Creating your InkMap account

Step by step

1. 1

   Open the wizard and pick your path

   From the welcome screen tap Create an Account. The wizard first asks "What brings you to InkMap?":

   • I am looking for a Service — the collector path.
   • I am a professional in the industry — the practitioner or studio path.
2. 2

   Collectors: confirm, then move on

   Collectors get a single "How do you connect with tattoo culture?" screen with one Collector option. Tap it and continue.

3. 3

   Professionals: pick your category, then the specific type

   Professionals pick between:

   • Professionals — then your discipline: Tattoo Artist, Piercer, Laser Practitioner, Body Mod Practitioner, or Permanent Makeup Artist.
   • Studios & Shops — then your studio type: Tattoo Studio, Piercing Shop, Laser Removal Studio, Body Modification Studio, or Permanent Makeup Studio.

   The guest-spot system is currently tattoo-only. That means only tattoo artists can travel as guest artists, and only Tattoo Studios can welcome them. Any studio type can employ any practitioner type on the resident team (a piercing shop can have a PMU artist on staff, etc.) — the tattoo-only limit is specifically on guest spots. If your shop welcomes, or plans to welcome, any guest tattoo artist, create a Tattoo Studio, even if you also offer piercing or PMU.

4. 4

   Name, username, credentials

   • First name, last name, and username. Usernames are 4–30 characters, lowercase letters, numbers, dots, and underscores only. No two dots in a row, and the username can't start or end with a dot (underscores at the start or end are fine).
   • Your public profile URL is inkmap.app/<username> — dots are preserved, so john.doe becomes inkmap.app/john.doe.
   • Credentials: either email + password, or tap Sign up with Google. Both methods work for every account type — the account type is decided on the earlier screens, not here.
5. 5

   Address and date of birth

   What this screen asks for depends on your account type:

   • Collectors and practitioners — enter your personal address (where you live). It's used internally for your account and isn't shown publicly on your profile or on the Map. You also pick a date of birth; InkMap is 13+ and anyone younger is rejected on the spot.
   • Studios — enter the shop's address. This single address is both your business location for admin purposes and the address clients see on the Map. Studios don't have a separate personal/workplace split. Right after you confirm it, the wizard runs an absorption check against that address (see Step 8).

   Pick an entry from Google's suggestions in both cases, so the stored address has clean coordinates.

   > Important for practitioners: your personal address ≠ your workplace address. The personal address you enter here is where you live. Your workplace — the address clients see on your profile and the pin on the Map — comes later: either it's the studio you join (Step 6), or you set it up yourself at Step 7 as an independent.

6. 6

   Practitioners: request to join a studio, or continue independent

   After the personal-address step, practitioners land on Select Your Workplace. Search by studio name or address.

   • You find your studio → tap it, then Send Join Request. The studio owner gets a notification and either accepts or rejects. While the request is pending you don't appear on the Map and you aren't on the studio's team yet — you're effectively an unattached practitioner with a request out. If the owner accepts, your workplace address automatically becomes the studio's address and you're on the team. If they reject, you can either request another studio (from any studio's profile) or set up an independent workspace later from Info → General Information.
   • You don't find it, or don't work at one yet → leave the selection empty and tap Continue Without Workplace to go through as an independent practitioner. You'll set your own workplace address on the next screen.
7. 7

   Independents: workplace address and privacy level

   Independents enter a workplace address — this is your actual work location, the one clients see on your profile and the pin on the Map. If you work from home, this can be the same address as your personal one; you still enter it separately here because it has its own privacy setting.

   Three privacy levels for the workplace address:

   • Show Exact Location — full workplace address on your profile, exact pin on the Map.
   • Show Area Only — city and country on your profile; no street.
   • Contact for Location — no address on your profile. Clients have to message you to ask where you work.

   You can change the level (or switch the location on and off entirely) any time from Settings → Independent Workspace.

   > Workaround for studios not yet on InkMap: if your studio hasn't registered, set your workplace address here to the studio's real street address (not your home). When the studio owner later signs up with that same address, you'll be offered in their team-absorption list — one tap and you're a resident. Absorption matches on workplace address, not personal, so this trick only works if you put the studio's address in this step.

8. 8

   Studios: absorb the team already at this address

   Right after the shop address, the wizard shows every independent practitioner whose workplace address matches the shop's. Tick the ones who actually work at your shop and confirm — they become residents on day one. Anyone you don't tick stays independent.

   The match is workplace address ↔ shop address, not personal address. A practitioner who lives next door but has their workplace set somewhere else won't appear in the list — that's by design.

9. 9

   Finish — and, if you used email, verify

   The last screen is Create Account. If you signed up with email + password, InkMap sends a 6-digit code to your inbox and the Verify your email step opens — the account isn't created until you enter it. Google sign-up skips this since Google has already verified the address.

10. 10

    Changing your studio setup later (practitioners)

    Your account type and discipline are locked, but your studio relationship isn't. From a practitioner account you can, at any time:

    • Request to join a studio — open the studio's profile and tap Request to Join. The owner gets a notification and either approves or rejects. You can only request if you're not already on another team.
    • Leave your current studio — open Info → General Information (info card) and tap Leave Studio. You become independent again; your bookings at the studio stay on its calendar, but you disappear from its team.
    • Move to a different studio — leave first, then open the new studio's profile and Request to Join (or search for it right from General Information).
    • Stay independent after leaving — from the same General Information card, set up an independent workspace address + privacy level. Until you do, you won't appear on the Map.

    Studios can also invite practitioners — but only practitioners who aren't already on a team. The Invite to Team button only shows on the profile of an independent practitioner; the studio's Team tab search likewise only finds unattached practitioners. If both sides have a pending request/invite for each other, the system auto-accepts and the practitioner joins the team immediately.

• Right after sign-up, the most useful thing to do is fill in the Info Cards that are required for bookings — Services & Pricing, Working Hours, Policies & Legal, Credentials & Licenses. Clients can't book you until those are set. Everything else (bio, languages, featured images) can wait.
• You can run more than one account on the same device — e.g. a collector account and a practitioner account. Each needs its own email. Tap your username at the top of your profile (small ⌄ indicator) for the Switch Account sheet; it also lets you Add an existing account or Create a new account without signing out.

Frequently asked questions

I picked the wrong account type (or wrong discipline). How do I change it?

You can't — account type and discipline are permanent. Create a new account with a different email address.

I'm a piercer but my shop also hosts tattoo artists. Which studio type?

Tattoo Studio. If the shop welcomes any tattoo artists — resident or guest — pick Tattoo Studio. The guest-spot system is tattoo-only today, and only a Tattoo Studio can use it. Piercers, PMU, laser, and body mod practitioners can still be on the team.

My studio hasn't registered yet. What do I put as my workplace?

Continue without a workplace at the Select Your Workplace step, then on the next screen (the workplace address step for independents) enter the studio's real street address — not your home. Absorption matches on workplace address, so when the studio owner later signs up with that same address, you'll appear in their absorption list and they can add you with one tap.

I left my studio. Am I still visible to clients?

Not on the Map, not until you either join another studio or set up an independent workspace address from Info → General Information. Your profile and posts stay visible everywhere else.

Can I send join requests to several studios at once?

No. Practitioners can have at most one pending join request at a time. The Request to Join button is for artists already working at a studio — it isn't an application form. If your request is pending and you want to switch targets, cancel the existing one first from Info → General Information (the Your Pending Request card) or from the studio's profile (tap Request Pending → Cancel Request).