# TV Time Alternatives: What Actually Works After the Shutdown

> TV Time shut down on 15 July 2026. Eight alternatives compared on price, platform, whether they import your TV Time export, and what each one is actually best at. Verified 26 July 2026.
>
> Source: https://theflickpicker.com/alternatives/tv-time — last verified 2026-07-26.
> Published by FlickPicker, which makes one of the apps discussed.

TV Time ended after 15 July 2026, taking roughly 25 million people's watch histories with it. This page is the practical version of what to do next: whether your data is recoverable at all, which apps read the TV Time export file, and which one fits how you actually watch.

**Who wrote this.** FlickPicker did — and FlickPicker is one of the apps below, so read us with that in mind. We have tried to earn your trust the only way that works on a page like this: we do not rank ourselves first, we state plainly what we do worse than the alternatives, and every price, star rating and version number was read off the publisher's own App Store or pricing page on 26 July 2026 with the source linked. No affiliate links.

## What happened to TV Time

Whip Media announced the shutdown on 2 July 2026 and ended the service after 15 July. The app was pulled from both app stores and tvtime.com now serves only a farewell page. The company's stated reason was commercial, not technical:

> While we loved supporting TV Time, it was no longer sustainable to continue operating the service as a free app, and there was not enough demand for a paid app.
>
> — Whip Media, quoted by [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/02/popular-tv-tracking-app-tv-time-is-shutting-down-as-company-focuses-on-ai/), 2 July 2026

TV Time had passed 26 million lifetime installs and around 25 million users ([TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/02/popular-tv-tracking-app-tv-time-is-shutting-down-as-company-focuses-on-ai/), [MacRumors](https://www.macrumors.com/2026/07/02/show-tracking-app-tv-time-shutting-down/)). Whip Media also confirmed that "consumer data collected through TV Time will not continue to be used as part of any commercial service" ([support notice](https://whipmedia.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/68000029988-tv-time-is-shutting-down)). That is good news for privacy and bad news for anyone who wanted their history back.

## First: do you still have your data?

This is the question every other comparison page skips, and it decides which app you should pick.

TV Time's GDPR export portal at gdpr.tvtime.com/gdpr/self-service **still loads and still asks for TV Time credentials** when we checked it on 26 July 2026. But Whip Media stated that personal account data would be permanently deleted after 15 July ([support notice](https://whipmedia.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/68000029988-tv-time-is-shutting-down)), so a successful login may simply return an empty result. We cannot test this without a live TV Time account, so we will not tell you it definitely works or definitely does not. Treat it as a long shot worth five minutes.

### If you have the ZIP file

You are in good shape, and you have the widest choice. Copy the file somewhere safe first — several of the importers below are one-way, and you may want to try more than one app. Every app in the table marked "Yes" reads the official GDPR ZIP directly; you do not need to unzip it.

### If you never exported

Then no app can restore your history, and any guide telling you to "export now" was written before the window closed. Your decision changes: instead of asking who has the best importer, ask who makes **rebuilding** fastest. Look for bulk season marking (mark a whole show as watched up to a point), and for imports from anywhere else you logged things — Letterboxd, IMDb watchlists, Trakt, or a CSV. Rebuilding a few hundred titles by tapping each episode is the thing that makes people give up on trackers entirely.

## The eight alternatives at a glance

| App | Platforms | Price | Movies + TV | Imports TV Time export | Best at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trakt | iOS, Android, web | Free; VIP $59.99/yr | Both | Yes — free, first-party | The biggest ecosystem |
| Serializd | iOS, Android, web | Free, no paid tier | **TV only** | Yes | Reviews and community |
| FlickPicker | **iOS only** | Free; Premium $29.99/yr | Both | Yes, with match preview | Deciding what to watch |
| Sofa Time | iOS, Android | Free; lifetime $7.99–$9.99 | Both | Yes | Paying once, not monthly |
| Simkl | Web, aging iOS app | Free; PRO $34.99/yr | Both | **PRO/VIP only right now** | Anime tracking |
| Showly | iOS 18.6+, Android | Free; lifetime $14.99 | Both | No — go via Trakt | Open-source Android |
| Letterboxd | iOS, Android, web | Free; Pro $19/yr | **Movies only** | No | Films, not shows |
| OpenTV | iOS only | Free, no purchases | Both | Yes — most complete | Offline, private, local-only |

Prices are US dollars as listed on 26 July 2026. "Both" means films and shows live in one library in the same app.

