging, with no opening at all, is the only genuinely robust design. A device with no port whatsoever, like a sealed button-cell ring, has nothing to fail.
2. Seams and parting lines
Two-part shells bonded with adhesive or ultrasonic welding fail differently from a single overmoulded piece. Buttons sit on membranes, and twist caps rotate against gaskets. All of these are leak paths that the label does not track over time.
3. Silicone-to-plastic joins
Most toys are soft silicone over a rigid ABS motor housing. Those two materials expand at different rates, so temperature swings and repeated stretching work that join open long before the silicone itself shows any wear.
4. Drops
A single drop onto a tiled bathroom floor can distort a housing enough to break a seal, with no visible damage. The rating on the box still says IPX7. The device no longer does.
5. Storing it damp
More devices die from trapped moisture in a port or seam than from the wash itself. Dry it fully before it goes back in the pouch. How to clean and store sex toys has the full routine.
Shower, tap or bath: which rating you need
| What you want to do | Minimum rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Wipe with a damp cloth | IPX4 | Almost anything handles this |
| Rinse under a running tap | IPX5 or IPX6 | Keep the port away from the stream anyway |
| Use in the shower | IPX6 | Shower spray is far gentler than the IPX6 test |
| Use in a bath or bucket | IPX7 or IPX8 only | IPX6 is not enough, no matter how it is marketed |
| Take it in a pool or the sea | Not advised at any rating | Chlorine and salt sit outside the standard entirely |
| Boil it | No rating covers this | See below |
Can you boil it?
Only if it is 100% non-porous silicone with no motor and no battery inside. A solid silicone plug can go into boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes. Anything with electronics cannot, at any IP rating, for two reasons: sealed air inside expands and stresses every seam, and a lithium cell in boiling water is a genuine hazard rather than a theoretical one.
TPE cannot be boiled either, regardless of whether it has a motor. It deforms. Warm water, mild soap, complete drying. Our guide to body-safe materials covers which is which.
Ratings expire even though the label does not
IP marks are type-tested on new samples. Nobody re-tests your device after two years of drops, stretching, hot showers and ageing gaskets. A two-year-old IPX7 toy is not an IPX7 toy in any meaningful sense, and it will still say IPX7 on the box.
Treat the rating as a statement about how the device was built, not a permanent guarantee. As a toy ages, move one step down in how you treat it: a submersible device becomes a rinse-only device, and a rinse-only device becomes a wipe-clean one.
Buying in India: what to check
Marketplace listings here are the worst offenders, because "waterproof" is copy rather than a claim anyone verified.
- Look for a digit. No number, no test. "Waterproof", "water resistant" and "splash proof" with no code attached mean nothing specific.
- Treat a bare IPX6 as shower-only. Even if the listing photograph shows the product underwater, which happens constantly.
- Check for a dual mark if you want genuine submersion. IPX6/IPX8 or IPX5/IPX7 means both tests were run.
- Look at the charging design. Magnetic contacts beat a rubber flap over a USB port every time, whatever the label says.
- Distrust "IPX8" with no depth. IPX8 is defined by the manufacturer. Without a stated depth and duration, it is not a specification.
- Watch humidity. In monsoon-season coastal cities, a device stored damp in a bathroom cupboard is at more real risk than one taken into the shower.
More on evaluating listings in our guide to buying sex toys in India and our men's toy roundup, which publishes the full spec sheet for every pick.
What our products are rated, and why
| Product | Rating | What that permits |
|---|---|---|
| Leo, O-Ring, Delay Ring | IPX6 | Rinse under a tap, use in the shower. Not the bath |
| Noah, Eve, Beads, Arc | IPX6 | Same. Rinse and shower, never submerge |
| Between the Cheeks | Water resistant, no motor | Fully washable, and boilable for 3 to 5 minutes because there are no electronics |
| Adam, Peach Please | Water resistant, TPE | Wash thoroughly, never boil, dry completely |
The honest part: nothing we make is IPX7, so nothing we make belongs in a bath. We would rather write that plainly than let a "100% waterproof" line on a listing do the work. The two rings reach IPX6 easily for a reason worth knowing: they have a sealed, non-replaceable cell and therefore no charging port, and a port is the opening a rating usually fails at.
Frequently asked questions
What does IPX6 mean?
It means the device was tested against powerful water jets: a 12.5 mm nozzle delivering 100 litres per minute at 100 kPa from 2.5 to 3 metres, for at least 3 minutes. In practice that covers rinsing under a tap and using it in the shower. It does not cover submersion.
Can I put an IPX6 sex toy in the bath?
No. Submersion is the IPX7 test, and IPX6 does not include it. The two ratings test different things, so a device can pass one and fail the other. Unless a product is marked IPX7, IPX8 or a dual mark like IPX6/IPX8, keep it out of baths, buckets and pools.
Is IPX7 better than IPX6?
Not straightforwardly. The liquid scale is cumulative only up to level 6, so IPX6 covers everything below it. Above that, IPX7 means immersion but does not guarantee jet resistance, and IPX6 means jets but not immersion. Devices that do both carry two marks.
What does the X in IPX mean?
The X replaces the solids digit and means dust protection was not tested or is not being claimed. It is not a zero and not a rating. IPX6 therefore tells you about water only. A full code like IP68 would state both dust and water protection.
Does a waterproof rating mean I can use soap on it?
Not strictly. All IP tests use clean fresh water, so soap is outside the rating: surfactants lower surface tension and can seep through gaps plain water bridges. A small amount of mild soap on the outside, rinsed off promptly, is fine. Leaving a device soaking in soapy water is not.
Can I boil a waterproof sex toy?
Only if it is non-porous silicone with no motor or battery, for 3 to 5 minutes. No IP rating covers boiling. Sealed air inside an electronic device expands and stresses the seams, and a lithium cell in boiling water is a real hazard. TPE deforms and must never be boiled.
Why did my waterproof toy stop working after a shower?
Most often the charging port, where a rubber flap was not fully closed or its seal has worn from repeated opening. Other common causes are a seam opened by an earlier drop, hot water drawing moisture past the seals as it cools, and soap getting through where plain water would not.
Does an IP rating last forever?
No. Ratings are type-tested once on a new sample. Drops, stretching, heat cycling and ageing gaskets all degrade the seal, and nobody re-certifies your device. As a toy ages, treat it one step more cautiously than its label: submersible becomes rinse-only, rinse-only becomes wipe-clean.
What if a listing just says "100% waterproof"?
Then no standardised test has been claimed. A real claim has a code: IPX4, IPX6, IPX7 and so on. Marketing words like waterproof, water resistant and splash proof have no fixed definition. If there is no digit, assume splash resistance at best and never submerge it.
Are any Thirdbase products submersible?
No. Our motorised products are IPX6, which covers rinsing and shower use but not baths. Between the Cheeks has no motor, so it can be washed thoroughly and boiled for 3 to 5 minutes. We would rather state that than let "waterproof" imply something the rating does not support.
We make sex toys, not diagnoses. When in doubt, rinse, do not submerge.
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