DevelopFilm vs Film Development Assistant
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DevelopFilm
This app is a pocket darkroom companion for black-and-white film development. It offers official developing times, a smart timer with agitation guidance, and full process control. Track your film details and parameters in a built-in journal to refine your workflow and achieve consistent results.
- Official developing times database
- Smart timer with agitation guidance
- Full process control adjustments
- Built-in film roll journal
- Quick custom timer
- Darkroom-ready minimal interface
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Your pocket darkroom for black-and-white film. DevelopFilm is a complete darkroom companion designed to help you develop film with confidence — whether it’s your first roll or your hundredth. Official developing times: Access precise data from manufacturer datasheets for Adox, Bergger, Foma, Fujifilm, Ilford, Kentmere, Kodak, Rollei, and more. The library is continuously expanding. Smart timer with agitation guidance: Run a clean dual-phase timer for developing and fixing, with built-in agitation reminders and visual alerts. Full process control: Adjust by temperature, developer reuse, push/pull stops, processing vessel, fixer, stop bath, toners, and more — everything that affects your final look. Built-in journal: Keep track of every roll. Save your film details, developing parameters, notes, and photos so you can repeat your best results or refine your workflow. Quick Timer: Need flexibility? Set a custom time and start developing instantly. Darkroom-ready design: A minimal, dark-mode interface that stays readable under safe lights and keeps you focused on the process. Whether you’re new to film developing or refining your craft, DevelopFilm helps you stay consistent, learn faster, and enjoy every step of the process. Upgrade to Darkroom Pass to unlock pro features like push/pull adjustments, fixer timer, and photo journaling. Terms of Use: mirnijatom.github.io/terms.html Privacy Policy: mirnijatom.github.io/privacy.html
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.
- Chemical batch tracking
- Expiration date monitoring
- Session tracking
- Multi-stage development timers
- Chemical usage calculation
- Session notes and quality tracking
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: DevelopFilm at every 11 days against Film Development Assistant's every 10 months. Film Development Assistant's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. DevelopFilm sells 3 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.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for DevelopFilm against 5.0 for Film Development Assistant. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 4 respectively.
DevelopFilm ships an update every 11 days, Film Development Assistant every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DevelopFilm | Film Development Assistant |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 11 days — better | Every 10 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Aleksandrs Bertulis | Zachary Burns |
Customer experience
DevelopFilm
Film Development Assistant
In-app purchases
DevelopFilm
- Darkroom Pass Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Darkroom Pass Yearly7 Days trial$17.991 Year
- Lifetime Pro$34.99
Film Development Assistant
- 7 Day Free TrialFree
- Film Development Assistant Pro$4.99
Questions
Is DevelopFilm free?
Is Film Development Assistant free?
Which has better reviews, DevelopFilm or Film Development Assistant?
Do DevelopFilm or Film Development Assistant have ads?
Which is updated more often, DevelopFilm or Film Development Assistant?
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