FilmFridge
User Guide

Welcome to FilmFridge

FilmFridge is a film inventory tracker for analog photographers. It tracks every roll, pack, and box of film you own — from the moment it goes in your fridge, through loading into a camera, sending to the lab, and arriving in your archive.

The app is organized around five tabs at the bottom of the screen: Home, Fridge, Loaded, Lab, and More. Home shows a summary of your inventory and alerts. Fridge is your stock room. Loaded shows film currently in cameras. Lab tracks rolls awaiting or back from processing. More is the hub for History, Settings, and this guide.

Getting Started

When you open FilmFridge for the first time, the Home screen will prompt you to add your first roll. You have two ways to do that:

• Scan a barcode — tap the barcode icon in the Fridge toolbar to scan the UPC on a film box. FilmFridge looks up the stock automatically and pre-fills all the details.
• Add manually — tap the + button at the bottom-right corner of the Fridge screen.

Once you have film in your inventory, the Home screen displays a summary of your stock.

The Fridge

The Fridge tab is your film stock room. Every roll, pack, or box you own that hasn't been loaded into a camera yet lives here.

Adding Film

By barcode scan

1. Tap the barcode icon in the Fridge toolbar.
2. Point your camera at the UPC barcode on the film box.
3. FilmFridge identifies the stock and opens the Add Film form, pre-filled with brand, stock name, ISO, format, and exposures.
4. Confirm or adjust the details, then tap Add.

Manually

1. Tap the + button at the bottom-right corner of the Fridge screen.
2. Fill in brand, stock name, format, type, ISO, and any other details.
3. Tap Add.

The Format picker groups options into sections: roll film (35mm, 120, 110), instant (Instax and Polaroid), and sheet (4×5, 5×7, 8×10). If Legacy Formats is enabled in Settings, a Legacy section covers 220, APS, Minox, 620, 127, Disc, Super 16, and discontinued Polaroid formats. Film types are grouped into common negatives and instant, then specialty processes (Color Reversal, B&W Reversal, ECN-2).

Browsing Your Stock

The Fridge offers three view modes, cycled by tapping the view toggle in the toolbar:

• List view — a flat list of all your stock, grouped by film identity.
• Format bins — stock organized into collapsible groups by format. FilmFridge switches to this automatically when you have more than ten rolls.
• Location bins — stock organized by storage location (Fridge, Freezer, Camera Bag, etc.).

Your chosen view mode and each bin's expanded/collapsed state are remembered between sessions. Tap a format chip below the search bar to filter by format, or type in the search bar to find a stock by name or barcode. Tap the overflow menu ⋮ in the toolbar to sort by Date Added, Brand, Expiry Date, Format, or Quantity.

Row Indicators

Each row shows a colored format pill. Alert badges appear below it when relevant:

• Yellow ↺ — partially shot (mid-roll swapped)
• Red ▲ — expired
• Orange 🕐 — expiring within three months
• Yellow ⊙ — at or below your Low Stock threshold

Swipe Actions

Swipe left on any Fridge row to reveal four quick actions without opening the detail view:

• Delete — asks for confirmation before removing the roll.
• Clone — opens the Add Film form pre-filled with the same stock details, ready to save as a new copy.
• Move — opens a storage location picker to reassign the roll to Fridge, Freezer, Camera Bag, or Other.
• Load — opens the camera picker directly. Not available for sheet film formats.

Sheet film rows show Move, Clone, and Delete (no Load). Swipe actions appear on single-roll rows and on individual rows inside expanded multi-roll groups. They are suppressed during Select Items mode.

Selecting, Moving, and Deleting Multiple Rolls

To act on several rolls at once, tap ⋮ in the Fridge toolbar and choose Select Items. Tap each row you want to act on — a checkmark appears. In bin view, tapping a group header row selects or deselects all rolls in that group. Then tap Move to reassign to a different storage location, or Delete to remove them. Tap Cancel to exit without changes.

Low Stock Alerts

If Low Stock Alerts are enabled in Settings, film at or below your threshold shows an orange Low Stock badge. Adjust the threshold from 1–10 in Settings → Options. For roll film the threshold counts individual rolls; for sheet film it counts total sheets across all boxes of that stock.

Loaded

The Loaded tab shows every roll currently inside a camera.

Loading Film into a Camera

1. Find the roll in the Fridge and tap it to open the detail view.
2. Scroll to Actions and tap Load into Camera.
3. Select your camera from the list — it's filtered to cameras that accept your film's format. Tap anywhere on a camera row to select it.
4. Confirm and tap Load. The roll moves to the Loaded tab immediately.

While a Roll is Loaded

• Record a Shot ISO — if you're rating the film at a different speed than box speed, tap the Shot ISO row to update it.
• Log the last frame — tap Last Frame Shot to record which frame you stopped at. Pre-fills the frame field when you record a mid-roll swap.
• Add a roll note — tap the notes field in the Roll Notes section. The note saves automatically when you tap away.
• Add journal entries — log shooting sessions with text and location.
• Record a Mid-Roll Swap — pull a partially-shot roll back to the Fridge (requires Mid-Roll Swaps enabled in Settings).
• Send to Lab — when the roll is finished, move it to the Lab tab.

