# BenchBuddy: Lab Toolkit — Your buddy at the lab bench

> Your buddy at the lab bench (iPhone/iPad app by HKraft Labs.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/benchbuddy-lab-toolkit/id6780690743 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [HKraft Labs](https://appshunter.io/developer/6780690745)
- Category: Utilities, Education
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 13.0 · 32 MB
- Languages: American English, Japanese
- Released: 2026-06-16
- Data updated: 2026-08-06
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/benchbuddy-lab-toolkit/id6780690743/reviews.md

## What is BenchBuddy?

BenchBuddy bundles the calculations you reach for every day at the molecular-biology and biochemistry bench — from reagent weighing to PCR, gels, and pipetting steps — fast, in one place.

Tools included
• Reagent mass — how much to weigh from concentration × volume × molecular weight, with optional solvent correction from the actual mass weighed.
• Dilution — the volumes you need from stock concentration, target concentration, and final volume. Supports multi-component mixes.
• Serial dilution — build a serial dilution series from a stock; see per-tube transfer and diluent volumes, with a warning when transfers get too small to pipette accurately.
• PCR master mix — build a master mix from reaction volume, reaction count, and overage, including per-tube additions.
• Tm (melting temperature) — compute Tm and a suggested annealing temperature from a primer sequence, via the basic rule or the nearest-neighbor (NN, SantaLucia) method, with Na⁺ and oligo concentration.
• OD260 → nucleic-acid concentration — concentration from A260 and nucleic-acid type (dsDNA/ssDNA/ssRNA), with A260/A280 purity.
• Mass ↔ moles — convert amount (pmol) ↔ mass (µg) and copy number from length (bp/nt) or molecular weight.
• Ligation ratio — insert amount (ng) needed for a target molar ratio (1:1–5:1) from vector/insert lengths and vector mass.
• Hemocytometer — from your cell counts, compute cell concentration, viability (trypan blue), and seeding volume. Pick the chamber type (Neubauer improved / Bürker-Türk / Fuchs-Rosenthal / Thoma / custom) to auto-set the chamber factor.
• OD600 → cell density — estimate density from OD600 with an organism preset (E. coli / yeast / custom) and dilution; editable factor; reverse to the OD600 for a target density.
• Doubling time — doubling time, population doublings, and specific growth rate from initial/final counts and elapsed time (hours or days).
• Confluency → cell number — estimate cell number from confluency (%) and vessel area (T25–T175, 6–96-well).
• Passage planner — toggle seeding-density / split-ratio; computes suspension volume, medium to add, and the number of new vessels.
• Gel predictor — preview how bands migrate from your ladder, agarose percentage, and sample band sizes.
• Plate layouts — design 6–384-well (6/12/24/48/96/384) plate maps: group samples/conditions, set per-well concentrations and serial-dilution gradients down columns, and export as an image, CSV, or Markdown.
• Bench steps — create pipetting steps over well ranges (e.g. A1:A12) and track progress in row- or column-major order.
• Recipe saving & sharing — save the calculations you use often and recall them with one tap; export/import recipes as .benchbuddy.json files to share with labmates.
• Result sharing — copy or share any calculation result as text, ready to paste into Notion, Slack, or your ELN.

All calculations run on your device. The app is free and supported by ads.


## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 0.2.12 — 2026-07-31

New Timers tab.
• Run several named timers at once — incubation, washes, PCR steps
• Presets (30s, 1m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h) or set hours/minutes/seconds yourself
• Get notified when a timer finishes, even with the app closed
• Remaining time is restored correctly after backgrounding or a restart
Pause, resume, and reset supported. Still fully offline, free, and no login needed.

### 0.2.11 — 2026-07-07

The calculator list is now grouped into categories (Solutions & dilution, Nucleic acids & cloning, Cell culture, Quick tools) so tools are easier to find.
Four new quick tools:
• RCF ⇄ RPM — convert centrifuge ×g and rpm from the rotor radius
• Unit converter — µM↔nM, mg↔µg, mL↔µL
• % solution — grams or mL to weigh out for w/v, v/v, w/w
• ppm ⇄ concentration — mg/L, µg/mL, and molarity with MW

### 0.2.10 — 2026-07-01

Design refresh: the whole app now uses a warm cream + brand-blue theme.
• Calculation results appear in a dedicated accent panel — the answer stands out at a glance.
• Cards, app bars, and navigation are cleaner and more consistent throughout.
All calculators unchanged. Still fully offline, free, and no login needed.

### 0.2.9 — 2026-06-30

New: Cell-culture calculator pack (4 tools).
• OD600 → cell density: from OD600 with an organism preset (E. coli / yeast / custom) and dilution.
• Doubling time: doubling time, population doublings, and growth rate from counts and elapsed time.
• Confluency → cell number: from vessel area (T25–96-well) and confluency %.
• Passage planner: seeding-density or split-ratio → suspension volume, medium, and vessel count.
Each calculator screen now shows a short description.

### 0.2.8 — 2026-06-26

New: Nucleic-acid & cloning calculator pack (4 tools).
• Tm (melting temperature): from a primer sequence via the basic rule or the nearest-neighbor (NN) method, with Na⁺/oligo concentration and a suggested annealing temperature.
• OD260 → concentration: ng/µL for dsDNA/ssDNA/ssRNA, plus A260/A280 purity.
• Mass ↔ moles: convert pmol↔µg and copy number from length (bp/nt) or molecular weight.
• Ligation ratio: insert amount needed at 1:1–5:1 from vector/insert lengths and vector mass.

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## More apps by HKraft Labs

- [Hanabi Chain](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hanabi-chain/id6781590285)
- [Neon Orbit：ネオン軌道アクション](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/neon-orbit/id6782304514)

All apps by HKraft Labs: https://appshunter.io/developer/6780690745

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-06.*