## 1. Trakt — the default answer, with two new caveats

**Best for:** the widest third-party app ecosystem, and the least friction getting your TV Time file in.

Trakt built a first-party TV Time importer that takes the GDPR ZIP as-is and is free to use, covering watch history, watchlist and ratings ([Trakt](https://forums.trakt.tv/t/coming-from-tv-time-we-re-here-to-help/114199)). Its free tier is genuinely generous — 100,000 watched-history items, 10,000 ratings, a 250-item watchlist and five personal lists ([Trakt's 2026 limits](https://forums.trakt.tv/t/updating-trakt-limits-for-2026/101592)). The official iOS app is actively developed, shipping updates within days.

**The catch:** two things changed recently and both cut against Trakt. First, on **22 July 2026 Trakt limited free accounts to one connected community app**, citing infrastructure cost ([announcement](https://forums.trakt.tv/t/an-update-to-community-app-connections/117898)). Being the hub that every other tracker plugs into was Trakt's whole pitch, and on the free tier that is now mostly gone. Second, the version 3 rewrite removed real functionality — you can no longer rate a season, and the 10-point rating scale went away — which users have catalogued at length ([v3 feedback thread](https://forums.trakt.tv/t/trakt-v3-feedback/108823)). The iOS app sits at **4.0 stars across 1.2K ratings**, the lowest of any actively-maintained app here ([App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trakt-tv/id1514873602)).

Price: free, or VIP at **$5.99 a month / $59.99 a year** on iOS ([App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trakt-tv/id1514873602)). Worth knowing that Trakt raised legacy VIP prices by up to 300% in 2025 after previously promising existing subscribers they were grandfathered in ([Neowin](https://www.neowin.net/news/trakt-vip-receives-up-to-300-price-hike-going-back-on-promise-to-honor-legacy-subs/)) — if you are choosing a home for a decade of watch history, that history is relevant.

## 2. Serializd — Letterboxd for television

**Best for:** people who want to write about what they watch and read what others wrote.

Serializd is the only app here built review-first: ratings and reviews at episode, season and series level, lists, discussions and profile stats. It is **free with no paid tier and no in-app purchases at all** ([Serializd](https://www.serializd.com/about)), imports from both TV Time and Trakt ([import page](https://www.serializd.com/tvtime)), and holds **4.47 stars across 1,115 iOS ratings** with the app updated on 11 July 2026 ([App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/serializd/id1581244120)).

**The catch:** **it does not track movies at all** — nothing in its own FAQ, App Store listing or site mentions films. It is also a solo-developer project, its Android rating is notably weaker at 3.9 stars, and reviewers consistently report two specific gaps: no rewatch logging, and watch-time statistics that sometimes go *down* when you mark something watched. Being free is paid for with advertising — the App Store privacy label discloses usage data used to track you across other companies' apps and sites.

## 3. FlickPicker — for the deciding, not just the logging

**Best for:** people whose real problem is not "what have I watched" but "what do we watch tonight".

This is us, so here is the honest version. Every other app on this page is primarily a **ledger**: it records what you watched and tells you what airs next. FlickPicker is built around the decision instead. It knows your ratings and history, knows which services you actually pay for and what is streamable in your region, and uses that to answer questions like "something funny, under 100 minutes, that my partner and I will both agree on". Pick Together turns that into a voting room — everyone joins with a code, votes on a tailored shortlist, and the room reveals the match.

It tracks films and shows in one library with per-episode progress, imports from TV Time, Letterboxd, IMDb, Trakt, CSV and pasted watchlists with a preview so you can exclude wrong matches before committing, and adds a release calendar, new-episode alerts and warnings before a saved title leaves your services. Film Buff tracks progress through canon lists like the IMDb Top 250. Version 2.5 shipped 20 July 2026. Free, with Premium at **$4.99 a month or $29.99 a year** — half Trakt's yearly price.

