There are 6 different settings. 1-3 are constant vacuum. 4-6 are vacuum and then release. I preferred the 4-6 settings as it offers a resting period in between cycles. The power button acts as a pause button as well if you need to. The lips are where you change the vacuum setting and the mode. The cloud with arrows is where you can manually release the vacuum if you need to. The quality of this is sooooo much better then the manual one I have. And much easier to use. It is fairly quiet, although it does make noise because the pump. I recommend if you are going to use this, always use lube. Both on you and the pump. I find myself just sitting here and teaching for it because it is so amazing!