# Ombra Tattoo

Aiolum story: https://aiolum.com/story/ombra-tattoo/ · added 2026-10-27 · updated 2026-10-27

**In short.** Ombra Tattoo (AI tattoo cover-up, design and try-on app for iPhone and Android, Not stated in the sources; 223 of its 235 App Store ratings come from the Turkish store): US$2.4K verified revenue in one month, September 2026. Evidence grade A: disclosed by a company or a filing, or verified by a payment processor. Team: 1 founder, according to the seller's message on TrustMRR; headcount not published elsewhere. Launched 15 June 2026; still running, revenue falling.

AI tattoo cover-up, design and try-on app for iPhone and Android · Not stated in the sources; 223 of its 235 App Store ratings come from the Turkish store · AI-native · solo founder · still running, revenue falling · group: Photos and portraits

- Outcome: US$2.4K verified revenue in one month, September 2026 (evidence grade of the headline number: A; headline in US dollars: 28824)
- Launch: 15 June 2026; months from launch to the outcome: 3
- Team: 1 founder, according to the seller's message on TrustMRR; headcount not published elsewhere
- Outside funding: None reported
- Main factor: Niche
- Meters, 1 to 4: evidence strength 3, copyable pattern 2, capital needed 1
- Tags: AI-native, Solo founder, Bootstrapped, Running, B2C, Art and design

**The product.** A phone app for people who want to cover an old tattoo or plan a new one. The user uploads a photo of the old tattoo, picks a cover-up style, a color direction and a size, and describes what should replace it; the app generates new designs drawn over the photo. Other flows make a design from a text idea, from a zodiac sign or from a photo of a pet, and version 3.0 of October 2026 shows a design on a photo of the user's arm, leg or back. Each design uses one credit; credits come with weekly or yearly subscriptions or in small packs.

**Why it worked.** Covering an old tattoo is a permanent and expensive decision, and the person wants to see a direction before talking to an artist. The app sells that preview for credits, and the images come from fal.ai, a hosted image-model service, so the founder did not train a model. Revenue rose from US$255 in June 2026 to about US$2,400 in each of August and September, then fell in October.

Evidence grades: A = disclosed by a public company, a filing or a payment processor, or verified by one; B = two or more independent reports agree, or a journalist confirmed it; C = a founder claim that no one else verified; D = reported, not verified: one founder claim or a third-party estimate with no second source; calc = computed on this page from graded facts.

## Summary

Ombra Tattoo is an iPhone and Android app that generates tattoo designs with AI. Its main feature is the cover-up, a new tattoo made over an old one so that the old one is hidden: the user adds a photo of the old tattoo and sees new designs drawn over it. The app also makes designs from a text description, a zodiac sign or a pet photo, and its version of 10 October 2026 brought back a virtual try-on, a picture of the design on a photo of the user's own skin. The images come from generative image models, AI models that draw a new picture from a text prompt and a reference photo; the terms say the photo and the choices are sent to fal.ai. Each design costs one credit, and credits come with weekly plans from US$2.99 to US$9.99 or a yearly plan of US$43.49 on the US App Store.

The app was released on 15 June 2026. The App Store names an individual developer account, NIL AMBER UGUR, as developer and seller, and the seller on two sale marketplaces uses the handle bytwize and writes that the app is "Built and operated by a solo founder". RevenueCat, a service that records in-app subscription purchases, reports the revenue to TrustMRR, a site that reads revenue from the payment provider through an API key, a read-only password for one program to read another program's data. TrustMRR shows US$255 of revenue in June 2026, US$1,238 in July, US$2,412 in August and US$2,402 in September, and US$7,607 in total to 27 October 2026.

The money figures are grade A because they come from the app's own purchase records. The headline month is the best level so far, not the current level: in the 30 days to 27 October 2026 revenue was US$1,689, 25.0% lower than the 30 days before, and MRR, monthly recurring revenue, in which a yearly plan counts as one twelfth of its price, was US$1,120. The app is offered for sale at US$20,000 on whatsthe.app and at US$12,000 on TrustMRR. The page also shows earlier companies that sold a preview before a purchase, or a photo effect, and failed.