**The catch:** three real limitations. **It is iPhone and iPad only** — there is no Android app and no web tracker, so if you switch phones or want to log from a laptop, pick something else. **It is new**, which means Apple has not yet collected enough ratings to display an average, and you are trusting a small team rather than a decade-old service. And if all you want is a fast episode checklist with no recommendations, Trakt and Sofa Time do that with less app around it.

[Try FlickPicker free on iPhone](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flickpicker-movie-night/id6775147318)

## 4. Sofa Time — pay once, sync where you like

**Best for:** avoiding subscriptions, and avoiding Trakt's free-tier limits.

The quiet strong option. Released January 2020, **4.72 stars across 1,618 ratings**, updated 23 July 2026, and premium is a **one-time $7.99–$9.99** rather than a subscription ([App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sofa-time-tv-show-tracker/id1491037404)). It tracks films and shows, imports TV Time history, and — uniquely here — lets you sync via **Trakt, Simkl, iCloud or MDBList**, so you can sidestep Trakt's caps and $59.99 VIP entirely by using iCloud.

**The catch:** it requires iOS 18 or later, its community features are thin next to Serializd, and at least one reviewer reports losing 300+ logged films and having to re-add them by hand — the worst failure mode a tracker has. Its two identically-named lifetime purchases at different prices are also undocumented, which makes buying confusing.

## 5. Simkl — good service, neglected iPhone app

**Best for:** anime, where its AniDB metadata and filler-episode lists beat everything else here.

Simkl is the cheapest paid entry point — **PRO is $34.99 a year** — and it has a genuine free-PRO path if you visit at least 20 days a month ([Simkl](https://simkl.com/vip/)). It shares TVDB as a backend with TV Time, so episode matching on import is close to exact.

**The catch:** two problems that matter a lot for iPhone users. **The iOS app was last updated on 31 October 2022** and sits at 4.4 stars from only 208 ratings, with reviewers recommending the website instead ([App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simkl-lists-tv-anime-movies/id1229691035)). And **TV Time import is currently restricted to PRO and VIP subscribers** — Simkl describes this as temporary, caused by "hundreds of millions of episodes in the first 24 hours" after the shutdown, with a waitlist for free access ([Simkl](https://simkl.com/apps/import/tvtime/)). Verify before you subscribe; this may have lifted.

## 6. Showly — open source, now owned by Trakt

**Best for:** Android users who want auditable, Google-services-free software.

Worth clearing up a common confusion: Showly's iOS app is **published by Trakt, Inc.**, not an unrelated clone, and the source now lives in Trakt's GitHub organisation under GPL-3.0 ([repo](https://github.com/trakt/showly)). It tracks films and shows, holds **4.74 stars from 227 iOS ratings**, and offers a **$14.99 one-time lifetime** unlock instead of a subscription ([App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/track-shows-movies-showly/id6739016219)). A Trakt account is optional.

**The catch:** it needs **iOS 18.6 or later**, the iOS app is only about 18 months old with a small review base next to Android's 10.3K, the Android build carries ads unless you buy premium and sits at 3.8 stars, and the maintainers themselves describe the codebase as having "grown a bit rusty" with 143 open issues. There is also **no direct TV Time importer** — you import into Trakt and sync.

## 7. Letterboxd — excellent, and not a show tracker

**Best for:** films. Only films.

Letterboxd is the best-loved app in this entire category — **4.82 stars from 88,175 iOS ratings** — and Pro is inexpensive at $19 a year ([pricing](https://letterboxd.com/pro/)). It gets recommended constantly to TV Time refugees, which is a mistake worth stating plainly, because its own help centre is unambiguous:

> No, we do not support 'returning' TV shows at this time, but we are working on this as a future platform extension.
>
> — [Letterboxd Help Centre](https://letterboxd.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/15269096507407-Do-you-support-TV-shows)

**The catch:** there is no episode tracking, no season progress and no next-episode dates. Some limited series and TV movies happen to be loggable for historical metadata reasons, which creates more confusion than it solves. TV support has been "coming" without a committed date, so it cannot be recommended on the promise. If you want films *and* shows today, Letterboxd is half an answer.