Session Journal

While a roll is loaded, you can keep a running log of shooting sessions. Each entry can include a short note (up to 100 characters) and a location set by GPS or address search. Tap the pencil icon on any entry to edit its text, location, or date. If any entries have locations, a Map button appears in the journal header to see all your shooting spots on a map.

Mid-Roll Swap

Mid-Roll Swap lets you pull a partially-shot roll from a camera and return it to the Fridge without losing track of where you were.

Recording a Swap

1. Open the roll's detail view from the Loaded tab.
2. Scroll to Actions and tap Record Mid-Roll Swap.
3. Optionally enter the last frame you exposed. If you've already set the Last Frame Shot field, it pre-fills here automatically.
4. Confirm or adjust the ISO you were shooting at and tap Save.

The roll returns to your Fridge with a yellow ↺ indicator. Find it when you're ready to continue and load it into any camera — not just the one it came from. Each swap is recorded separately; the full history travels with the roll through Lab and into History.

Lab

The Lab tab tracks rolls that have been shot and sent off for processing.

Sending a Roll to the Lab

1. Open the roll's detail view from the Loaded tab.
2. Tap Send to Lab.
3. Optionally record push/pull, service type, slide mounting, negative cutting, and free-text notes for the lab.
4. Tap Send. A days-waiting counter starts immediately.

When your scans or prints arrive, open the roll in the Lab tab and tap Mark as Processed. The roll moves to History.

History

History (under More → History) is the permanent archive of every processed roll and consumed instant pack. Search by film name, format, camera, description, or journal text. Filter by format using the chips at the top. When you have more than ten entries, History organizes them automatically by month.

More

The More tab is the hub for secondary sections: History, Settings, Documentation, FAQ, What's New, and Credits. FAQ and What's New are updated remotely — you always see the latest version without needing an app update.

Settings

Cloud Sync

By default, your inventory is stored only on your device. To back it up and access it across multiple devices — including iPhones:

1. Go to More → Settings and tap Enable Cloud Sync….
2. Enter your email address and tap Send Sign-In Link.
3. Tap the link in the email on this device, then return to FilmFridge — sync activates automatically.

No password required. Cloud data is deleted within 7 days once all devices disconnect — sign back in on any device before then to cancel the deletion.

Options

Low Stock Alerts — toggle on or off, and set the threshold (1–10). Alerts appear on the Home screen and in the Fridge.

Mid-Roll Swaps — off by default. Enable to unlock the Record Mid-Roll Swap action on loaded rolls. See Mid-Roll Swap.

Bulk Roll Film — off by default. Enable to add the Bulk Film section to your Fridge. See Bulk Roll Film.

Legacy Formats — off by default. Enable to add older, out-of-production formats to the Add Film picker: 220, APS, Minox, 620, 127, Disc, Super 16, Polaroid SX-70, Polaroid Pack, and Polaroid Sheet. Existing rolls in these formats are always visible regardless of this setting.

Film Database

FilmFridge keeps a local cache of film stock and camera data for barcode auto-fill. It updates on every launch and every 24 hours. Tap Update to force an immediate refresh.

Instant Film

Instant packs (Polaroid 600, i-Type, SX-70, Go, Instax Mini, Instax Wide, Instax Square) follow the same workflow as regular film, with one difference:

• Instead of Send to Lab, tap Pack Finished — Mark as Consumed when the pack is empty. Consumed packs appear in History.
• Mid-Roll Swap is not available for instant packs.

Disposable Cameras

Disposable cameras (single-use cameras loaded with 35mm film) have their own format in FilmFridge and follow a slightly different workflow from regular rolls, reflecting how they're actually used.

Adding a Disposable Camera

Add by barcode or manually. When selecting format, choose Disposable 35mm. The quantity stepper adds individual cameras (not rolls), and they display as N camera(s) in the Fridge rather than ×N.

Shooting a Disposable Camera

1. Find the camera in the Fridge and tap it to open the detail view.
2. Tap Start Shooting. The camera moves to the Loaded tab immediately — no camera selection step is needed.
3. While shooting, FilmFridge tracks the current frame. The row subtitle shows the frame count as you update it from the detail view.

Returning to the Fridge Mid-Roll

If you don't finish a disposable in one session, open it from the Loaded tab and tap Return to Fridge. Record the last frame you shot and tap Save. The camera returns to the Fridge with a Partial badge showing how many frames remain. To resume, tap Re-start Shooting — the frame counter picks up where you left off.

Sending to the Lab

When the disposable is finished, open it from the Loaded tab and tap Send to Lab. The rest of the Lab workflow is identical to regular film: record processing notes, tap Send, then Mark as Processed when your scans arrive.