## Pricing

Ombra in-app purchases on the US App Store, read 27 October 2026 (grade C)

| Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ombra Premium Weekly |  | 43.29 | US$9.99 a week, renewing credits |
| Ombra Premium Weekly, other prices |  | 25.96 to 34.62 | US$5.99 and US$7.99 a week |
| Ombra Premium Weekly Offer and Weekly Deal |  | 12.96 to 21.62 | US$2.99 and US$4.99 a week |
| Ombra Premium Yearly | 3.62 |  | US$43.49 a year, renewing credits |
| 4 Credits | 2.99 one-time |  | 4 designs |
| 2 Credits | 1.99 one-time |  | 2 designs |

The app is free to download. Each design uses one credit, and the subscriptions include a renewing allowance of credits; the App Store text says that subscriptions "do not provide unlimited generation". Apple lists eight purchases with names and prices; no source says how many credits each plan includes or which users see which weekly price. The per-month values are calculated: a weekly price times 52 divided by 12, the yearly price divided by 12. whatsthe.app shows the same eight prices.

## How much revenue does Ombra Tattoo make? The numbers, graded

A tattoo cover-up app that reached about US$2,400 of verified revenue a month in its third month, then fell, and is offered for sale

| Fact | Value | Grade | Note | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verified revenue, September 2026 | US$2,402 | A | TrustMRR monthly revenue timeline, read from RevenueCat through an API key, revenue last synced 27 October 2026. | [1] |
| Verified revenue, August 2026 | US$2,412 | A | TrustMRR monthly timeline. The best month so far; September was US$10 lower. | [1] |
| Verified revenue by month, 2026 | June US$255; July US$1,238; October to the 26th US$1,300 | A | TrustMRR monthly timeline. June starts on the release day, 15 June. The October figure is the sum of the daily values from 1 to 26 October. | [1] |
| Verified revenue in total, to 27 October 2026 | US$7,607 | A | TrustMRR, all time. Calculated: the five monthly values add up to the same US$7,607. | [1] |
| Run rate at the September level | about US$28,824 a year | calc | Calculated: US$2,402 times 12. Revenue has fallen since then, so this is not the current rate. | [1] |
| Revenue in the 30 days to 27 October 2026 | US$1,689, 25.0% below the 30 days before | A | TrustMRR. Calculated: 29.7% below the September month. | [1] |
| MRR, 27 October 2026 | US$1,120 from 131 active subscriptions | A | TrustMRR metric snapshot. MRR growth over the last 30 days: -29.3%. The MRR has not reached US$2,000 in any source. | [1] |
| whatsthe.app reading of the same account | US$2,104 of revenue in the last 28 days; MRR US$1,454 from 122 active subscriptions | A | whatsthe.app listing, "All metrics are verified with RevenueCat. Last updated: Oct 1, 2026". The page also shows AR of US$25,245 and ARR of US$17,449. Calculated: these equal the 28-day revenue times 12 and the MRR times 12. | [2] |
| The same figures in a newsletter, 14 September 2026 | US$2,104 in 28 days, MRR US$1,454, 122 subscriptions | B | Japanese newsletter that links to the whatsthe.app page: "直近28日売上が 2,104ドル" (revenue in the last 28 days is US$2,104, translation) and "2026年9月12日にRevenueCatで更新されています" (it was updated with RevenueCat on 12 September 2026, translation). whatsthe.app shows the same three numbers with the date 1 October 2026; no source explains the two dates. | [3, 2] |
| Change in MRR from 1 to 27 October 2026 | down 23.0% | calc | Calculated: from US$1,454.11 on whatsthe.app to US$1,120 on TrustMRR. The two sites read the same RevenueCat account. | [2, 1] |
| Profit margin in the last 30 days | 41.0% | C | TrustMRR metric snapshot. The costs behind it are not shown, and the profile does not list them among the verified sources. | [1] |
| Asking price | US$20,000 on whatsthe.app; US$12,000 on TrustMRR | C | Entered by the seller. Both listings started on 9 September 2026. whatsthe.app calls its price 0.8 times revenue, TrustMRR 0.6 times. Calculated: the TrustMRR price is 1.58 times the total revenue to date. | [2, 1] |
| Buyer interest, 27 October 2026 | TrustMRR: 514 interested buyers who saw it recently, 8 offers; whatsthe.app: 25 buyers viewed, 1 inquiry | B | Counts shown by the two marketplaces. | [1, 2] |
| Team | 1 founder | C | Seller's message on TrustMRR: "Built and operated by a solo founder". The company's about page says "Ombra is built by the Ombra team" and gives no number. | [1, 7] |
| Developer of record | NIL AMBER UGUR, an individual developer account, on the App Store | B | Apple names the same account as developer and seller, and the copyright line reads "© 2026 Nil Amber Uğur". The seller on both marketplaces is the handle bytwize; no source links the handle to the name. Google Play lists a different individual as developer. | [4, 5, 7] |
| Release date | 15 June 2026 | B | Version 1.0 in the App Store version history. whatsthe.app gives the same worldwide release date, and TrustMRR starts its revenue in June 2026. | [4, 2, 1] |
| Ratings, 27 October 2026 | 235 App Store ratings with an average of 4.4, of which 223 in the Turkish store; 3.6 from 8 ratings in the US store | B | Apple's ratings by country as shown on whatsthe.app, and the US App Store page. Google Play shows 100+ downloads. | [2, 4, 5] |
| Age rating | 9+ on the App Store, with "Infrequent" "Mature or Suggestive Themes"; Everyone on Google Play | B | The terms ask for users of at least 13, and for the consent of a parent below the age of majority. They forbid sexually explicit uploads. | [4, 5, 8] |
| AI provider | fal.ai | C | Terms and privacy policy: the choices and any photo "are sent to our AI image provider, fal.ai". No source names the model. | [8, 9] |
| Time from release to the headline month | 3 months | calc | Calculated: June 2026 to September 2026. | [4, 1] |

