Comparison

SmartLab35 vs Agitate

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

Head to head
About

SmartLab35

Features
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With the innovative photo enlarger, you can create prints from your film negatives in a completely new way. This is possible for colour and black and white photos. In black and white mode, you can set an exposure time of up to 999 seconds. You can set the intensity of the enlarger to up to -4.0 f-stops. For multi-grade paper, you can select the gradation from 00.0 to 5.0. Use the function buttons to control the enlarger. Use the FOCUS light to adjust the sharpness of your image. Use the SAFE light to insert the paper. Start and pause the exposure with the centre button. In colour mode, you can set an exposure time of up to 999 seconds. You can control the colour gradation of your image by setting the intensity of the individual colour channels. In the options menu, you can choose between CMY and RGB colour systems. Control the enlarger with the function buttons. You can use the FOCUS light to adjust the sharpness of your image. Start and pause the exposure with the centre button.

About

Agitate

This app provides a reliable timer for home film development, supporting black and white, C-41, and E-6 processes. It features a unique clock that records step completion, not just countdowns, ensuring accuracy even after interruptions. Designed for darkroom use with safelight mode and intuitive controls.

Highlights
  • Accurate timekeeping that records step completion
  • Safelight mode with red screen and low brightness
  • Full screen button for easy operation in the dark
  • Tap-based agitation tracking with optional sound
  • Precise timing for drain and mid-run adjustments
  • Detailed agitation schemes and temperature conversions
  • Extensive database of published film development recipes
Features
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A timer for developing film at home. Black and white, C-41 and E-6 in one app, entirely on your device. THE CLOCK IS THE TRUTH Most timers count down, and a counter can stop — when a call comes in, when the system reclaims memory, when the app is force quit. Agitate stores the moment your step ends, not the seconds left in it. A call, a reboot, a phone that ran flat and came back: on return it works out where you are from the clock. There is nothing that can freeze, because there is nothing counting. BUILT FOR A DARK ROOM • Safelight mode: red on true black, screen driven to its lowest brightness, and the Live Activity uses the same palette so nothing lights up behind your back • The whole screen is the button, so you can start the next bath blind, in gloves, with wet hands • Every agitation is a tap in your hand. Sound if you want it, and it plays through the silent switch • Large tabular figures that do not jitter, readable across the room • A segment chain that always shows where you are in the process THE DETAILS OTHER TIMERS GET WRONG • The drain is called ten seconds before time, as the makers specify. A timer that simply rings at nine minutes gives you nine minutes and fifteen seconds of development, every time • Nudge the running step by fifteen seconds, or re-read the thermometer mid-run and let only the remainder be recalculated — without abandoning the run • Agitation as published: four inversions in the first ten seconds of each minute is one maker's scheme, five to seven inversions every thirty seconds is another's. They are not interchangeable. Stand and semi-stand are here too, marked as the community methods they are • Time and temperature converted for black and white between 14 and 27 °C, in Celsius or Fahrenheit. Refused for C-41 and E-6, where deviation is a colour shift that no extra time repairs • Minimum concentrate counted per film, not per tank. A 500 ml tank holds two 35 mm films, so a highly diluted developer can be half short while looking fine EVERY TIME FROM A DATASHEET Hundreds of published combinations, searchable, each row naming the manufacturer document it was transcribed from. No scraped database, no crowd-sourced numbers of unknown origin. If a combination cannot be sourced, it is not in here — write it as a recipe of your own instead, which is unlimited and free. WARNINGS BEFORE YOU POUR Expiry, exhaustion, minimum quantity, re-use surcharge and temperature tolerance are all in the free version. A warning behind a paywall would make the free version dangerous, so none of them are. AGITATE PRO Free develops your film. Pro remembers. • A development journal: every finished run with the film, the recipe, the temperature you actually measured, the push, and your own note. Searchable • A chemistry ledger: bottles with mixing date, fill level and film count, so the app knows when a developer is out of life or out of capacity • Export of all of it, recipes included, as CSV and JSON Pro is a one-time purchase. Not a subscription, nothing renews. PRIVACY No account or sign-up. The free version loads advertising from Google over the network, and Agitate Pro removes it. Your recipes and your journal never leave your device. Agitate is independent and is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any manufacturer of film, paper or chemistry. Product names are used only to identify which products a published time applies to. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. TERMS AND PRIVACY Terms of Use (EULA): https://agitate-app.vercel.app/terms Apple's standard EULA also applies: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://agitate-app.vercel.app/privacy Recommendations for our other apps load online. Their views and taps are counted as daily totals, without personal profiles or user/device identifiers. See our privacy policy.

Screenshots

SmartLab354 screens
Agitate4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SmartLab35 at none against Agitate's 1. SmartLab35 also leads on ads (none vs shown). Agitate's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. Agitate sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. SmartLab35 asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SmartLab35 ships an update every 5 weeks, Agitate weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
SmartLab35 versus Agitate: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSmartLab35Agitate
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—3 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSANTIAGO FRANCISCO RAMIREZ SONNTAGLevin David Schwab

In-app purchases

None

SmartLab35

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Agitate

One-time1
  • Agitate Pro$4.99

Questions

Is SmartLab35 free?
SmartLab35 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Agitate free?
Agitate is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do SmartLab35 or Agitate have ads?
Agitate shows ads; SmartLab35 does not.
Which is updated more often, SmartLab35 or Agitate?
SmartLab35 ships an update every 5 weeks, and Agitate weekly. Most recently, SmartLab35 was updated on October 10, 2026 and Agitate on October 18, 2026.

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