Comparison

Lightme 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

Lightme

This app helps analog photographers meticulously track their film rolls, shots, and development processes. It allows for detailed logging of gear and consumables, with features for data visualization and export. Users can also manage film holders and add post-development notes with photos of final results.

Highlights
  • Log film rolls, shots, and development
  • Track gear and consumables
  • Data visualization with graphs/histograms
  • Data export in JSON/CSV formats
  • Manage large format film holders
  • Post-development notes with photos
Features
Read full description

Lightme - Logbook is a clean and powerful tool to record and keep track of your rolls, shots, developments, and all the gear that revolves around shooting film — from 35mm to medium and large format. The idea behind it is simple: logging a shot should take seconds, not steal time from actually shooting. Lightme pairs a beautiful, immediate interface with enough depth and flexibility to fit any workflow, whether you shoot a couple of rolls a year or fill several large format holders in an afternoon. LOGGING, EFFORTLESSLY • Log a shot in seconds: aperture, shutter speed, focal length, filters, bellows correction, measured EV, notes and more • Log straight from your wrist with the companion Apple Watch app, with Siri and Shortcuts, or from the home screen and lock screen widgets • Together with the Lightme Lightmeter app, your meter readings can prefill a new shot automatically • Every shot can carry a location and address, a preview photo, and later its final scan, plus a star rating ROLLS, SHEETS AND DEVELOPMENTS • Track rolls from loading to unloading, with film stocks from a growing database and a processing pipeline: waiting for development, off to the lab, back from the lab, to be scanned, scanned • Keep detailed development notes — developer, dilution, time, temperature, agitation — for rolls and single sheets alike, including push/pull (N+ / N-) development • Add post-development notes and a photo of the final result to rolls, sheets and individual shots YOUR GEAR, ORGANIZED • Cameras and lenses with nicknames, formats (including custom formats you define), pinhole and bellows flags, custom shutter speeds and selectable shutter step sizes • Roll film backs and lens filters with their exposure compensation • Film holders and backs can be marked as compatible with specific cameras, and everything is searchable from a single bar LARGE FORMAT, COVERED • Keep track of your film holders with three states — unloaded, loaded and exposed — always knowing which film is inside each one • Group holders together and follow every sheet from exposure through development INSIGHTS FROM YOUR DATA • Build and save custom queries, filtering by date (fixed or rolling windows), camera, lens, film stock, format, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, focal length and notes • Visualize results with histograms — by camera, lens, film stock, shutter speed, aperture, focal length, ISO, format, rating or hour of the day — alongside aggregate stats like mean aperture and average exposure • Save the queries you use most and re-run them anytime YOUR DATA, YOURS • Everything syncs privately through iCloud across your iPhone and iPad • Export any selection of data as CSV or JSON, or as a beautifully formatted PDF with customizable columns and a contact-sheet mode, bundled with your images in a single ZIP • Batch-write shooting metadata (EXIF) onto your scans — for a whole roll at once, or by matching files from the Files app • Viewing and exporting your data is free, forever; adding and editing is unlocked with a one-time purchase or a subscription AND MORE • Full-text search, favourites and an archive to keep things tidy • Available in English, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and Simplified Chinese • A roadmap of what's coming next lives right in the app — new very cool features are on the way :) If you have any suggestion or issue, write me at lightme.apps@gmail.com Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

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

Lightme4 screens
Film Development Assistant3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Lightme at every 2 weeks against Film Development Assistant's every 10 months. Lightme also leads on ratings volume (104 vs 3) and device support (4 vs 1). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Lightme sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Film Development Assistant sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Film Development Assistant holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lightme has 104 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lightme ships an update every 2 weeks, Film Development Assistant every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Lightme versus Film Development Assistant: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLightmeFilm Development Assistant
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (104 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings104 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 10 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGiuseppe BertoliniZachary Burns

Customer experience

Lightme

All ratings102 ratings
Positive97.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews24 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative12.5%

Film Development Assistant

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

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Lightme

Subscriptions4
  • 1 Cappuccino7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Focaccia Barese7 Days trial$12.991 Year
  • Spaghetti Carbonara7 Days trial$29.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Homemade Pizza party7 Days trial$49.991 Year
One-time3
  • Box of Prosecco$59.99
  • Fuel for my '90s camper$119.99
  • Terme for two$239.99
2 purchases

Film Development Assistant

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

Questions

Is Lightme free?
Lightme is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Film Development Assistant free?
Film Development Assistant is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Lightme or Film Development Assistant?
Film Development Assistant is rated higher. Lightme averages 4.8 out of 5 from 104 ratings, while Film Development Assistant averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Lightme or Film Development Assistant have ads?
Neither Lightme nor Film Development Assistant shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lightme or Film Development Assistant?
Lightme ships an update every 2 weeks, and Film Development Assistant every 10 months. Most recently, Lightme was updated on November 3, 2026 and Film Development Assistant on November 5, 2026.

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