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8 Best TV Time Alternatives in 2026 (Ranked & Tested)

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TV Time is shutting down July 15, 2026. Compare the 8 best alternatives — Trakt, Simkl, Serializd, Moviebase and more — and pick your next show tracker.

TV Time Is Closing, So You Need a New Home

TV Time's service ends after July 15, 2026. After that date the app is pulled from the App Store and Google Play, tvtime.com goes offline, and all personal account data is deleted. For a service that TechCrunch and Appfigures peg at more than 25 million users and 26.4M+ lifetime installs, that is a large audience suddenly looking for somewhere to land. If you want the full backstory, read the shutdown news.

The good news is that the tracking space is crowded, and several apps are ready for you. The hard part is choosing well, because not every option handles the two things TV Time users care about most: recovering years of episode history, and never being locked in like this again.

Before you pick, weigh four things:

  1. Episode tracking — can it follow season-by-season progress the way TV Time did?
  2. Data import — can it pull your watch history in, ideally directly?
  3. Portability — if this app also disappears one day, can you take your data with you?
  4. Stability — is the service holding up under the current migration surge, or straining?

We ranked eight alternatives against those criteria below.

The TV Time Replacement Lineup

Moviebase Play Store iconMoviebase

Best ad-free home (Android)

Movies and TV in one tracker, bidirectional Trakt sync, and no ads on the free tier.

trakt Play Store icontrakt

Most capable

Built-in TV Time importer, Plex and Kodi scrobbling, and full data portability.

SIMKL Play Store iconSIMKL

Closest clone

A direct TV Time ZIP importer and a familiar layout — if the servers hold up.

SeriesGuide Play Store iconSeriesGuide

Best Android utility

A fast, no-frills TV tracker with Trakt connectivity and a long track record.

SHOWLY Play Store iconSHOWLY

Cleanest TV-first feel

A focused, uncluttered episode tracker with Trakt support.

CinExplore Play Store iconCinExplore

Most minimal

A lightweight Material Design tracker that syncs with Trakt.

AppBest forKey strengthTradeoff
TraktPortability and powerBuilt-in TV Time importer, Plex/Kodi syncMobile UX less polished
MoviebaseAd-free Android homeMovies + TV, Trakt sync, free stats, no adsAndroid only, no social layer
SimklA direct cloneBuilt-in TV Time ZIP importerServers straining under migration
SerializdSocial and aestheticThe Letterboxd-of-TV feel, reviewsWeb-first, no direct TV Time import
Sofa TimeiOS and iPadOS usersNative Apple app, Trakt/Simkl syncNo Android version
SeriesGuideSpeed on AndroidFast tracking, Trakt connectivityUtility-first, less discovery
ShowlyA clean TV-first flowUncluttered episode trackingLess suited to movie-heavy users
CinExploreA minimal setupLightweight, customizable, Trakt syncBasic discovery features

The 8 Best TV Time Alternatives, Ranked

1. Trakt — the most capable replacement

Trakt is the backbone of modern tracking, and it is the safest destination for most people leaving TV Time. It added a built-in TV Time importer, and most users report roughly 95% accuracy or better on the transfer. Obscure or very old titles sometimes need a manual fix, and if the automated import stalls for your account you can fall back to the GDPR export and a CSV import.

Beyond the import, Trakt is the portability layer for the whole ecosystem. It scrobbles from Plex, Kodi, and other tools, and dozens of other apps read and write to it — so your history is never trapped in a single app again. The tradeoff is that the mobile experience is more functional than polished, and many people treat Trakt as a sync layer rather than the app they open every day.

Best for: Anyone who wants the most complete import and long-term data portability.

2. Moviebase — the ad-free landing spot for Android

Moviebase is where you want to land if you are on Android and you want calm, stable, ad-free tracking for both movies and TV in one place. It is powered by TMDB, tracks episode progress season by season, and keeps unlimited custom lists alongside your watchlist.

Its real advantage in this list is the migration wedge. Moviebase does not import from TV Time directly — instead you export from TV Time, run Trakt's built-in TV Time importer, and connect Trakt in Moviebase. Because Moviebase syncs bidirectionally with Trakt (history, ratings, watchlist, collections), you recover your years of history and it is never locked in again. On top of that you get a release calendar with new-episode notifications, streaming availability via TMDB, and free viewing statistics — genre, network, and time graphs at no cost. See how it stacks up head-to-head in Moviebase vs TV Time.

