Comparison

Darkroom Lab Timer vs Film Development Assistant

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Darkroom Lab Timer

This advanced timer app is designed for photographic processes like C-41, E-6, and B&W. It offers customizable steps, separate agitation sequences, and helpful tools like a volume mixer and safelight simulation.

Highlights
  • Customizable steps
  • Separate agitation sequences
  • Process templates
  • Volume and dilution mixer
  • Safelight simulation
Features
Read full description

The Darkroom Lab Timer App is an advanced multi-phase timer designed for use with C-41, E-6, ECN-2, RA-4 and B&W photographic processes. Key Features: Up to 25 customizable steps Separate agitation sequences for each step Templates for easy configuration Volume and Dilution Mixer Safelight simulation modes

About

Film Development Assistant

This app helps amateur photographers track their film development chemicals and sessions. It monitors chemical batch expiration, usage, and provides multi-stage timers for development processes. Users can also record notes on session quality for future reference.

Highlights
  • Chemical batch tracking
  • Expiration date monitoring
  • Session tracking
  • Multi-stage development timers
  • Chemical usage calculation
  • Session notes and quality tracking
Features
Read full description

Film Development Assistant provides advanced features for every at-home photographic film developer! Reduce your risk of development issues by keeping track of your chemical batches and development sessions in the app. Our ever-evolving database of home development chemicals makes it easy to track the expiration dates of your mixed chemical batches based on the suggested shelf life from the manufacturer. Once you have your chemicals mixed, you can create sessions to track how many rolls/sheets of film you are developing, and the app will track the chemical usage for you so that you don't forget how much chemical capacity you have remaining! The visual progress indicators for your chemical batch freshness are a very useful tool for keeping track of your chemicals and making sure you either use them before expiration, or prevent yourself from using already expired or depleted chemicals. With each session, you can open a multi-stage timer to track the time for each stage of development. No more creating different timers by hand with the default timer app on your phone! And if you associate an existing chemical batch with each stage, the app will automatically adjust the development times of those stages based on the previous usage of your chemicals (or you can adjust the times manually). When you finish your sessions, you can take notes about how your session went so that you can learn from your home development process over time. You can keep track of the quality of the session and add your own notes to reference later.

Screenshots

Darkroom Lab Timer4 screens
Film Development Assistant3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Film Development Assistant at Free against Darkroom Lab Timer's $8.99. Film Development Assistant also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.0). Darkroom Lab Timer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and chart position (#176 vs unranked). On ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Film Development Assistant is free to download; Darkroom Lab Timer costs $8.99 up front. Film Development Assistant sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Darkroom Lab Timer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Film Development Assistant holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 3 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Darkroom Lab Timer ships an update every 11 months, Film Development Assistant every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Darkroom Lab Timer versus Film Development Assistant: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDarkroom Lab TimerFilm Development Assistant
Price$8.99Free — better
Rating3.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsEvery 10 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#176 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFreestyle Photo & ImagingZachary Burns

Customer experience

Darkroom Lab Timer

All ratings4 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive70.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative20.0%

Film Development Assistant

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Darkroom Lab Timer

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Film Development Assistant

One-time2
  • 7 Day Free TrialFree
  • Film Development Assistant Pro$4.99

Questions

Is Darkroom Lab Timer free?
Darkroom Lab Timer costs $8.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Film Development Assistant free?
Film Development Assistant is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Darkroom Lab Timer or Film Development Assistant?
Film Development Assistant is rated higher. Darkroom Lab Timer averages 3.0 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Film Development Assistant averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Darkroom Lab Timer or Film Development Assistant have ads?
Neither Darkroom Lab Timer nor Film Development Assistant shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Darkroom Lab Timer or Film Development Assistant?
Darkroom Lab Timer ships an update every 11 months, and Film Development Assistant every 10 months. Most recently, Darkroom Lab Timer was updated on October 29, 2026 and Film Development Assistant on October 12, 2026.

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