Tattoo Design App for Android: Draw, Try On or Use AI

“Tattoo design app” covers four different jobs: drawing a design yourself, having AI generate one from a description, laying a design over a photo of your arm to compare sizes and positions, and browsing other people’s tattoos for ideas. Few apps do all four, so choose by the job.

We went through the Google Play listings and describe each app from what its maker says there. Keep one thing in mind with the try-on apps. What they produce is a picture placed over a photo. How a design works as a real tattoo is a question for the artist who will do it.

The 2019 version of this article had ten entries. Three were Google Maps, Google Search and Reddit. Of the other seven, only Tattoodo can still be matched to a Google Play listing.

Tattoo apps compared

Draw your own design

The tattoo apps are built around generating and previewing. If you can draw, a general drawing app gives you far more tools, and you export the picture when you are done. This is also the answer for anyone searching for a tattoo design app with no AI.

ibis Paint X has the longest feature list. Its listing covers brushes, layers with blending modes, vector tools, a reference window, and radial and symmetry rulers, which matter for mandalas and anything mirrored. It is free with ads, and the listing says it is made for people who think drawing looks hard.

Sketchbook keeps the screen clear. Its listing describes pencils, markers and airbrushes, layers with blend modes, and guides, rulers and stroke tools for precise lines. Google Play shows no ads label.

Infinite Painter spells out its free tier: every built-in brush, three layers, and the symmetry tools. Larger canvases, more layers and masks need Pro. The listing says it supports stylus pressure and tilt.

Krita, a full painting application, is on Google Play as well, but its listing calls the Android version a beta and says it is not offered for phones yet. If you draw on a tablet, our guide to Android tablet apps covers it.

For words, there is lettering Tattoo – Font Design, which its developer calls Tattify. It sets text in tattoo fonts grouped as calligraphy, Old English, gothic, handwriting and others, with controls for letter spacing, line height and curving the line. The listing says it works offline and handles Latin, Arabic and Korean scripts.

Try a design on a photo

Tatship has the widest set of tools in this group. Its listing describes a camera view that shows a design on your body in real time, where you change the size and position. The design can come from its gallery, from a photo you upload, from a sketch made in the app or from its AI generator. It also lists tattoo artists with portfolios and reviews. Google Play shows in-app purchases and no ads label.

PreInk works from a still photo. You upload a clear picture of the area, pick a design you made in the app, and it applies the design to the photo. The designs come from a typed description plus a style you choose, or from text set in a tattoo font.

Tattoo my Photo 2.0 is the manual version. You take or choose a photo, pick a design from its categories, then move, rotate, resize and fade it, and erase the parts you do not want. You can bring in your own design from another image or type your own text. Its listing calls the editor “mostly free”, with extra tattoo packs to buy. A newer option uses AI to match the design to the light and shadow in the photo.

AI tattoo generators

Tattoo AI – Tattoo Design from HubX follows the usual pattern. You describe the idea, choose a style such as blackwork, fine line, Japanese or lettering, and it generates several concepts. The listing says you can preview one on an arm, hand, back or leg and export a stencil to hand to an artist.

TattooInk states its limits in the first lines of its listing. The Lite version gives a limited number of free generations. Premium makes them unlimited and adds the AR try-out. It also has a library of existing designs.

Stencify is about the stencil, the printable outline of a design. It converts a photo or artwork into a stencil, or generates one from a description, and saves it as a PNG or PDF to print. The listing says in capitals that the AI features need a subscription after two free uses.

Stencify and TattooInk tell you where the free part ends. Tattoo AI, PreInk and Tatship carry an in-app purchases label, and their listings do not say where the free part stops. Find out before you get attached to a design.

Browse designs and find an artist

Tattoodo is the one survivor from the old list, and the app costs nothing: Google Play shows no ads label and no in-app purchases. Its listing describes thousands of tattoo photos, fonts, motifs and designs that you save to mood boards, and a search for artists and studios by place and style. Booking assistants in the app put you in touch with an artist, pass on a quote and book the appointment. Google Play rates it Mature 17+.

Tattooed covers the same ground, with a feed of styles, boards for saved ideas, and a search for artists and shops by city. It adds an AI designer with a Try On feature. The paid tiers named in its listing are for artists and shops that want to be featured.

Which one to pick

• You can draw: ibis Paint X, or Sketchbook if you want no ads. Add the lettering app for text.
• You have a design and want to place it on a photo: Tattoo my Photo 2.0, since its listing says most of it is free. Tatship if you want a live camera view.
• You want ideas from a description: TattooInk, because it tells you up front that free generations are limited.
• You need a stencil to print: Stencify, knowing the AI tools become a subscription after two uses.
• You want to look at real tattoos and find who made them: Tattoodo.

Whatever you end up with, treat it as a reference to show an artist.

What happened to the old list

Adobe Illustrator Draw is gone. Adobe’s support page says Draw and Photoshop Sketch were discontinued for iOS and Android and stopped being available to download from July 19th, 2021. Adobe moved people to Fresco, the same page says Fresco is not on Android, and Google Play has no listing for it.

INKHUNTER, the augmented reality try-on app, has left Google Play. The Google Play link on its own website now leads to a “not found” page. It is still on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Apps on Google Play that use the Inkhunter name today come from other developers.

LayerPaint HD and Inksquad no longer turn up in a search of the store. Tattoo Designs and Tattoo Master are names shared by many apps and games, and we could not tell which ones the old article meant.

Google Maps, Google Search and Reddit can still help you find a studio or ideas. They are not tattoo design apps, so they are not in the table.

Quick answers

Is there a free tattoo design app for Android?

Yes. Tattoodo is free with nothing to buy, and ibis Paint X is free with ads for drawing. The AI generators are free to install and sell in-app purchases. TattooInk and Stencify say in their listings that free use is limited.

Is there an app to try a tattoo on your body?

Tatship shows a design through the camera, and PreInk and Tattoo my Photo 2.0 place one on a photo. All three show a picture on a screen, which helps you compare positions and sizes.

Is there a tattoo design app with no AI?

Use a drawing app. ibis Paint X, Sketchbook and Infinite Painter are general drawing tools, and lettering Tattoo – Font Design sets text in tattoo fonts.

What is a tattoo stencil app?

It turns a picture into a clean outline for printing. Stencify exports stencils as PNG or PDF, and Tattoo AI’s listing says it exports a stencil too.

Is INKHUNTER still on Android?

No. The Google Play page linked from INKHUNTER’s website is not found. The app is still on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.