Be clear on the limits: Moviebase is Android only, there is no iOS app, the community is smaller than TV Time's, and there is no social layer or badges. If TV Time's comments and reactions were the reason you loved it, that gap will matter. If the forced social noise is what you wanted to escape, it is a feature.

Best for: Android users who want an ad-free, private, movies-and-TV home that stays stable.

3. Simkl — the closest clone

Simkl is the most direct like-for-like swap. It ships a built-in TV Time ZIP importer, so you can bring your export in without routing through another service, and its layout will feel familiar fast. It also handles anime well and offers automatic tracking across some streaming services.

The honest caveat is stability. Simkl's servers have reportedly buckled under the migration surge as TV Time users pile in, so imports and sync can be slow or fail during peak periods right now. If you go this route, keep your TV Time export saved so you can retry. Weigh it directly against the alternatives in TV Time vs Simkl and Trakt vs Simkl.

Best for: People who want the most TV-Time-like app and can tolerate current server strain.

4. Serializd — the Letterboxd of TV

Serializd is the pick if the social and aesthetic side of TV Time is what you will miss. It leans into reviews, ratings, and a clean visual feed, much like Letterboxd does for film. It is free and has an active community that has grown as people look for a TV Time replacement with personality.

The tradeoffs are practical. Serializd is web-first, so the mobile experience is not as native as a dedicated app, and it does not offer a direct one-click TV Time importer the way Trakt and Simkl do. If community and taste-sharing matter more than a frictionless data transfer, it is still worth a look.

Best for: Users who want a social, review-driven feed over a utility tracker.

5. Sofa Time — for iOS and iPadOS

Sofa Time is a native Apple app that syncs with Trakt and Simkl, which makes it a genuinely nice front end for people already inside those ecosystems. If you own an iPhone or iPad and want a polished, Apple-feeling tracker, it belongs on your shortlist.

The obvious limit is platform: Sofa Time is iOS and iPadOS only, so Android users can skip it entirely. Because it rides on Trakt or Simkl for data, your import still happens through one of those services first.

Best for: iPhone and iPad users who sync through Trakt or Simkl.

6. SeriesGuide — the Android utility

SeriesGuide is a long-running Android tracker built for speed. It is less about discovery and visuals and more about marking episodes quickly and keeping a tidy list of what is airing. It connects to Trakt, which keeps your data portable.

If your ideal tracker feels like a tool rather than a magazine, SeriesGuide fits. The tradeoff is that it is TV-focused and utilitarian, so movie-heavy viewers and people who want rich recommendations will find it plain.

Best for: Android users who prioritize fast, efficient TV tracking.

7. Showly — the clean TV-first option

Showly is a focused, uncluttered episode tracker with Trakt support. It handles returning shows and season progress cleanly, and it is a good fit if you want a calm TV-first interface without a lot of extra surface area.

Because it is TV-centered, it is less balanced for people who also track a large movie backlog. If TV is nearly all of your watching, that focus is a strength.

Best for: Viewers who want a streamlined, TV-only workflow.

8. CinExplore — the minimal Trakt tracker

CinExplore is a lightweight Material Design tracker that syncs with Trakt and stays out of your way. It covers the basics — logging episodes, keeping progress — without feature bloat, and it supports customizable themes.

Its discovery and recommendation features are basic compared with the bigger apps, so it suits people who already know what they want to watch and just need a simple place to log it.

Best for: Users who want a minimal, customizable, Trakt-connected tracker.

Want to level up your movie tracking?

Moviebase tracks your watchlist, sends episode alerts, and syncs with Trakt.

Get it on Google Play

How to Choose Quickly

If you want one rule of thumb: get your data into Trakt first, then pick the app you actually enjoy opening. Trakt's importer does the heavy lifting, and because Moviebase, SeriesGuide, Showly, CinExplore, and Sofa Time all read from Trakt, your history follows you wherever you go next.

On Android, Moviebase is the most complete ad-free home for movies and TV together — see the best Android alternative breakdown. If cost is your deciding factor, compare the free alternatives. And for the wider tracking landscape beyond the TV Time exodus, see the best TV show trackers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Source Notes

This roundup draws on TV Time's official shutdown notice and TechCrunch's July 2026 reporting, with install and user figures from Appfigures via TechCrunch. The alternative shortlist and sentiment — including Trakt's import accuracy and Simkl's server strain — reflect public discussion across Reddit, MacRumors forums, ResetEra, and AlternativeTo, cross-checked against each app's own documentation. Moviebase feature details come from the app's TMDB-powered, Trakt-syncing Android product.