Colony Counter, an app that counts bacterial and fungal colonies on agar plates from a photo and reports the result as CFU/mL, CFU/g or CFU/100 mL, has completed its closed test on Google Play and is now free to download. It is designed for microbiology laboratories in research and teaching.
Counting colonies by eye, one at a time, takes a long time, and crowded plates or touching colonies are easy to miscount. Colony Counter lets the user photograph the plate with a smartphone camera and has the app do the counting, while every colony can still be checked and corrected by the user.
How it works, step by step
- Photograph the plate. A guide circle and live checks for level, focus and glare help you take a good photo.
- The app finds the dish and counts the colonies automatically, splitting touching colonies and estimating the number in clusters.
- The user checks the count on the photo, taps to remove or add a colony, and can undo any change. The app warns you to check the count when a plate is crowded or the colonies are faint.
Results
- CFU/mL from a dilution series, with the FDA BAM (25–250), ISO 7218 (10–300) or 30–300 counting rules
- Replicates: mean ± SD, CV and log₁₀ CFU/mL ± SD
- Drop plates (Miles–Misra): empty and confluent drops are found, with a drop table, Poisson checks and a 95 % interval
- Comparing conditions with log reduction, % kill and time-kill curves
Supported plate types
- 60, 90, 100 and 150 mm dishes, square plates and 47 mm membrane filters
- Several plates in one photo
- Time-lapse: photographing the same plate over time
- Petrifilm® dry films: AC, EC, CC, EB and YM
- Inhibition zones (beta): zone diameters from disk diffusion and agar-well diffusion, calibrated against the user’s own calliper
All processing happens on the device and no account is needed. On Android the app works fully offline; on iPhone and iPad it runs as a web app added to the Home Screen, which needs the internet the first time it is opened and works offline after that. Results can be exported as CSV, annotated photos and backups. The app comes with built-in example data, so every feature can be tried before using real plates, and a step-by-step picture manual in Thai and English. It is free and open-source software (GNU AGPL-3.0).
Colony Counter is intended for research and teaching. It is not a medical or diagnostic device, and users should always check the automatic count. Inhibition zone measurement is still in beta and has not yet been checked against calliper readings on real plates.
Ready to try it?
On iPhone and iPad, use the web app in Safari. It is not available in the App Store.
- Web app: https://cc.amphur.in.th
- User manual: https://cc.amphur.in.th/manual/index.html
- Source code: https://github.com/smposara/Colony-counter
Thank you to all the testers. Suggestions are welcome at https://groups.google.com/g/colony-counter-tester.
Petrifilm is a trademark of Neogen Corporation. This app is not made or endorsed by Neogen.
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