How to read this table: a grade A value was read from the app's RevenueCat account through an API key, by TrustMRR or by whatsthe.app. A grade B value is a record that Apple or Google shows, or a figure that a newsletter read on the verified page. A grade C value was written by the seller or the company, on a sale listing, on its own site or in its terms. A "calc" value was computed on this page from the rows above it.

## When did Ombra Tattoo launch, and how did it grow? Timeline

From release on 15 June 2026 to a sale listing and a falling October, in four months. Each entry carries its grade.

- **15 June 2026** (grade A [4, 1]): Version 1.0 on the App Store. Revenue in the second half of June: US$255.
- **18 to 22 June 2026** (grade B [4]): Versions 1.1 to 1.3 add Portuguese and Spanish and "More accurate designs".
- **23 June 2026** (grade C [8]): The terms of service are dated: photos and choices go to fal.ai; RevenueCat and Sentry are named as service providers.
- **July 2026** (grade A [4, 1]): Japanese on 13 July, a redesigned subscription screen with "Real before/after cover-up examples" on 29 July. Verified revenue for the month: US$1,238.
- **August 2026** (grade A [1, 9]): Verified revenue US$2,412, the best month so far. The privacy policy of 22 August describes Meta's advertising measurement in the app.
- **9 September 2026** (grade B [2, 1, 4]): Listed for sale on whatsthe.app and TrustMRR. Version 2.6 makes cover-up the first option.
- **14 September 2026** (grade B [3]): A Japanese newsletter lists it among ten small apps with verified revenue: US$2,104 in 28 days.
- **September 2026** (grade A [1]): Verified revenue US$2,402.
- **5 October 2026** (grade C [7]): The about page says that the app "does not place arbitrary designs on bare skin".
- **10 October 2026** (grade B [4]): Version 3.0: "Virtual Try-On is back" and "Pet Portraits are back".
- **27 October 2026** (grade A [1, 2]): TrustMRR: US$1,689 in the last 30 days, MRR US$1,120, US$7,607 in total. Asking price US$12,000 there and US$20,000 on whatsthe.app.

## Why did Ombra Tattoo work?

### One painful case of a common wish

Many apps generate tattoo designs; the App Store page lists ten similar apps next to this one. Ombra puts the cover-up first, a case with a clear problem, an old tattoo the person regrets, and since version 2.6 it is the first option in the app. The site lists 15 guides on cover-ups, such as name, wrist and blackout cover-ups, and 15 pages on cover-ups by body area or motif.

### A rented image model

The terms say that each request goes to fal.ai, a service that runs image models for other companies. The founder did not train a model; the work is in the guided choices, the prompts, the photo flows and the paywall.

### Credits on a subscription

Each design costs one credit, and a subscription refills the credits. This ties what a user pays to the number of image model calls, because subscriptions "do not provide unlimited generation". Weekly prices from US$2.99 to US$9.99 sit next to a yearly plan of US$43.49.

### Paid ads and app-store search

TrustMRR lists Instagram, Meta Ads and app store optimization as marketing channels, and the privacy policy says that the app sends each purchase to Meta for ad measurement. App store optimization means choosing the store title and words for each country's searches; the about page lists the App Store title for ten storefronts. No source says which channel brought most customers.

## How it was built

These details come from the app's terms, privacy policy and site (grade C), the App Store and Google Play pages (grade B) and the TrustMRR profile.

