Simplicity Tink provides APIs that are simple and easy to use correctly. Most crypto operations such as data encryption, digital signatures, etc. can be done with only a few lines of code.
High-level Tink's interfaces abstract away from the underlying implementation. Instances are usable without knowing the underlying class that implements it. It is also possible to change the underlying implementation of an interface without changes to the call of the interface. Interfaces have security guarantees that must be satisfied by each primitive implementing the interface. This may exclude some encryption modes. Rather than adding them to existing interfaces and weakening the guarantees of the interface it is possible to add new interfaces and describe the security guarantees appropriately.
Misuse-proof Tink assumes that the attacker has complete freedom in calling methods of a high level interface; under this assumption the security is not compromised. For example, if the underlying encryption mode requires nonces and is insecure if nonces are reused then the interface does not allow to pass nonces. Tink also assumes that the attacker can get access to memory passed into a method, even if a crypto operation (e.g. decryption) failed.
Extensibility Tink makes it easy to support new primitives, new algorithms, new ciphertext formats, new key management systems, etc.
Agility Tink provides built-in crypto agility. It supports key rotation, deprecation of obsolete schemes and adaptation of new ones. For example, if an implementation of a crypto primitive is found broken, you can switch to a different implementation by rotating keys, without changing or recompiling code.
Interoperability Tink produces and consumes ciphertexts that are compatible with existing crypto libraries. Tink supports encrypting or storing keys in Amazon KMS, Google Cloud KMS, Android Keystore, and it is easy to support other key management systems.
Versatility No part of Tink is hard to replace or remove. All components are recombinant, and can be selected and assembled in various combinations. For example, if you need only digital signatures, you can exclude symmetric key encryption components.
Readability Tink shows crypto properties (i.e., whether safe against chosen-ciphertext attacks) right in the interfaces, allowing security auditors and automated tools quickly discovering incorrect usages. Tink provides standalone static types for potential dangerous operations (e.g., loading cleartext keys from disk), allowing discovering, restricting, monitoring and logging their usages.