Built around one PC
Desktop keeps your studio on one main Windows PC. Phones, tablets, working from home, and customers booking for themselves never fit that design well.
REV23 Desktop for Windows
Time to move from Desktop to REV23.
REV23 Desktop is no longer for sale, and support ends March 31, 2028. Until then we keep supporting the studios that run it, and we will help you bring your customers and history into REV23.
Running Desktop today?
The Desktop sunset
What happens, and when.
Desktop has run studios since 2010. We are winding it down in steps, so you have time to move on your schedule.
November 2026Now
No longer for sale
New studios start on REV23. Studios already running Desktop keep full support.
April 2027
Last update, and remote support ends
Desktop gets its last update, and problems found after it will not be fixed. We will no longer connect to your computer to fix problems. We will still answer by email, and if no one at your studio can make the fix, a local computer technician can help.
October 2027
Cloud Calendar stops syncing
Appointments no longer sync to Cloud Calendar. Everything else in Desktop keeps working.
March 31, 2028
End of support
Support and billing end. Studios still subscribed can keep using Desktop on their own, with no fixes or help.
Not ready to move yet? That’s okay.
Your subscription keeps Desktop running and supported while you plan your move, on your own schedule.
Stay subscribed through March 31, 2028 and Desktop is yours to keep using after support ends. We just won’t be able to fix it or help with it from then on.
Whenever you’re ready for REV23, you can cancel Desktop billing at any time.
What if a future Windows update breaks Desktop, or stops it from installing, after the last version?
Exactly. That’s what no more updates means. Desktop’s last update is in April 2027. If a Windows update stops it from opening after that, or a new PC won’t install it, we won’t be able to fix it.
Until support ends on March 31, 2028, we can still help you look for a workaround by email. After that, you’re on your own.
Desktop runs on parts Microsoft still supports in Windows today, so we don’t expect this to happen soon. We just can’t promise it won’t, and that’s one more reason not to wait until the last minute to move.
Why we are doing this
Desktop was built for the studio of its time.
REV23 Desktop began life as Tattoo Management Studio, and plenty of tattooers will remember the name. It was built before the iPhone and iPad, when a Windows PC at the front desk was the center of the studio.
Then the way studios work changed. Stretching a system built around one PC to keep up became slow, complicated, and fragile, so we built REV23 for the web. Putting all of our work into one product is how it keeps getting better.
Harder to keep reliable
Desktop depends on Windows, SQL Server, and computers in your studio that we cannot see or control. Keeping all of that working keeps getting harder.
Features are already slipping away
Appointment reminder texts had to be removed when email-to-SMS stopped working and phone carriers changed their rules for business texting.
REV23 has caught up
Checkout, payments, booking, commissions, payroll, and reporting are all in REV23 now, the things that kept studios on Desktop.
Desktop cannot protect your customer data the way it needs to
Desktop’s user accounts and permissions only exist inside the app. Every PC running Desktop also holds the login to your studio’s database, so anyone who can use one of those computers can reach every customer record, including addresses, ID numbers, and medical information. That used to take technical skill. With today’s AI tools, it takes a sentence.
There is no way to fix that in software that runs on studio PCs. REV23 keeps your data on our servers, which check who is allowed to see what before anything is shown.
What changes when you move
Desktop and REV23, side by side.
The biggest differences you will notice after you move.
Services and sessions
REV23
A service is the whole piece, like a sleeve or a set of brows. Each sitting is a session under that service with its own photos and notes, and a deposit can carry from one session to the next, so the full history stays together.
REV23 Desktop
Built around one visit at a time. Work that takes several sittings has only limited support, so its history is spread across separate visits.
Where you can work
REV23
On the web, a phone, or a tablet, from almost anywhere.
REV23 Desktop
On Windows PCs connected to your studio. Working elsewhere needs a VPN set up by IT, and it is often too slow.
Internet connection
REV23
Needs a reliable internet connection to work.
REV23 Desktop
Runs on your studio network without one, apart from license checks and Cloud Calendar.
Where your data lives
REV23
REV23 stores it and handles the backups for you.
REV23 Desktop
On the main PC at your studio. You make, check, and store the backups.
Who takes care of it
REV23
We handle the software, servers, backups, and updates.
REV23 Desktop
You take care of the Windows PCs, studio network, and getting everything running again when something breaks.
Entering customer details
REV23
Customers enter their own details when they book and fill out forms.
REV23 Desktop
The front desk types the customer details into Desktop.
Signing release forms
REV23
Customers sign on their own phone, or on a studio tablet or phone in kiosk mode. No signature hardware to buy.
REV23 Desktop
Every customer signs on a Wacom signature pad wired to the PC at the front desk.
Photo IDs
REV23
Photograph the ID with the phone or tablet already in hand. The apps can read the license barcode too.
REV23 Desktop
Needs a scanner connected to the PC, plus a handheld reader for license barcodes.
Appointment reminder texts
REV23
Included at no extra cost.
REV23 Desktop
No longer available.
What comes next
REV23
Where all new features are going.
REV23 Desktop
No new features. Support ends March 31, 2028.
Moving to REV23
Bring your customers and history with you.
You do not have to start over. Here is what comes into REV23, and what does not.
Comes into REV23
- Customers and their contact details
- Upcoming appointments
- Customer and appointment notes
- Service and sales history, written into customer notes
- Open deposits, store credit, and gift card balances
Does not come into REV23
- Past services, checkouts, and invoices (their details are in customer notes)
- Products and inventory
- Photos
- Signed release forms
- ID images
- Medical records
Keep Desktop installed to look these up. It can always open in read-only mode, even after you stop paying for it.
- 1
Tell us you are ready
Contact Desktop support and we will plan the move with you.
- 2
Run the export
You run a short export on your main Desktop PC. It packages your studio data for REV23.
- 3
Start on REV23
We bring your data into REV23 and go over it with you before you switch.