40.7128°N · 74.0060°W · New York City

jink

Uncover the history
sitting right in front of you.

Join the waitlist In closed beta · NYC
01 · Scan

Point.
The city speaks.

You ever walked by a building and asked: what is that? Jink holds the answers. Point your camera at any building and get the architect, the year, the archetype, the lore buried in the walls. Architecture stops being backdrop. It becomes text.

Buildings documented~35,000 landmarked buildings
Architectural archetypes9
Lore events···
⌸ IDENTIFIED
Woolworth Building
233 Broadway · Financial District · 1913
"Frank Woolworth paid $13.5M in cash, refusing a mortgage. On opening night, President Wilson pressed a button in Washington and 80,000 lights blazed on."
02 · Lore

The city
has been
keeping
secrets.

Some buildings hold a layer the plaque will never tell you. A murder in the lobby. A fire that changed a law. A musician in the back apartment. Jink surfaces what's buried in the walls: curated, location-pinned, indexed to the building you're standing in front of. Drop a pin anywhere or tap any building to ask the AI for more.

Crime
Arnold Rothstein shot at Park Central Hotel after a poker game: died refusing to name his killer.
870 7th Ave · Midtown
1928
Weird
No headstones: names carved into underground vault walls. Invisible from the street.
Marble Cemetery · East Village
1830
Disaster
Triangle Shirtwaist fire killed 146 workers. Doors locked from outside. Birthed modern fire safety law.
Asch Building · Greenwich Village
1911
Supernatural
Rosemary's Baby filmed here. Lennon murdered at the entrance, 1980.
The Dakota · Upper West Side
1884
Pop Culture
Valerie Solanas shot Warhol at 33 Union Square West. He nearly died on the table.
Warhol's Factory · Flatiron
1968
Pop Culture
Police raid on June 28 sparked the modern gay rights movement.
Stonewall Inn · West Village
1969
Pop Culture
Nancy Spungen found stabbed in Room 100. Sid Vicious arrested.
Hotel Chelsea · Chelsea
1978
Weird
Dorothy Parker's lunch club: wits and journalists meeting daily for a decade.
Algonquin Hotel · Midtown
1919
Crime
Hamilton buried here after Burr shot him in the duel across the river.
Trinity Churchyard · Financial District
1804
Disaster
Draft Riots burned the orphanage three blocks from here. 120 dead.
Tenement Museum · Lower East Side
1863
Pop Culture
Ella Fitzgerald won amateur night at 17. Every Black star passed through here.
Apollo Theater · Harlem
1934
Pop Culture
Tchaikovsky conducted opening night. Dvorak premiered the New World here.
Carnegie Hall · Midtown
1891
Supernatural
East River's deadliest current: sailors say drowned voices echo through grates.
Hellgate · East River
1916
Crime
Harry Thaw shot Stanford White at the rooftop garden over Evelyn Nesbit.
Madison Square · Flatiron
1906
Weird
Folly atop Vista Rock: Central Park weather station since 1919.
Belvedere Castle · Central Park
1869
03 · Archetype

Every scan
shapes who
you are.

As you scan buildings, Jink builds your architectural identity. Nine archetypes, nine color signatures. Your archetype orb is a personalised glass sphere: a living portrait of your taste. It breathes. It reacts to how you hold your phone. It evolves as you explore.

Classicist Romantic Stylist Modernist Industrialist Visionary Pop Culturalist Vernacularist Austerist

Move cursor · Click to reveal archetype breakdown

Stylist34%
Austerist22%
Modernist18%
Classicist12%
Industrialist8%
Romantic6%
Move cursor · Click to reveal
04 · Collect

A record of
your attention.

In the real world your passport documents everywhere you've been. So why shouldn't it be the same in Jink? Every scan, every walk, every discovery becomes permanent.

Stamps
1
Postage & Revenue
J
First Scan
Common
NY · 01
5
Postage & Revenue
N
Ten Walks
Rare
NY · 07
10
Postage & Revenue
Style Explorer
Epic
NY · 14
25
Postage & Revenue
NYC Legend
Legendary
NY · 31
Collect in app
05 · Community

Every explorer
adds to the map.

The archive isn't only what we curated. Drop a photo at any spot you find interesting, and it joins the map for everyone else to discover. A doorway nobody wrote about. A mural under an overpass. A detail only visible from one angle. Jink's official lore is the foundation; what the community finds is what keeps the map alive.

Post from anywhere
Snap a photo, add a caption, drop it on the map at your exact location.
Surface to everyone
Community posts appear as pins alongside curated lore — visible to any explorer who passes by.
Give it a nod
Like the finds that made you stop and look twice.
◈ COMMUNITY FIND
A doorway on Mott Street
Little Italy · posted by an explorer
"Original 1890s ironwork, still on its hinges. Nobody's written this one up — I just liked how it caught the light."
06 · Why

Jink is for those who reject the algorithmic grind of point A to B. Its built for those who know there is more than the eye can see. To uncover a hidden lore that every surface around them holds. Most of the city is built for you to look past it. Jink is a small instrument for looking at it instead.

This isn't another banal tourist app. For the people who photograph doorways and think buildings have a soul, we made a way to record that noticing and to find more of it on purpose.

A city you can read is a city that starts reading you back.

Nine archetypes. A growing archive. Walks that build themselves around you. A superpowered map that holds anything you can think of. A passport that fills the way good notebooks do. The city is waiting for you to uncover its secrets. The question now is.... will you?

FAQ

Is Jink only available in NYC right now?
Yes. We are currently in a closed beta, mapping the architectural history and buried lore of New York City first.
When does it launch?
We are aiming for a public release in late summer 2026. Join the waitlist to secure early access.
Is it free?
Yes, the app is currently free.
Do I need to be an expert or architect to use it?
Absolutely not. Jink is built for anyone who simply notices their surroundings, whether you're an architecture student or just someone who looks up at the skyline.
Does it work on any NYC building?
We don't have detailed, handcrafted lore on every single structure... yet. Our archive currently focuses on NYC's ~35,000 landmarked buildings, and we're expanding it every week.
What else can it do?
Beyond scanning, Jink generates custom-tailored neighborhood walks based on your archetypal preferences. It features an extensive map layered with local lore and pinned history. You can drop a pin to ask our AI questions about your exact location, or use superpowered semantic search to find highly specific places (e.g., "Art Deco bars near me" or "Did anyone famous live here?").
Does it work on Android?
Not yet. Jink is iOS first. Android is on the roadmap; join the waitlist and we'll let you know when it's ready.
How do I scan a building?
Open Jink, point your camera at any building facade, and tap the scan button. The app reads the architecture and pulls up everything we know about it: history, lore, archetype, and more.
What's an archetype?
Jink identifies nine architectural archetypes, from Brutalist to Beaux-Arts to Industrial, and matches buildings to them. Over time, your scanning history reveals which archetypes you're drawn to, shaping your walks and recommendations.
Is my data private?
Yes. Your location is used only to surface relevant buildings and walks. We don't sell your data or share it with third parties. Ever.
Can I join the team?
We're always looking for people who give a damn about cities, architecture, and craft. Reach out at contact@jink.quest and tell us what you'd bring.
How do I get in contact?
Reach us at contact@jink.quest. We read everything.

Just
jink
it.

Join the waitlist
In closed beta · NYC · iOS first