The best tattoo apps for Android

Tattoos are a big deal. They’re permanent expressions of art, and those with tattoos are usually very proud. It’s not something a phone can give you. However, there are plenty of apps for tattoo fans. With a few apps and taps, you can find tattoo ideas, tattoo artists, and other content on the Internet. Many super generic tattoo design apps exist, but we think we can do better. Here are the best tattoo apps for Android!

Adobe Illustrator Draw

Price: Free / Up to $52.99 per month

Adobe Illustrator Draw is one of the best drawing apps for Android. You can use it to draw up various tattoo designs and ideas. The app features layers, up to 64x zoom for finer details, and other drawing tools. Of course, many people may seek out existing ideas. However, the artistically inclined may want to use their phone to draw out their own, which is a good start. It has roots in Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite, which ranges up to $52.99 monthly. However, you can use most of the app without it.

Google Maps is a bit of an obvious pick, but it still fits the criteria. Google Maps is probably the best way to find tattoo artists in your area, along with their phone numbers and hours of operation. You can also find tattoo artists in cities you’re unfamiliar with if you travel to see one far away. That’s about all Maps is good for, but it’s still a powerful and helpful app. Open it and search for tattoo artists!

Google Search

Price: Free

Google Search is another reasonably obvious pick, but it’s one that millions of people turn to for tattoo ideas. You can search for views across all of Google’s image searches. You can also search for nearby tattoo artists, find outlets of communication with other tattoo fans, and find additional information. For the most part, though, people use the app frequently for tattoo ideas. It’s easy to use, and you already know how this works. Why fix what isn’t broken?

Inkhunter is one of the better tattoo apps for ideas. It’s also one of the most unique. You can search the app for a variety of tattoo ideas. However, the app also lets you use augmented reality to try out the tattoo on your body. Point the camera at your body parts, and the tattoo will appear over it. You can also add your own images from drawing apps or Google Search to see how those tats would look. This is one of the ones we would recommend first.

LayerPaint HD

Price: $5.49

LayerPaint HD is another powerful drawing app. You can use it to draw anything, but we recommend it for tattoo ideas for this list. The app has several features, including support for pen pressure, Wacom tablets, and other professional tools. You can also export to Photoshop if you need to. Other features include a metric ton of art tools, layer support, and more. It’s a tad expensive, but at least it’s a single purchase, not a subscription.

Reddit

Price: Free / $5.99 per month / $49.99 per year

Reddit can be a terrible place, but it’s also an excellent spot for tattoos, tattoo ideas, tattoo designs, and fellow tattoo fans. There are excellent and popular subreddits, including Tattoo, Tattoos, and Tattoo Designs. Sometimes, questions go unanswered, especially if the request is complicated. However, you can find a bunch of excellent ideas there. The Reddit app is decent, but third-party options exist if you want to go that route. You can also pick up Reddit Gold and remove ads for the above prices.

Tattoodo

Price: Free / $29.99

Tattoodo is one of the more popular tattoo apps for design ideas. It features designs from over 500,000 artists and boasts a user base of over six million people. We’re unsure if they’re all active, but it adds a lot of content to browse through. You can browse ideas in various categories and even book appointments with tattoo artists in your area. The Google Play reviews suggest that booking through the app is a bit troublesome. Otherwise, it’s a must-try for someone wanting a tattoo.

Tattoo Designs

Price: Free

Tattoo Designs is one of the many generic tattoo apps on the Play Store. However, this one seems to be serviceable. You can find a lot of basic designs here, including words, skulls, cards, and other popular tattoo motifs. The app lacks a dedicated search, which is a big deal. However, there are categories, and you’re just surfing through for ideas anyway, so it’s not a big deal. It won’t replace the better options, but it has some good basic stuff if you want to look.

Tattoo Font Designer

Price: Free 

Tattoo Font Designer is precisely what the title implies. This app helps you design fonts for use in tattoos. A selection of fonts is already in the app to get you started, or you can make your own. This is a calligraphy app at its core, but because calligraphy is such a big part of tattoos, the developers combined the two ideas. Even if you have no intention of getting a tattoo, this one is just fun to play with. The free version has a bunch of ads, but it’s otherwise quite functional. 

Tattoo Planet

Price: Free

Tattoo Planet is our diamond in the rough pick. The app is a social media-style experience. You follow artists and shops either in your area or all over the world. You check out other people’s work and get ideas for yourself. There is also a function to book a tattoo appointment from the app from a local shop. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have every local shop, but it has a few. This app has potential, and we hope to see it improve over the next year or two.