I tried the viral RenPho Eye Massager, and it’s the ultimate way to unwind

The Pocket-lint team keeps our eyes on interesting collaborations of traditional tech with everyday devices. The Renpho Eyeris 1 fits that mold perfectly, quickly raising our speculative eyebrows and curiosity.

Many of our writers and editors (myself included) spend the majority of our day with our eyes aimed at a screen, leading to eye strain and, personally, increased migraine frequency. As someone with eye strain, frequent headaches, and trouble sleeping, this product seemed like a solution designed for my cyclical struggles.

I hoped to experience some help decompressing after a long day, eye strain relief, and potentially some preventative or reactive headache treatment. I wore the Renpho Eyeris 1 after I logged off for the day and before bed for two weeks straight and tested all of its functions to give my full review of the eye strain relief promised and the speaker technology.

Renpho Eyeris 1 Eye Massager and Speaker

$76 $130 Save $54

This comfortable eye massager is one of the hidden gems of speaker and niche tech combinations. If you suffer from headaches or just want a new device to help you kick back and relax, this might be the perfect addition to your unwinding habits. The Eyeris 1 uses a combination of heat (104-107°F), vibration, and massage (three pressure settings), along with Bluetooth connection to play your favorite music, relaxing sounds, or audiobooks.

Pros

• Customized levels for pressure
• Bluetooth during a massage — gamechanger
• User friendly and intuitive with remote
• Often on sale
• 180° fold down for portability

Cons

• Uses older micro USB FC 5V 1A charger
• Doesn’t come with wall adapter
• Touch buttons on mask are very sensitive

Sound quality and Bluetooth: Easy listening and connectivity

Located on the left and right sides, the speakers are subtly integrated and include five sound levels and the option to mute audio all-together. Additionally, you can control the sound level on the remote (you can buy it for an extra fee), which I prefer as the in-mask touch buttons are ultra-sensitive.

The sound from the speaker won’t go over 45dbs, even at maximum volume, which is more than enough as they are located similar to bone-conduction headphone outputs, near your temples instead of in or on your ears. Think of this sound level as your earbuds in transparent mode, or with one earbud in and one out — but with better sound balance.

The two included soundtracks most resemble elevator music, but elevator music that’s relatively calming. Still, the Bluetooth connection to play your own sound is the star here.

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The Bluetooth connection is ready for pairing when the light is blue on the side of the eye mask, or just press the chain link symbol on the remote. Open your device’s Bluetooth settings and look for Eye Massager. From there, play your favorite relaxation playlist, ASMR, rain sounds, or, if you’re me, an audiobook. The mask and remote include quick controls or shortcuts to adjust volume and skip tracks too.

The five sound levels are programmed appropriately. They can drown out surrounding noise due to proximity to my ears without hurting my eardrums. The middle sound level, two up from mute and two down from maximum, was ideal for lying in bed without annoying my partner with my unwinding journey.

The mask, while it can look overly-techy at first glance was easy to operate without even looking at the manual.

A long press performs one actions while a short press does another, a design decision that makes sense when looking at the compact size and inclusion of only three buttons. The touch buttons are sensitive, however, which is frustrating when trying a long press and having the eye mask read it as a short press first.

However, the remote was immediately understandable — another reason why I highly recommend folks buy the model with the remote for the slight price increase ($8-10). I’ve outlined the controls for the mask and the remote below.

The six mask controls:

• Power button short press: switch modes (heat, vibration, pressure)
• Power button long press: on/off (Bluetooth too)
• Music note short press: adjust volume
• Music note long press: skip track
• Vibrating circle short press: pressure settings, none, soft, strong
• Vibrating circle long press: silent mode/voice mode

The six remote controls:

• M: switch mode (heat, vibration, pressure)
• Chain link: (pair Bluetooth)
• Vibrating circle: pressure settings, none, soft, strong
• Play button short press: skip track
• Play button long press: silent mode/voice mode
• Plus and minus: adjust volume

Comfort and sizing

As someone with a smaller head, I don’t have the highest success rate with one-size fits all devices, and was worried about the adjustable head strap and overall eye mask dimensions. And while the eye massager itself seemed too large when it first came out of the box, it fit snugly over my face. I also had three of my friends with varying head sizes try on the device, and all three found it comfortable after a quick head-strap adjustment.

Easy on the eyes

The material used inside is quick to clean and soft to touch leather. It’s comfortable and didn’t irritate my skin. The manual does warn you to remove facial or eye accessories like glasses, contacts, piercings, and false eyelashes. Those additions could affect the comfort and performance of the device, especially with the heat setting.

The pressure is on, but in a good way

Additionally, the mask features three air pressure settings, which translate to what I would call the massage feature of the eye mask: no pressure, soft pressure, and strong pressure. The heat and compression features positively affected me most for relaxation and tension relief. I didn’t find any compression level, even the strong pressure to provide uncomfortable or too much pressure over my eye area. In fact, I even turned the mask around and put it on my lower skull to relieve some aches and rising headache pain and enjoyed it immensely.

The air pressure or massage feature came up when I asked my mother her thoughts (after I woke her up as she fell asleep during her test). It reminded her of muscle massages used to relieve lactic acid and strained muscles she uses in her work as a physical therapist. This makes sense as Renpho’s product line includes massage guns and leg, foot, neck, and head massagers.

A travel mask

I’d also note that the size and design is easily portable. The sides bend in for a clamshell close to store away in the included bag for transport and quick travel needs.

Charging and battery life

The charging is straightforward, but the device only has a micro-USB port, which is a small knock. Some of the more recent models use USB-C chargers instead. If that’s important to you, aim for the newest models. The charging time listed is 2.5-3 hours, which I found accurate in my testing.

I appreciated the little details, like the red light to signal charging switching to green when it’s ready to use with a full charge. Product specifications state a full charge lasts between 1-2 hours, in terms of uses, I can usually get six 15-minute cycles out of a full charge.

Verdict: The Renpho Eye Massager is my favorite 2024 tiny luxury

During my three weeks of testing, I used this consistently after work for 15 minutes, around 5pm and before bed for another 15 minutes, around 11pm.

It did help me relieve minor headache symptoms that come from eye strain, but I should be clear that I didn’t experience a full-blown debilitating migraine. I can’t definitively say that the consistent use prevented my migraines full-stop, but it did help me relieve stress, which is one of my migraine triggers, so I plan to continue using it during the weekdays.

I recommend this product for its straightforward intended use, to reduce eye strain, help relieve stress, and enjoy personalized sounds through speakers. Listening to my audiobook before bed while the Eyeris 1 did its thing, brought me back to getting a story told before bed as a child — one of the most relaxing and worry-free times.

The charging port and touch sensitivity were initial drawbacks for me, but ones I can adjust around with my preference of using the remote and, given how well the product performed, these weren’t dealbreakers. However, if either of those sound like red flags to you, check out the Renpho listings for products with USB-C chargers and make sure, whatever model you potentially purchase, you throw in a remote.

Renpho Eyeris 1 Eye Massager and Speaker

$76 $130 Save $54