Common questions.

Light Lab helps you learn manual photography. It reads the light in front of you, suggests camera settings, teaches you what each setting does, and sends you into your city with real assignments. Think of it as a light meter, a classroom, and a field guide in one app.

No. Download the app, open it, and start learning. Your progress, pins, and settings are saved on your iPhone — not on our servers, because we do not have any.

Yes. Once installed, the app works in airplane mode. The Meter can use your camera or Practice Mode, the Classroom lessons are built in, and Field Guide content is stored on your device. You do not need Wi‑Fi or cellular data to use Light Lab.

The Meter uses your iPhone camera to measure the light in the scene — the same way a real light meter reads brightness. That analysis happens on your phone in real time. We never receive or store your camera feed.

If you choose not to allow camera access, Practice Mode gives you six built-in scenes to learn with instead.

Location helps Field Guide show where you are on the map and place pins at spots you discover. It is optional — you can still browse cities, pack assignments, complete finds, and file your work without it.

No. Light Lab declares Data Not Collected in the App Store. The app has no accounts, no analytics, and no backend — your meter readings, assignments, and pins stay on your iPhone. Camera and location are used on-device only and are never sent to us.

See our full Privacy Policy for App Store–ready legal detail.

No — and Light Lab is honest about that. Every iPhone has a fixed physical aperture. The Meter teaches you what aperture means and shows recommended settings for the manual camera you are learning on, but your phone cannot actually open or close its lens.

When you take practice photos in the app, shutter speed and ISO still behave like a real camera. Aperture is the one setting your phone cannot physically change.

Practice Mode is a built-in set of six lighting scenes you can use when you do not have camera access, or when you want to learn indoors. The meter math is real — only the scene is simulated.

Field Guide is a city-by-city photography companion. Each guide includes neighborhoods, walking assignments, a scavenger hunt of “finds,” and a passport you stamp as you go. Guides for cities like San Francisco, Paris, Shanghai, and many others are built into the app.

Open Settings (the Field Kit), scroll to Learning, and tap Reset Lesson Progress. This starts the Classroom lessons fresh. It does not delete your Field Guide journal, pins, or other settings.

Light Lab is built for iPhone running iOS 18 or later. There is no Android version at this time.

Email us with your iPhone model, iOS version, and a short description of what happened. Screenshots help if you can include them.