- Image generation by fal.ai, according to the terms and the privacy policy. Photos go to the company's server and then to fal.ai; the policy says they are not used to train models.
- RevenueCat manages the subscriptions and credits on both stores, and TrustMRR and whatsthe.app read the revenue from it.
- Sentry records crashes and errors. The Meta software kit measures ads and receives a purchase event after each paid checkout.
- One app on both stores under the package name app.we.are.OmbraTattoo; the iPhone app is 96.6 MB and needs iOS 16.4 or later.
- 18 versions in the App Store history from 15 June to 10 October 2026, and seven app languages: English, Turkish, Portuguese, two kinds of Spanish, Greek and Japanese.
- A website in English, Turkish and Portuguese with cover-up guides, a blog and a report called The State of Tattoo Cover-Ups 2026.

Sources: [8, 9, 1, 4, 5, 7, 6, 10]

## Who tried this before Ombra Tattoo, and why did they fail?

Four companies in the Loot Drop database sold a preview before a purchase, or a photo effect for consumers, and failed. The values below are from that database and are not independently verified.

The failed startups come from Loot Drop (https://www.loot-drop.io/), a free database of dead startups, retold here in our own words; Loot Drop describes its entries as AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so they carry no evidence grade.

### Modsy (2015 to 2022; funding US$72.7M; cause: Unit Economics)

- Promise: Upload photos of a room and see it with new furniture before buying.
- Why it died: Each room needed hours of human designer time, and customers from paid social ads cost more than they paid over their lifetime.
- Record: https://www.loot-drop.io/startup/2521-modsy

### Try.com (2018 to 2022; funding US$4M; cause: Unit Economics)

- Promise: Try items at home before you pay for them.
- Why it died: High operating costs, few retailers willing to adopt it, and large stores with free returns already offered the same safety.
- Record: https://www.loot-drop.io/startup/668-trycom

### Kujiale (2011 to 2025; funding US$550M; cause: No Market Need)

- Promise: Design a home in 3D with photorealistic renders, then buy what you designed.
- Why it died: Users played with the tool and left, because most buyers wanted an expert to design for them; AI tools then made its technology common.
- Record: https://www.loot-drop.io/startup/2371-kujiale

### Seerslab (2016 to 2019; funding US$5M; cause: Competition)

- Promise: Augmented reality effects for selfies and social posts.
- Why it died: Snapchat already had AR filters built in, and no large social platform partnered with it.
- Record: https://www.loot-drop.io/startup/1463-seerslab

## What changed

Modsy, Try.com and Kujiale each sold a way to see a result before committing, and each preview cost them real work or real technology: designer hours per room, clothes shipped and returned, or a 3D engine and a furniture catalog. Modsy's paid social customers cost more than they brought in. Seerslab built its own photo effects and lost to a platform that offered them for free.

Ombra's preview costs one call to an image model at fal.ai, and the app charges for it with credits, so each preview pays for itself. What did not change is the problem of customer cost: the app uses Meta ads, its MRR fell 29.3% in the 30 days to 27 October 2026, and whatsthe.app shows a lifetime value (LTV), the revenue that one customer brings over the whole time they pay, of US$79. A buyer has to make each new customer cost less than that.

## Can one person copy Ombra Tattoo now?

**Verdict: The format, yes. The market is crowded.**

A single-purpose app that puts a rented image model behind one permanent decision, with a guided flow, credits and a weekly or yearly plan, can be built and run by one person; Ombra shipped 18 versions in four months. The App Store lists ten other tattoo apps next to it, and Ombra's own revenue fell in October 2026, so the hard part is the cost of each customer, not the product.

1. Pick a narrow, painful case inside a common wish: covering an old tattoo instead of tattoo ideas in general.
2. Call a hosted image model through an API, and spend the work on the choices, the prompts and the screen that draws the result over the user's own photo.
3. Charge per image with credits that a subscription refills, so heavy users cannot cost more than they pay.
4. Write the store title and the guides for each language's searches, and measure ads per purchase before spending more.

**What is still open.** Other permanent changes to the body or the home where one photo is enough input and the person wants to see a direction before paying a professional: scars, hair colour, a house front.

