Support
Write to levin.schwab@gmx.de and you will get a reply. The questions below come up most often.
- Pro is not showing
- More → Restore purchases, signed in with the Apple Account you bought with. More
- Getting your data out
- Pro exports the journal, bottles and recipes as CSV and JSON. Do it before changing devices. More
- Your combination is missing
- Write it as your own recipe. Unlimited in the free version, and it behaves like a built-in one. More
- Safelight mode
- As dark and as red as the display allows, but not a certified safelight. Test your own setup. More
- Advertising
- The free version shows it, never during a run and never in safelight. Agitate Pro removes it. More
- Reporting something
- Bug reports, missing datasheets and disagreements about agitation are all welcome, by email.
Will the timer keep running if I lock the phone?
Yes. A running step is stored as the moment it ends, not as a number being counted down, so locking the phone, taking a call, or force quitting the app cannot lose your place. When you come back the app works out where you are from the clock.
For the alert itself, the most reliable setup is to leave the app open on the bench: sound then plays through the silent switch and the screen stays awake in safelight mode. If you do leave the app, allow notifications and the app will schedule the drain and the end of the step as local alerts.
The screen keeps dimming and going to sleep
While a run is going the app keeps the display awake by itself. If it still sleeps, check that Low Power Mode is off, because iOS overrides apps in that state.
Why will it not adjust a C-41 or E-6 time for temperature?
Because there is no honest way to do it. The time and temperature relationship that works for black and white between 14 and 27 °C is a density effect. Colour processes run in a narrow band near 38 °C, and deviation there produces a colour shift and crossover between the layers that no change of time repairs.
An app that hands you a confident "compensated" C-41 time is helping you ruin the film politely. Bring the chemistry to temperature instead. The app will tell you when you are outside tolerance.
Why does it warn me about the amount of concentrate?
Highly diluted developers have a published minimum of concentrate per film, not per tank. Rodinal at 1+100 in a 500 ml tank gives 4.95 ml, which looks fine against a 5 ml minimum until you remember that a 500 ml tank holds two 35 mm films and the real requirement is 10 ml. Under the minimum the developer exhausts before the film is finished, which shows up as thin, uneven negatives.
My combination is not in the database
Every time in the app is transcribed from a manufacturer datasheet, so if the manufacturer never published a figure for your combination it will not be there. Make it a recipe of your own, which is unlimited in the free version, and it will behave exactly like a built-in one, journal and all.
If you know of a published datasheet that is missing, send it over and it will go in.
I bought Pro and it is not showing
Open the More tab and use Restore purchases. Make sure you are signed in with the same Apple Account you bought with. The unlock is a one-time purchase tied to that account, and to Family Sharing if you have it on. The terms of the purchase are in the Terms of Use.
How do I get my data out?
Pro exports your journal, your chemistry bottles and your recipes as CSV and JSON. Do that before changing devices. There is no cloud sync in this version, on purpose, and the export is what carries everything across. Your journal, your bottles and your recipes never leave your device unless you send them somewhere yourself; see the privacy policy.
Is it safe to use next to photographic paper?
Treat it the way you would treat any safelight: keep it off the paper, lay the device flat rather than facing your working surface, and test your own setup with a coin on a sheet of paper before you trust it.
Safelight mode is built to be as dark and as red as an iPhone screen can be, but no phone display is a certified darkroom safelight, and nobody should claim otherwise.
Loading film onto a reel is a different matter: panchromatic film needs total darkness and no safelight of any colour is safe for it. Use the app's sound and vibration and put the screen face down.
What does the free version show, and what does this site measure?
The free version shows advertising delivered by Google. It is a banner at the bottom of the Develop, Times and More screens, and one full screen advert at the moment you acknowledge a finished run. It never appears while a run is going, and in safelight mode nothing is drawn at all: another company's picture is usually a bright one, and white light in a darkroom costs you your dark adaptation and can fog film. Agitate Pro removes the advertising.
Before anything loads you are asked for consent, first by Google's own consent form and then by the iOS App Tracking Transparency prompt. You can change that answer later under More in the app, with Advertising privacy choices, wherever consent was asked for in the first place. What is sent, to whom, and on what legal basis is set out in the privacy policy.
This website uses Vercel Web Analytics. It works without cookies, sets no identifier and builds no profile of you. It counts page views and clicks on the App Store button, recording only which button on which page was used. The provider is Vercel Inc., 440 N Barranca Avenue #4133, Covina, CA 91723, USA. Their privacy policy is at vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy. There is no personal evaluation and nothing is passed on to anyone else.