## 8. OpenTV — the most complete restore, and the least track record

**Best for:** a private, offline, no-account library — if you are comfortable with an unproven app.

On paper OpenTV has the best TV Time migration of anything here: it claims to restore shows, full history, movies, watchlists, ratings, **emotions, comments, favourites, badges and profile photos** from the GDPR ZIP. It is free with no purchases, and Apple's privacy label states the developer collects no data at all ([App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/opentv-tv-movie-tracker/id6787399404)).

**The catch:** be careful. It was **released on 9 July 2026 — six days before the shutdown — and has three ratings**. Its developer's entire catalogue is three unrelated 2026 apps, with support running through a personal Telegram handle and no company website. Despite the name and a repo describing itself as "the open-source home for your watch list", **that repository contains no source code and no licence** — one commit, a docs folder and a README ([GitHub](https://github.com/mahmoodbashar08/opentv)). And because it is local-only by design there is no cross-device sync and no cloud backup: lose the phone, lose the library. It may well be exactly what it says it is. It is not a safe default.

## So which one

Reduced to the decision you are actually making:

- **You have your ZIP and want maximum compatibility** — Trakt. Free importer, biggest ecosystem. Budget $59.99/yr if you will run more than one app on it.
- **You write about what you watch** — Serializd, and accept that films live somewhere else.
- **You want films and shows in one place and hate subscriptions** — Sofa Time, $7.99–$9.99 once, with iCloud sync.
- **Your problem is choosing, not logging — especially with other people** — FlickPicker, if you are on iPhone.
- **You track anime seriously** — Simkl, using the web app rather than its iOS app.
- **You mostly watch films** — Letterboxd, and add a show tracker beside it.
- **You want everything restored and nothing uploaded** — OpenTV, knowing it is two weeks old.

There is no single winner here, which is the honest conclusion. TV Time's particular mix — a simple checklist plus a big comment community, free — is not something any one app currently reproduces.

- [Best TV show tracker apps in 2026](https://theflickpicker.com/best/tv-show-tracker-apps) — the same field ranked without the migration angle.
- [FlickPicker vs Trakt](https://theflickpicker.com/compare/flickpicker-vs-trakt) — head-to-head on price, imports and what each is built for.
- [What FlickPicker actually does](https://theflickpicker.com/features) — full capability list, no marketing adjectives.

**How we checked.** Prices, star ratings, rating counts, version numbers and release dates come from Apple's App Store listings and each publisher's own pricing pages, read on 26 July 2026. Feature claims come from the publisher's own documentation. Criticisms are drawn from public reviews and the publishers' own forums, and are attributed. Where we could not verify something we say so rather than guessing.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I still export my TV Time data?

Probably not, and you should not count on it. TV Time's GDPR export portal at gdpr.tvtime.com/gdpr/self-service still loaded and still asked for TV Time credentials when we checked it on 26 July 2026 — but Whip Media said personal account data would be permanently deleted after the 15 July 2026 shutdown, so a successful login may return nothing. The only data you can rely on is a ZIP you downloaded before 15 July. If you have that file, keep a backup copy before you import it anywhere.

### Which TV Time alternative imports episode progress, not just show names?

Trakt, Serializd, FlickPicker, Sofa Time, Simkl and OpenTV all read per-episode watch history out of the official TV Time GDPR ZIP, so your season-by-season progress survives the move. OpenTV advertises the most complete restore — it claims to bring back emotions, comments, favourites and badges as well as history and ratings. Showly does not have its own TV Time importer; the route there is to import into Trakt first and let Showly sync.

### What is the best free TV Time alternative?

Serializd if you only track TV — it is genuinely free with no paid tier at all, and it holds 4.47 stars across 1,115 iOS ratings. Trakt if you want breadth, because its free tier now allows 100,000 watched-history items and a 250-item watchlist, and its TV Time importer is free. Note that Simkl, often recommended as the free option, has its TV Time import behind PRO or VIP as of 26 July 2026.

