[InkStory](/) - [Design](/design) - [Demo](/demo) - [Artist Directory](/artists) - [About](/about) - [Contact](mailto:inkstory.care@gmail.com) # About InkStory Updated April 21, 2026 A tattoo is an edited thing. You start with something that matters, simplify it to a shape, carry it on your body for the rest of your life. InkStory is an app that adds one more layer — the tattoo can also keep the original sound, and play it back when you look at the ink. ## How it started I was sitting with my wife one evening and told her I wanted to get a tattoo. I'm a nerd — I co-run [javascript.info](https://javascript.info/about) and spend a lot of time around sound and video editing — so I wanted something nerdy but meaningful, and I didn't know what. She suggested a soundwave. The idea stuck, but I kept thinking: why stop at the shape? What if the tattoo could actually play the sound back? I built the app to find out. My first tattoo is the voice of my daughter at three years old, telling me she loves me. When I scan it, I hear her exactly as she sounded then — a tiny voice I won't hear any other way once she's older. That moment, the one everyone tells you to remember because you'll forget, is no longer something I have to remember. It's on my arm, and I can play it whenever I want. I built InkStory so other people could do the same thing with whatever moment they'd most want to keep. ## What it does Pick a sound — a voice memo, a song, a recording. Something that matters to you. Drop it into the [designer](/design) and InkStory generates three tattoo-ready shapes from the audio's waveform — rough suggestions you can take to an artist. Or skip that step entirely. You can design the tattoo any other way, or already have one, and the rest still works. When the ink is done, open the app, take a photo of it, attach the audio you want linked. Point your camera at the tattoo later; the sound plays. That's the whole thing. If you need an artist, there's a [directory](/artists) of 1,300+ tattoo studios across 55+ countries. Browse by style, by country, by city. Free, no account. ## Why the audio lives on your phone The photo and the audio live on your device, not on a server I control. Platform backups (iCloud, Google One) carry them to new phones when you migrate. If I close the company tomorrow, the app on your phone keeps working — the scanning happens locally, there's no server involved. ## What it costs Free to install, free to try. One-time **$6.99** for unlimited scans. Tied to your Apple ID or Google Play account, so it applies to every device you own. A tattoo is with you for the rest of your life. Charging a subscription for something that permanent feels unfair — I don't want to keep billing you for a tattoo you already got. If you like InkStory and want to use it, one-time is enough. — Sergey Zelenov ## Common questions Does my tattoo need to look a specific way? No. Image recognition works on any visually-distinct tattoo — soundwaves, portraits, lettering, abstract shapes. What matters is that the camera can recognize the image in normal lighting. What happens when I get a new phone? Your tattoos come with your platform backup (iCloud, Google One). Restore on the new device and they're there — same tattoos, same audio, no re-linking. The one-time purchase carries across automatically via your Apple ID or Google Play account. Why not offer cloud-sync as an option? Once you do, the product depends on a server I have to keep running forever. Local-only avoids the whole category of risk — your tattoo keeps working whether I do or not. Can someone else scan my tattoo and hear the audio? No. The link between tattoo and audio lives in your account's storage, not in the ink. Someone else's phone sees a tattoo; only your devices play the audio. Is InkStory venture-funded? No. Bootstrapped, solo-built. There's nothing in the business model that requires InkStory to stay alive for your tattoo to keep working. A tattoo is permanent in a way almost nothing else is. Whatever you attach to it — meaning, memory, a voice saying I love you — gets to stay attached for as long as the ink does. Try it for yourself. Install InkStory, scan a [demo tattoo](/demo), or [design one from a sound](/design). [![Download on the App Store](/images/app-store-badge.svg)](https://apps.apple.com/app/inkstory/id6478854889)[![Get it on Google Play](/images/google-play-badge.svg)](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sergey.zelenov.inkstory) [InkStory](/) The sound behind your tattoo — a voice, a song, a moment — kept on your phone for as long as the tattoo lasts. ### Explore - [About](/about) - [Ideas](/ideas) - [Styles](/styles) - [Demo](/demo) ### Download [![Download on the App Store](/images/app-store-badge.svg)](https://apps.apple.com/app/inkstory/id6478854889)[![Get it on Google Play](/images/google-play-badge.svg)](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sergey.zelenov.inkstory) ### Legal - [Privacy Policy](/privacy) - [Terms of Service](/terms) - [Contact](mailto:inkstory.care@gmail.com) © 2026 InkStory. All rights reserved.