What Is Trakt.tv?

Trakt.tv is an open platform for tracking movies and TV shows. Founded in 2010, it has grown into the most widely used tracking backend in the entertainment app ecosystem. Unlike closed platforms where your data lives in a single app, Trakt functions as a central hub that dozens of apps and services can connect to.

Think of Trakt as the sync layer for your entertainment life. You can log watches from your phone, scrobble automatically from your media center, and access your full history from any compatible app. Your data belongs to you, not to any single application.

Millions

Active Trakt.tv users worldwide

Why Trakt Integration Matters

Data Portability

The most important benefit of Trakt integration is data portability. When you track movies and shows in an app that syncs with Trakt, your data is not locked into that app. If you switch phones, try a new tracking app, or want to access your history from a web browser, everything is available through your Trakt account.

This is a critical distinction from apps that store data only locally or in their own proprietary cloud. Years of watch history, thousands of ratings, and carefully curated lists should not disappear because an app shuts down or you change platforms.

Automatic Scrobbling

Scrobbling is the automatic detection and logging of what you watch. Trakt pioneered this concept for video content, borrowing the term from Last.fm's music scrobbling. When connected to media centers like Plex, Kodi, Emby, or Jellyfin, Trakt automatically marks content as watched without any manual input.

This means your Moviebase library can update itself even when you are watching on your TV through a media center. Watch a movie on Plex, and it appears in your Moviebase watch history within minutes via Trakt sync.

Cross-App Consistency

Trakt's open API means many apps across different platforms connect to the same data. On Android, Moviebase provides a premium tracking experience. On the web, Trakt.tv itself offers detailed statistics and social features. Other apps on iOS, Android, and desktop all connect to the same Trakt account.

No matter which app or device you use, your watch history stays consistent.

How Trakt Integration Works in Moviebase

The Sync Process

When you connect Moviebase to Trakt, the two services synchronize in both directions. Actions you take in Moviebase (marking a movie as watched, rating a show, adding to a list) are pushed to Trakt. Changes made elsewhere in the Trakt ecosystem (scrobbles from Plex, ratings from the Trakt website) are pulled into Moviebase.

This sync happens automatically in the background, though you can also trigger a manual sync at any time from the settings screen.

What Gets Synced

The integration covers the core data types that make tracking valuable:

Watch history: Every movie and episode you mark as watched, including the date
Ratings: Your personal ratings on any scale supported by the app
Watchlist: Titles you want to watch are synced to your Trakt watchlist
Collections: Physical or digital media you own
Lists: Custom lists you create are synced as Trakt lists

Conflict Resolution

Occasionally, data conflicts arise when the same title has different status in Moviebase and Trakt. This typically happens during the initial sync if you have been using both services independently. Moviebase handles most conflicts automatically, generally deferring to the most recent action.

Getting the Most from Trakt

Connect Your Media Centers

If you use Plex, Kodi, Emby, or Jellyfin, install the Trakt plugin for each one. This enables automatic scrobbling, which means everything you watch at home is logged without any effort. Combined with manual tracking in Moviebase for content you watch elsewhere, you get a truly complete viewing history.

Explore Trakt VIP

Trakt's free tier covers basic syncing and tracking, but the VIP subscription ($30 per year) unlocks advanced statistics, year-in-review reports, and additional filtering options on the Trakt website. If you are a power user who loves data about your viewing habits, VIP is a worthwhile investment.

Use the Trakt Calendar

Trakt maintains a personalized calendar based on the shows in your library. This calendar shows upcoming episodes and premieres, making it easy to plan your week. Moviebase surfaces this data through its own notification system, so you get the best of both the web calendar and mobile alerts.

The Bottom Line

Trakt.tv integration is what transforms a simple tracking app into a powerful, future-proof entertainment management system. By choosing apps that support Trakt sync, like Moviebase, you ensure that your years of tracking data remain accessible, portable, and safe regardless of what happens to any individual app or platform.

If you have not yet connected your Trakt account to Moviebase, it is the single most impactful thing you can do to improve your tracking setup.