### Is there a TV Time alternative that tracks movies too?

Yes — Trakt, FlickPicker, Sofa Time, Simkl, Showly and OpenTV all track films and shows in one library. The two most-recommended apps do not: Serializd is TV-only, and Letterboxd is films-only. Letterboxd's help centre is explicit — "we do not support 'returning' TV shows at this time" — so if you want one app for both, those two mean running two apps.

### Do I need a Trakt account to use these apps?

Not for Serializd, FlickPicker, OpenTV or Letterboxd, which all keep their own accounts and libraries. Showly and several smaller trackers use Trakt as their sync backend, which matters more since 22 July 2026: Trakt now limits free accounts to one connected community app. If you plan to run two Trakt-backed apps, budget for VIP at $59.99 a year.

### What is the closest app to TV Time's episode checklist?

Trakt and Sofa Time come closest to the plain up-next checklist, and OpenTV was built specifically to recreate the TV Time workflow including its emotion reactions. Serializd is closest in spirit to TV Time's social side, since it keeps the per-episode reviews and community feed. Nothing is a pixel-for-pixel replacement — TV Time's combination of a checklist plus a large comment community does not currently exist in one app.

### What is the best TV Time alternative for iPhone specifically?

On iPhone the field narrows, because two popular recommendations are weak on iOS: Simkl's iOS app was last updated on 31 October 2022, and Showly requires iOS 18.6 or later. The actively-maintained iPhone options are Trakt (4.0 stars, 1.2K ratings), Serializd (4.47, 1,115 ratings), Sofa Time (4.72, 1,618 ratings) and FlickPicker, which is newer and has too few ratings for Apple to display an average yet.

## Sources

- [TechCrunch — TV Time is shutting down (2 July 2026)](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/02/popular-tv-tracking-app-tv-time-is-shutting-down-as-company-focuses-on-ai/)
- [Whip Media — TV Time is Shutting Down (support notice)](https://whipmedia.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/68000029988-tv-time-is-shutting-down)
- [MacRumors — Show tracking app TV Time shutting down](https://www.macrumors.com/2026/07/02/show-tracking-app-tv-time-shutting-down/)
- [Trakt — Coming from TV Time? We're here to help](https://forums.trakt.tv/t/coming-from-tv-time-we-re-here-to-help/114199)
- [Trakt — An update to Community App connections (22 July 2026)](https://forums.trakt.tv/t/an-update-to-community-app-connections/117898)
- [Trakt — Updating Trakt limits for 2026](https://forums.trakt.tv/t/updating-trakt-limits-for-2026/101592)
- [Trakt — v3 feedback thread](https://forums.trakt.tv/t/trakt-v3-feedback/108823)
- [Trakt on the App Store (pricing, rating, version)](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trakt-tv/id1514873602)
- [Neowin — Trakt VIP price increase and grandfathering reversal](https://www.neowin.net/news/trakt-vip-receives-up-to-300-price-hike-going-back-on-promise-to-honor-legacy-subs/)
- [Serializd — About / FAQ](https://www.serializd.com/about)
- [Serializd — TV Time import](https://www.serializd.com/tvtime)
- [Serializd on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/serializd/id1581244120)
- [Simkl — Free, PRO and VIP plans](https://simkl.com/vip/)
- [Simkl — Import TV Time history](https://simkl.com/apps/import/tvtime/)
- [Simkl Lists on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simkl-lists-tv-anime-movies/id1229691035)
- [Showly on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/track-shows-movies-showly/id6739016219)
- [trakt/showly on GitHub](https://github.com/trakt/showly)
- [Letterboxd Help — Do you support TV shows?](https://letterboxd.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/15269096507407-Do-you-support-TV-shows)
- [Letterboxd — Pro and Patron pricing](https://letterboxd.com/pro/)
- [Sofa Time on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sofa-time-tv-show-tracker/id1491037404)
- [OpenTV on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/opentv-tv-movie-tracker/id6787399404)
- [mahmoodbashar08/opentv on GitHub](https://github.com/mahmoodbashar08/opentv)

---
FlickPicker for iPhone and iPad: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flickpicker-movie-night/id6775147318