Comparison

Massive Dev Chart 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

Massive Dev Chart Timer

This app provides an offline film development chart and a multi-step timer for photographers. It includes customizable agitation, darkroom themes, and support for various developing and fixing steps. It also offers automated compensation for development time and temperature.

Highlights
  • Offline film development chart
  • Multi-step timer with sound notifications
  • Customizable agitation schemes
  • Darkroom themes
  • Dilution mixer
  • Automated time/temperature compensation
Features
Read full description

The Massive Dev Chart is the world's largest film development chart with easy to use multi step timer and darkroom support for iPhone and iPad. Watch the instructional video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P915z6THiY8. *** Features *** • Offline copy of The Massive Dev Chart in your pocket • Multi Step Timer with sound notifications • Customizable agitation scheme • Darkroom themes • Dilution Mixer • Support for two-step development and two-step fixing • Support for optional hypoclear and photo flo steps • Automated development time/temperature compensation

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

Massive Dev Chart Timer4 screens
Film Development Assistant3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Film Development Assistant at Free against Massive Dev Chart Timer's $9.99. Film Development Assistant also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.7). Massive Dev Chart Timer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (54 vs 3). On 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; Massive Dev Chart Timer costs $9.99 up front. Film Development Assistant sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Massive Dev Chart 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 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Massive Dev Chart Timer has 54 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Massive Dev Chart Timer ships an update every 5 months, Film Development Assistant every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Massive Dev Chart Timer versus Film Development Assistant: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMassive Dev Chart TimerFilm Development Assistant
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating3.7 (54 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings54 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 5 months — betterEvery 10 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#49 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFreestyle Photo & ImagingZachary Burns

Customer experience

Massive Dev Chart Timer

All ratings54 ratings
Positive63.0%
Neutral7.4%
Negative29.6%
Written reviews216 reviews
Positive70.8%
Neutral8.3%
Negative20.8%

Film Development Assistant

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

Bugs and requests

Massive Dev Chart Timer

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • HC110 dilution section displays only letters, not ratios
  • Dilution ratios not calculating when solution amount adjusted
  • App crashes after selecting film speed
  • Crashes on iPad with new update
  • Timer display shows three dots instead of seconds
Show 7 more
  • UI elements overlap on older iPhone models
  • Safelight mode white banner blocks display on iPad
  • Crashes during development process
  • Home screen line emits bright light in darkroom mode
  • App incompatible with newer iOS versions on older devices
  • Notes don't word wrap properly
  • Inconsistent film/developer availability between iPhone and iPad

Requested features

15 requests
  • Color film support (C-41, E-6, ECN-2 processes)
  • Search functionality by film brand/name
  • Ability to add custom process steps (presoak, toning)
  • Individual agitation control per development stage
  • Continuous agitation option
Show 10 more
  • Volume calculator for stop bath and fixer
  • Background timer functionality
  • Custom step name editing
  • Pull/push development times
  • Stand development support with hour-based timing
  • Apple Watch app
  • Syncing between iPhone and iPad
  • Fahrenheit temperature option
  • Additional common film stocks (Portra, Fuji 400H, Ektar)
  • Ability to add films not in database to custom times

Film Development Assistant

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Massive Dev Chart Timer

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Film Development Assistant

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

Questions

Is Massive Dev Chart Timer free?
Massive Dev Chart Timer costs $9.99, 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, Massive Dev Chart Timer or Film Development Assistant?
Film Development Assistant is rated higher. Massive Dev Chart Timer averages 3.7 out of 5 from 54 ratings, while Film Development Assistant averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Massive Dev Chart Timer or Film Development Assistant have ads?
Neither Massive Dev Chart Timer nor Film Development Assistant shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Massive Dev Chart Timer or Film Development Assistant?
Massive Dev Chart Timer ships an update every 5 months, and Film Development Assistant every 10 months. Most recently, Massive Dev Chart Timer was updated on October 14, 2026 and Film Development Assistant on September 26, 2026.

Other comparisons