Getting started as a collector

• Open your profile and meet the tabs

  Tap the rightmost icon in the bottom bar — that's your profile. Across the top of your profile you'll see these tabs:

  • Collections — photos of work you've had done. Tap Add Post to add a new piece.
  • Bookmarks — every post you've saved. Use the filter button on the right to narrow by category.
  • Events — events you've shown interest in or joined.
  • Jobs — your job applications.

  When other people view your profile:

  • Collections and Bookmarks are visible by default.
  • Events are hidden by default. Turn the Events tab on — globally or per-event — from Settings → Privacy and Visibility when you want visitors to see them.
  • Jobs are always private to the account owner. Other people will never see this tab.

• Browse the Feed and the Map

  Two tabs in your bottom bar are where you find people and posts: the Feed and the Map.

  The Feed shows posts grouped by category — Tattoo, Piercing, Permanent Makeup, Body Modification, Laser Removal — plus dedicated feeds for Studios and Collectors. Use the filter button at the top of any feed to narrow by style, color, placement, location, and more.

  You can also reorder or hide categories to put what you care about first. Tap the Edit button on the category strip — drag categories into your preferred order, hide any you don't want, then save.

  The Map shows studios and independent practitioners as pins. Tap a pin to open the studio's info, team, events, and job offers. Use the Map filters to find, for example, tattoo artists who do traditional and speak French near you. See finding artists and studios on the map for the full tour.

• Bookmark posts you might come back to

  Anywhere you see a post on InkMap, the bookmark icon saves it to your Bookmarks tab. In the tab, the filter button opens the same filter sheet the Feed uses (category, style, etc.).

  By default, client bookmarks are public — anyone visiting your profile can browse them. If you'd rather keep them private, open Settings → Privacy and Visibility and switch the bookmark visibility toggle.

• Book a session with a practitioner

  Open any practitioner's profile and tap Book Now at the top. Two kinds of booking exist:

  • Tattoo artists and body modification practitioners — negotiation booking. You describe the project; they propose terms (date, duration, price, deposit). You can accept or counter-propose until everything is agreed.
  • Piercers, permanent makeup, and laser removal practitioners — direct booking. You pick a service and an open slot in their calendar.

  If the practitioner hasn't finished setting up their booking system yet, Book Now shows an explainer with a Notify Practitioner button — tapping it sends a booking interest card so they know you want to book once they're ready. If their calendar is just temporarily closed, you'll see a "Calendar Temporarily Closed" message and the path forward is to reach them via the Message button on their profile.

• Post your first piece

  When the session is done, you can post the result. From your Collections tab, tap Add Post. The form first asks you to pick a posting mode:

  • Showcase a piece — for one specific practitioner. You'll tag the practitioner who did the work, and they confirm the tag and review the post in the background.
  • Collection / Model — for a full look, a model shoot, or a multi-artist piece. No practitioner tag. A moderator reviews the post in the background.

  Your post goes live immediately — it's visible in feeds the moment you submit it. While the reviewer is still looking at it, only you see a small "Pending verification" badge on the full-card view; everyone else sees a clean post. If the reviewer accepts, the badge disappears. If they reject the post, it's hidden from public feeds (you still see it on your own profile, and you can dispute the rejection from your Community Standing page).

  Once you reach the Trusted Collector tier (see the FAQ below), your future posts skip the review entirely — no badge, no background check.

• Stay updated on the people and events you care about

  InkMap has three ways to follow what's happening, and they do different things.

  Follow a practitioner or studio. On any profile, tap Follow. Their posts will then appear in your Feed when you switch the feed mode from Discovery to Following (toggle at the top of any feed).

  Subscribe to news from a studio or tattoo artist. On studio and tattoo-artist profiles, you'll see a bell icon next to Follow. Tap it to pick what kind of news you want pushed to you. The options depend on who you're subscribing to:

  • On a studio — Event creation (when the studio announces a new event) and Job offers (when they post a new job).
  • On a tattoo artist — Guest spots (when they confirm a guest spot somewhere).

  The bell only appears on profiles that actually have something to broadcast. On other profiles (clients and other practitioner types) there's nothing pushed yet, so no bell.

  You can subscribe without following, and vice versa.

  Subscribe to a specific event. On any event card or event detail page, tap the bell icon. You'll get reminders before the event starts.

  To see everything you've subscribed to in one place, open the Notifications tab (bottom bar) and switch to the News subtab. There you'll find:

  • A Calendar view that lays out events, jobs, guest spots, and interview slots on a date grid. Toggle between Discovery mode (everything in your area) and Following mode (just things from people you've subscribed to).
  • An All / Events / Jobs / Guests list view for the same items in chronological order.
  • A settings icon that opens News Notification Settings — radius around your location, which event and job types to include, and reminder timing.

  For global push controls (turn pushes on or off, set quiet hours), open Settings → Push Notifications.

• The owner-tools row above your Collections grid has three pills: Reorder (drag your posts), Collabs (Featured tags from practitioners), and Moderation (your Community Standing — trust score, validations, warnings).
• The Moderation pill opens the same Community Standing surface you can also reach from Settings → Community Standing. The Validations tab there shows your Pending and Rejected collection posts. Anyone can open the Moderation tab inside Community Standing — moderators see the queue; everyone else sees an explanation of how to qualify.
• You can run separate client and professional accounts side by side. From your profile, tap your username at the top to open the account switcher and add an existing account or create a new one.

Frequently asked questions

How do I become a Trusted Collector?

Trust is a numeric score. Once it reaches 10 points you become a Trusted Collector, and your future posts go live without review. You earn points mainly by posting work that gets approved (+1 per approved post), having posts that aren't reported during the post-safety window (+1), and through other community contributions tracked on your Community Standing page.

Why does my post show a "Pending verification" badge?

Until you're a Trusted Collector, every post you make is reviewed in the background after going live. The badge is owner-only — only you see it; everyone else sees a clean post. Showcase posts go to the practitioner you tagged — they confirm the work is theirs. Collection / Model posts go to a moderator. The badge disappears once the reviewer accepts. If they reject, the post is hidden from public feeds and you'll see the rejection in your Community Standing page (with a Dispute button if you disagree). For more on how that review works, see How moderation works.

Can I switch from a client account to a professional account?

No — account type is set when you create the account and can't be changed. If you want a professional account, create a new one with a different email. You can keep both accounts active and switch between them with the in-app account switcher (tap your username on your profile).

Will other people see what I've bookmarked?

By default yes — client bookmarks are public. To make yours private, go to Settings → Privacy and Visibility and switch the bookmark visibility toggle.

What's the difference between Follow and the bell icon on a profile?

Follow affects what shows up in your Feed (your "Following" feed mode shows posts from people you follow). The bell icon affects what shows up in your Notifications — specifically the News tab. They're independent: you can follow without subscribing, or subscribe without following.

Why don't I see a bell on every profile?

The bell only shows up on profiles that broadcast push-worthy news today. That's studios (event creation, job offers) and tattoo artists (guest spots). Piercers, permanent-makeup, body-modification and laser-removal practitioners — and other clients — don't currently emit notifications, so the bell is hidden there. If you want to keep up with someone in those categories, use Follow: their posts will appear in your Following feed.