Sheet Film

Sheet film (4×5, 5×7, 8×10, Polaroid Sheet) works differently from roll film in a few important ways.

How Sheet Film is Stored

Each record represents one physical box. The quantity field tracks sheets inside that box — not boxes. Add a separate entry for each physical box you own, even if it's the same stock, to keep expiry dates and sheet counts accurate per box.

Adding and Adjusting Sheet Film

Add by barcode or manually, selecting a sheet film format. The Add Film form shows a Sheets in box stepper instead of the standard quantity and exposures fields. To update the count as you use sheets, open the box's detail view and tap − or + on the Sheets in box row — changes save immediately.

Sheet film rows show the sheet count ("25 sheets") rather than a roll multiplier. The Fridge section header lists rolls, packs, and sheets as separate totals. Low Stock alerts apply to the total sheet count across all boxes of a given stock combined.

Bulk Roll Film

Bulk Roll Film tracking is for photographers who buy 35mm film on large spools and load their own cassettes. FilmFridge tracks your remaining footage and records each cassette load.

Adding a Bulk Roll

1. In the Fridge, tap ⋮ and choose Add Bulk Roll.
2. Enter brand, stock name, ISO, and film type. Scan a barcode to pre-fill the details.
3. Set the spool length using a preset (100ft, 50ft, 30m, 17m) or a custom value in feet.
4. Optionally set purchase date, expiry date, and storage location, then tap Add.

Bulk rolls appear in a Bulk Film section below your regular inventory. Each row shows remaining footage and a small progress bar.

Loading Cassettes

Step 1 — Set up the load

1. From the bulk roll's detail view, tap Load Cassette.
2. Select exposures per cassette (12, 20, 24, 36, or Custom) and how many cassettes you're cutting. The maximum is calculated from remaining footage.
3. Review the footage estimate and tap Continue. No footage is deducted yet.

Step 2 — Confirm the details

1. Set storage location and optional expiry date.
2. Tap Add Roll (or Add N Rolls for multiple cassettes).

Footage is deducted from the spool and one roll is created per cassette. New rolls appear in your Fridge grouped with your regular 35mm stock. Bulk-loaded cassettes behave like regular 35mm rolls through the rest of the workflow and show a Bulk Film badge on their detail view.

Tips

• Swipe left on any Fridge row to quickly Delete, Clone, Move, or Load a roll without opening its detail view.
• The Fridge remembers your last view mode (list, format bins, or location bins) between sessions.
• The expanded or collapsed state of each bin is also saved.
• If you scan an unrecognized barcode, the Add Film form opens with it pre-filled so you can enter details manually.
• Journal entries can be edited or deleted by tapping the pencil and trash icons on each entry.
• A swapped roll can be reloaded into any camera — not just the one it came from.
• Disposable cameras don't need a camera selected when you tap Start Shooting — they move to Loaded immediately.
• Tap anywhere on a row — not just the text — to open that item.
• The Last Frame Shot field clears automatically when you send the roll to the lab.
• You can move multiple rolls to a different storage location at once using Select Items mode — useful when reorganizing or packing for a trip.
• The Use a different camera… option in the camera picker shows the full database without format filtering — handy for adapter loads or cameras not in the database.

Troubleshooting

My film didn't scan. Barcode lookup requires an internet connection. Check your connection and try again, or add the roll manually using the + button.

The app shows a "Film data unavailable" banner. FilmFridge couldn't connect to its database on launch. Tap Retry to try again.

Cloud sync shows an error. Tap Retry if available, or sign out and back in to re-establish the connection.

A roll disappeared after I deleted it on another device. With Cloud Sync enabled, deletions propagate automatically. Check History — it may have been moved there rather than deleted.

I don't see "Disposable 35mm" in the format picker. Enable Disposable Cameras in More → Settings → Options. Existing disposable cameras are always visible in your inventory regardless of this setting.

I don't see "Record Mid-Roll Swap." Enable Mid-Roll Swap Tracking in More → Settings → Options. It is only available on loaded, non-instant rolls.

Three rolls of the same stock show as two separate groups. One roll may have been added with an unrecognized barcode. Tap Edit on the oddly-grouped roll, verify the brand and stock name match the others exactly, and save.

Bulk-loaded rolls don't group under the right barcode. Cassettes from a bulk spool have no retail UPC. They group by stock name and brand, not by barcode.

Legacy formats aren't showing in the format picker. Enable Legacy Formats in More → Settings → Options. Existing rolls in legacy formats are always visible — the toggle only controls what appears in the picker when adding new rolls.

I want to remove several expired rolls at once. Tap ⋮ in the Fridge toolbar, choose Select Items, tap each roll, then tap Delete. See The Fridge for full details.

FilmFridge is in active development. New features will appear in future updates.
Updated April 2026 — Android beta release, includes Disposable Cameras.