Ink30: Tattoo Aftercare Days

Dog_Foot

About this app

A new tattoo makes the days feel long. The weeping on day one, the flaking that starts around day three: the first time you go through it, all of it reads as a problem. Instead of opening a search tab at midnight, open Ink30. Enter one thing, the day you got tattooed, and the next 30 days lay themselves out one at a time.

Today's screen holds two things: the care that matters right now, and what people commonly see at this point. "Around Day 6, flaking and itching are common" sits on the same card. Flip that card and the day's stamp lands on it: THIS IS NORMAL FOR TODAY. One a day, and after a month thirty stamps are the record of how it settled.

■ When can I do that again?
Showering is fine today, but what about the pool? The sauna, the gym, shaving, booking the touch-up. Eleven activities in all, filed under Water, Exercise, Sun and Everyday. Each one sits at Still early, Fine with care, or Usually fine by now, counted from your own date. Not "two to four weeks", but "in 8 days, from Day 28". Whatever opens up next also shows on today's screen.

■ Home screen widget
Which day you are on, whether the stamp is in, how many steps you still have to tick, what opens up next, all without going into the app. Tap it and you land on today's card.

■ The 30 days and the stamp board
Look ahead across all 30 days, grouped into the wrapped stage, the flaking stage and the settling stage. Each day carries a line on why this step, now, and the board of 30 squares shows the run so far at a glance. Come to it on Day 9 and it opens on Day 9; whatever you missed is written up as something to pick up from now on.

■ A daily nudge, if you want it
Switch it on and one notification a day walks you back to the card. Its lock screen text is plain by default, down to leaving the word tattoo out, so a phone face-up on a desk says nothing about you. When Day 30 passes, the notifications finish without you turning them off.

■ Signs worth a second look
Redness that spreads, heat that keeps building: widely cited warning signs are listed plainly, with no verdict attached, alongside a nudge to check with your artist or a doctor.

■ A care guide, not a diagnosis
A photo upload screen was never built here, and neither was a symptom form. Every line follows from one thing only, how many days it has been, and every screen repeats that your artist's instructions come first. The timings were compiled against dermatology sources, public health bodies and manufacturer instructions; where sources disagree, it says so as a range, like "usually around two to three weeks".

■ Three records, and that is the lot
A date, a run of stamps, and the care steps you ticked off day by day. All three live in Ink30's own storage on the handset, which is why the app asks you to register for nothing and keeps no copy of you elsewhere. Settings clears the lot when you want it gone, and uninstalling takes it along.

■ What is not in here
No ads, no purchases, no subscription, no marketing mail. The Timeline tab does count your stamp streak, since that is part of the record, but nothing prods you to protect it. All of it free.

Yesterday's session or one from ten days ago: put the date in and you start from today's card.

What’s new

First release.

A new tattoo makes the days feel long. The weeping on day one, the flaking that starts around day three: the first time you go through it, all of it reads as a problem. Instead of opening a search tab at midnight, open Ink30. Enter one thing, the day you got tattooed, and the next 30 days lay themselves out one at a time.