Agitate for iPhone and iPad
Film Developing Timer for iPhone
Black and white, C-41 and E-6 in one app, with 795 development times transcribed from manufacturer datasheets. The clock keeps running when the phone locks, and nothing on the screen ever glows white in a dark room.
- Pre-wash
- Developer
- Stop bath
- Fixer
- Wash
- Wetting agent
What it looks like in the dark
A countdown is the wrong tool for a nine minute bath
Most film timers count down, and a counter can stop. It stops when a call comes in, when the system reclaims memory, when the app is force quit. By the time you notice, the film is already over-developed and there is no second attempt.
Agitate stores the moment your step ends rather than 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. The countdown you see on the lock screen and in the Dynamic Island is drawn by iOS itself, so an entire run costs a handful of updates rather than a wakeup every second.
Try it on your next roll
Free, and the free version has every chemistry warning in it.
Built for a room with the light off
Safelight mode
Red on true black. No gray panels, no blur, no translucent material, and the display is driven to its lowest brightness for the length of the run. The lock screen countdown uses the same palette, so nothing lights up behind your back. Your brightness is put back afterwards.
The whole screen is the button
Start, pause and next bath are all the same target: everything. Wet hands, gloves, no light. You never have to find a small control you cannot see.
Agitation you can feel
Every agitation cue is a tap in your hand. Sound if you want it, and because the audio session is set to playback it is audible with the ring switch on silent, which is how a phone on a darkroom bench usually sits.
It calls the drain
Ten seconds before time on every bath that has a pour, because that is how the times are published. A timer that simply rings at nine minutes hands you nine minutes and the drain on top, every run.
Nudge without starting over
Fifteen seconds on or off the running bath, or a fresh thermometer reading part way through with only the remainder recalculated. Your push, your pull and your re-use surcharge survive it.
Warnings before you pour
Expiry, exhausted capacity, minimum quantity, the surcharge for re-used developer and a temperature outside tolerance. All of them are in the free version, because a warning behind a paywall would make the free version dangerous.
Download Agitate
iPhone and iPad, iOS 17.0 or later. Rated 5.0 from 1 rating.
Every time comes off a datasheet
The bundled database holds published development times only, and every row in the app names the manufacturer document it was transcribed from. Nothing is scraped, nothing is crowd sourced, and a combination that cannot be sourced is simply not in there. When yours is missing you write it as a recipe of your own, which is unlimited and free.
- 795published development times
- 53films
- 45developers
- 47manufacturer documents
- 252rows away from box speed
- 12color process templates
The color side is twelve full process templates, six C-41 kits and six E-6 kits, each written out bath by bath. They are not interchangeable: the kits publish their color developer at different temperatures, and the app carries each one as its maker printed it.
What people develop with it
Eight things the app was built to get right, each one written up on its own page.
Free, and Pro
Free develops your film. The timer, all three processes, the published times, the calculators, safelight mode, unlimited recipes of your own, and every chemistry warning. The free version shows advertising from Google.
Pro remembers. A development journal with the film, the recipe, the temperature you actually measured, the push and your own note, searchable. A chemistry ledger of your mixed bottles with their mixing date, fill level and film count. Export of all of it, recipes included, as CSV and JSON. Pro also removes the advertising.
Pro is a one-time purchase. Not a subscription, nothing renews, and it works on every device on your Apple Account. There is no account, no sign-up and no server of ours: your recipes and your journal never leave your device.
Questions
Does the timer keep running when the phone locks or a call comes in?
Yes. Agitate stores the moment each bath ends rather than counting seconds down, so a lock, a call, a reboot or a flat battery cannot freeze it. When you come back it works out where you are from the clock. The countdown on the lock screen and in the Dynamic Island is drawn by iOS itself, so a whole run costs only a handful of updates.
Does it handle color film, C-41 and E-6?
Yes. Twelve color process templates are built in: six C-41 kits and six E-6 kits, each written out bath by bath and each naming the manufacturer instruction it was transcribed from. Black and white, C-41 and E-6 are all in the one app, and all of it is in the free version.
Where do the development times come from?
From published manufacturer datasheets. The app bundles 795 development times covering 53 films and 45 developers, drawn from 47 separate manufacturer documents, and every row in the app names the document it came from. Nothing is scraped and nothing is crowd sourced. If a combination cannot be sourced, it is not in the app.
What if my film and developer combination is not in the database?
Write it as a recipe of your own. Your own recipes are unlimited in the free version and behave exactly like a bundled one: the same agitation schemes, the same drain call, the same chemistry warnings.
Is Agitate free?
The app is free and develops your film in full: the timer, all three processes, the published times, the calculators, safelight mode, unlimited recipes of your own and every chemistry warning. The free version shows advertising from Google. Agitate Pro is a one-time purchase that adds the development journal, the chemistry ledger and export, and removes the advertising. It is not a subscription and nothing renews.
Will the screen ruin my dark adaptation?
Safelight mode is red on true black with no gray panels, no blur and no translucent material, and it drives the display to its lowest brightness while a run is going. The lock screen countdown uses the same palette, so nothing lights up behind your back. The brightness you had is restored when the run ends.
Does Agitate need an account or an internet connection?
There is no account, no sign-up and no server. The times, your recipes and your journal live on your device. The only thing that goes over the network is the advertising in the free version, which Agitate Pro removes.
Which devices does it run on?
iPhone and iPad, on iOS 17.0 or later. The app is in English and German.
Get Agitate
Free on the App Store. Film and developer names appear only so you can find your combination: Agitate is independent and is not affiliated with any manufacturer. See the trademark notice.