Science 2026-03-14 3 min read

A smartphone app doubled time to ejaculation in men with premature ejaculation

The CLIMACS trial tested a digital-first approach combining mindfulness, behavioral therapy, and physical exercises - no pills required

Time from penetration to ejaculation: 61 seconds. That was the average baseline for men enrolled in the CLIMACS study, a German trial testing whether a smartphone app could treat premature ejaculation - a condition affecting up to 30% of men, yet one that only 9% ever seek medical help for.

After 12 weeks of using the app, that number doubled to 125 seconds. Men in the control group, who received no intervention, gained an average of half a second.

The stigma bottleneck

Premature ejaculation is the most common male sexual dysfunction, but the gap between prevalence and treatment is vast. The condition carries significant stigma, and the most accessible medical options - pills like dapoxetine or topical numbing creams - treat symptoms rather than underlying causes. Many men try these pharmacological approaches, find them unsatisfying or disruptive to spontaneity, and discontinue them. The psychological burden remains.

The causes are complex: anxiety, stress, depression, relationship difficulties, and a feedback loop of worry and performance pressure that makes things worse. Addressing these root drivers typically requires therapy with a trained professional - a step that most men find even harder to take than visiting a doctor.

An app that delivers evidence-based therapeutic techniques privately, at home, on a user's own schedule, could bridge that gap. That was the hypothesis behind the CLIMACS trial, presented at the European Association of Urology Annual Congress (EAU26) in London.

What the app teaches

The Melonga App was designed by urologists and psychologists to address the psychological and physiological dimensions of premature ejaculation simultaneously. Its program includes mindfulness exercises to improve arousal awareness, cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to manage anxiety, and physical exercises like the start-stop method to build ejaculatory control.

The approach is structured as guided training - users progress through modules designed to help them recognize arousal levels and develop better control over timing. It does not prescribe medication.

The trial results

The CLIMACS study recruited 80 men without other underlying health conditions into a 12-week randomized controlled trial at Marburg University and Medical Faculty Heidelberg. Participants completed health questionnaires about their physical and psychological experiences during sex and used a stopwatch to measure intravaginal ejaculatory latency time (IELT) - the interval from penetration to ejaculation. Sixty-six patients submitted complete data.

The results were clear. App users saw their average IELT increase by 64 seconds, from 61 to 125 seconds. The control group showed essentially no change. Beyond raw timing, app users reported significantly better ejaculatory control, less worry about their condition, and reduced negative impact on their relationships. Sexuality-related quality of life measures - enjoyment, confidence, satisfaction - all improved in the app group compared with no change among controls.

Perhaps most striking: after 12 weeks, 22% of men who used the app no longer met diagnostic criteria for premature ejaculation based on self-reported measures. Nearly a quarter of participants were, by their own assessment, no longer experiencing the condition at all.

An 80-person study, not a final answer

The study has important limitations. Eighty participants is a small sample. The results have not yet been peer-reviewed - the data presented at EAU26 represent final results expected to be published later this year. Measurement relied partly on self-reporting and stopwatch timing, which introduces variability. And the study excluded men with other health conditions, meaning the results may not generalize to the broader population of men with premature ejaculation.

There is also no data yet on partner satisfaction. Giorgio Russo, associate professor of urology at the University of Catania and chair of the EAU Office of Young Academic Urologists, noted that a larger follow-up study examining partner outcomes would be a valuable next step.

The control group was offered the app after 12 weeks and followed for an additional 12 weeks, but comparative results from that crossover phase have not been detailed.

Digital therapeutics in a stigmatized space

The broader significance here may be less about the specific app and more about the model. Digital therapeutics - apps that deliver evidence-based interventions for medical conditions - have gained traction in areas like insomnia, substance use, and chronic pain. Sexual health has lagged behind, partly because of the stigma that makes even clinical research in this area harder to fund, recruit for, and discuss publicly.

Lead researcher Christer Groeben framed the app as a bridge for men who are not ready to see a doctor but are looking for credible, structured help. The app is currently available in Ireland, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Belgium.

For the roughly one in three men who experience premature ejaculation at some point, the message from this small trial is cautiously encouraging: a structured, app-delivered program of psychological and physical techniques can meaningfully improve the condition - and for some, resolve it entirely. Whether those results hold up in larger, peer-reviewed studies is the next question to answer.

Source: CLIMACS study presented at the European Association of Urology Annual Congress (EAU26), London, March 14, 2026. Led by Dr. Christer Groeben, Marburg University and Medical Faculty Heidelberg at Heidelberg University, Germany. Final results not yet peer-reviewed; publication expected later in 2026.