## What could go wrong for Ombra Tattoo?

- **Revenue is falling.** Verified revenue was US$2,412 in August 2026 and US$2,402 in September, then US$1,300 in October to the 26th. The last 30 days show US$1,689, 25.0% below the 30 days before, and MRR fell to US$1,120. The headline month is the best level so far, not the current one, and the MRR has never been near US$2,000.
- **Two marketplaces, two prices.** The seller asks US$20,000 on whatsthe.app and US$12,000 on TrustMRR, for the same app and the same RevenueCat account. whatsthe.app shows figures dated 1 October 2026, which a newsletter had already printed on 14 September with the date 12 September.
- **Who runs it.** The App Store names an individual account, NIL AMBER UGUR, as developer and seller; Google Play names a different individual; the seller is the handle bytwize, with 24 followers on whatsthe.app. The seller writes "Built and operated by a solo founder", and the about page says "the Ombra team". No source links the handle to either name.
- **Other apps of the same developer.** The App Store lists eleven more apps under NIL AMBER UGUR, among them "Tinnitus & Ear Ringing Relief" ("Sound Therapy & Masking Aid"), "Couple Baby Face Generator" ("AI Predictor & Photo Maker") and "Rock Value: Stone ID". Ombra's own site and store pages do not link to them. This page judges only Ombra.
- **Try-on removed and restored.** The about page, updated 5 October 2026, says that the app "does not place arbitrary designs on bare skin". Version 3.0 of 10 October says "Virtual Try-On is back". A buyer should check which features the app has on the day of the sale.
- **Body photos, an age rating of 9+ and ad tracking.** Users upload photos of their arm, leg or back, which go to fal.ai. The App Store rates the app 9+ with infrequent mature or suggestive themes, and the terms admit users from 13 with a parent's consent. The App Store privacy label lists identifiers and usage data used to track users, and the privacy policy describes Meta's ad measurement.

## Sources

1. TrustMRR markdown profile: Ombra Tattoo, read 27 October 2026 — https://trustmrr.com/startup/ombra-tattoo.md (grade A). Read the markdown profile in full. Revenue by day and month, total revenue, MRR and subscriptions are read from RevenueCat through an API key, last synced 27 October 2026 (grade A). The seller's message, the asking price, the marketing channels and the profit margin are entered by the seller (grade C).
2. whatsthe.app listing: Ombra Tattoo, read 27 October 2026 — https://www.whatsthe.app/ombra-tattoo (grade A). Read in full, including the data embedded in the page. Revenue, MRR and subscriptions are verified with RevenueCat, last updated 1 October 2026; the asking price and the founder handle are entered by the seller (grade C). The site's robots.txt allows this path.
3. かわきのAIニュースレター, 14 September 2026: 【Appストアの売上】今週見つけた海外の個人開発アプリ売上リサーチ10選｟個人開発アプリ｠個人開発/アプリ売上/マネタイズ/副業/インディーアプリ — https://ainewspicks.substack.com/p/app10-4a0 (grade B). Read the section on Ombra Tattoo in the newsletter's RSS feed, downloaded 27 October 2026; the robots.txt of ainewspicks.substack.com allows the feed. Japanese; the facts table quotes the original words with a translation. It reports the whatsthe.app figures and links to that page.
4. AI Tattoo Cover-Up & Try-On on the US App Store, read 27 October 2026 — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ai-tattoo-cover-up-try-on/id6775879616 (grade B). Read in full: description, in-app purchases, version history, privacy label, age rating, seller and the developer's other apps. The seller, dates, ratings and age rating are Apple's records; the description and prices are written by the company. Downloaded by the pipeline on 27 October 2026.
5. AI Tattoo Cover-Up & Generator on Google Play, read 27 October 2026 — https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.we.are.OmbraTattoo&hl=en&gl=US (grade B). Read in full: developer, downloads band, content rating, update date and description. The robots.txt allows /store/apps/details.
6. Ombra Tattoo home page, read 27 October 2026 — https://ombratattoo.com/ (grade C). Read in full, with its links, for the purpose check. The robots.txt group for ClaudeBot allows every path except /go/.
7. About Ombra Tattoo App, published 9 August 2026, updated 5 October 2026 — https://ombratattoo.com/about-ombra-tattoo-app (grade C). Read in full. Source for the flows, the developer name, the store titles by country, the languages and the credit pricing.
8. Ombra Terms of Service, last updated 23 June 2026 — https://ombra-api.appacnera.com/terms (grade C). Read in full. Source for the AI provider, the minimum age, the content rules, the credits and the service providers. The host has no robots.txt (404).
9. Ombra Privacy Policy, last updated 22 August 2026 — https://ombra-api.appacnera.com/privacy (grade C). Read in full. Source for the photo processing at fal.ai, RevenueCat, Sentry and the Meta advertising measurement.
10. What's New on Ombra Tattoo, read 27 October 2026 — https://ombratattoo.com/whats-new (grade C). Read in full. Lists the site's guides and their update dates from July to October 2026.
11. Loot Drop database export, 1,749 failed startups — https://www.loot-drop.io/ (grade C). Local export. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.