Full disclosure before anything else: we make Hobi, one of the apps on this list. So instead of pretending to be neutral, we will do something more useful. We will tell you what each app is genuinely best at, and exactly what it costs you to choose it. Every limitation below is either the company's own published wording or something you can check yourself in a minute. If you disagree with a call, tell us on r/hobi.
2026 is a strange year to be shopping for a tracker. TV Time, the biggest one, shut down on July 15 and deleted every account, which means millions of people are looking for apps like TV Time at the same time. If that is you, one thing outranks everything on this page: the TV Time export file you already saved. It works with several of the apps below, forever.
What a good tracker has to get right
We judged every app on the same six things. They are worth holding in mind as you read, because most apps here do four or five of them well, and the gaps are where a decade of history tends to go missing.
- Your history and ratings survive a move in.
- One tap episode marking, because that is 95% of what you do.
- Real statuses: Watching, On hold, Dropped, Plan to watch.
- A calendar and reminders so you know when shows return.
- Movies and TV together, not one or the other.
- Portable data, so you are never trapped again.
The short version
| App | Free to track | TV + movies | TV Time import that keeps ratings | Trakt sync | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobi | Yes, free to track | Yes, both | Yes, ratings included | Two way | iOS, Android |
| Trakt | Yes, VIP for extras | Yes | History yes, episode ratings no | It is Trakt | Web, iOS, Android |
| Simkl | Yes, VIP for extras | Yes, plus anime | Own import, ratings unstated | Yes | Web first, mobile apps |
| Serializd | Yes | TV only | Own import, TV only | No | Web, iOS, Android |
| JustWatch | Yes | Yes, as a guide | Imports, no ratings at all | No | Web, iOS, Android |
| MyShows | Yes, paid tiers | Yes | Announced, not live yet | No | Web, iOS, Android |
| Moviebase | Yes, premium tiers | Yes | None of its own, via Trakt | Yes | Android only |
| Bingers | Not launched yet | Planned | Waitlist only, ratings not confirmed | No | Coming soon |
| Kino | Yes, in beta | Yes | Claims ratings, brand new | No | iOS beta |
1. Hobi: the only one that scores on all six
Best for: anyone who actually tracks, every day, and wants to keep everything they built.
Hobi is the only app on this list that clears all six tests above, and it is the only one that clears the first one. Open it and the next episode of everything is already waiting. One tap marks it. Every show carries a real status, the calendar counts down to every premiere with reminders that fire, and your movies sit right next to your shows instead of in some other app. Free on iOS and Android, ten years live, past 10 million downloads, and the tracker WIRED said it liked the best after testing seven of them.
For anyone leaving TV Time it is not a close call. Hobi is the official migration partner for TV Time users: upload your export file as is and your watch history, watchlist, movies and your ratings all come across in one go. That last one is the whole ballgame, and it is where every other route on this page gives something up. Because Hobi also keeps two way sync with Trakt, your data stays portable for good, so you are never trapped the way TV Time trapped everyone. Start at the migration page.
When you are handing over a decade of watch history, the difference that matters is proven versus promised. Ten years live, 10 million downloads, two independent developers who have shipped through every platform change since 2016. That is a very different bet from a waitlist, a beta, or an app that added an importer the week the news broke.
Hobi is free on both stores, and it imports your TV Time export with your ratings intact.
2. Trakt: the best data hub
Best for: media server people and tinkerers who want an open standard.
Trakt is the plumbing of the tracking world, and as plumbing it is excellent: an open API, scrobbling from Plex, Kodi and Jellyfin, a format nearly every app can read. As the app you open every day it was never really trying to be that, and it shows. Extras sit behind the VIP subscription.
The part that matters this month is the import, and Trakt is straightforward about it. Its own TV Time import FAQ states that episode ratings are not supported, so only show and movie ratings come across. If years of episode scores are the thing you are trying to rescue, that is the route that loses them. You do not have to choose, though: run Hobi on top of Trakt and you get the hub and the daily app together, with the import that keeps what Trakt drops.
3. Simkl: the best pick for anime watchers
Best for: people who track anime alongside TV and movies.
Simkl's catalog breadth is real: TV, movies and a serious anime database in one account, with capable web tools on top. For a mixed anime library it is the most complete option here.
For everyone else the trade offs stack up. The experience is web first, which is the opposite of what daily episode tracking needs. And on the question everyone is asking this month, its own documentation is quiet: the TV Time import guide never mentions ratings once, and the FAQ page titled "Can I import custom lists and ratings from other platforms?" does not answer its own question, noting instead that it is on the to do list for a future version. Those same TV Time instructions still walk you through emailing TV Time for a GDPR data copy, a route that stopped working the day the service shut down. Our full Simkl comparison goes deeper.
4. Serializd: the best for reviews and hot takes
Best for: people who want Letterboxd energy for TV.
Serializd is a review diary first and a tracker second, with a genuinely fun community around season reviews and lists. It shipped its own TV Time import in July 2026. The limit is scope: it is TV only, so every film you have ever logged needs a second app and a second account, and the episode logistics you rely on daily, calendars and reminders, are not what it is for. Most people who try it end up pairing it with a real tracker, which is a lot of work to arrive back where you started. More in Hobi vs Serializd.
5. JustWatch: the best streaming guide, but barely a tracker
Best for: figuring out where to stream something tonight.
JustWatch answers one question superbly: where can I watch this, in my country, right now. It is a streaming guide that added tracking, not a tracker, and the gap is wide. No episode ratings. No real statuses. And as of this writing, no way to export your library back out again.
That last one is worth weighing carefully in a year when a tracker shut down and took everyone's data with it. Its TV Time import also arrived only after the shutdown announcement, so it has a short track record for something this important.
6. MyShows: the long running veteran
Best for: spreadsheet brains who love watch time stats.
MyShows has been going for well over a decade and has the watch time statistics to show for it, plus a solid web app and a loyal base. It is freemium with paid tiers. The catch for anyone reading this today is simple: its TV Time importer has been announced but is not live as of this writing, so the one job you need done right now is the one it cannot do yet. Your saved export file keeps working whenever you get to it, so there is no rush to bet on a feature that has not shipped.
7. Moviebase: the Android discovery machine
Best for: Android users who browse more than they track.
Moviebase packs a big discovery experience: trending, streaming info, people pages, with premium tiers unlocking the extras. It syncs with Trakt. Two hard limits, though. It is Android only, so every iPhone user reading this is already out, and switching phones later means starting over. And it has no TV Time importer of its own: its own guide routes you through Trakt to get there, which means it inherits exactly the ratings loss described above. Two migrations, one of them lossy, to arrive somewhere half the world cannot follow you.
The bottom line
If you mostly want tonight's streaming answer, JustWatch. If you live inside a media server, Trakt. If you write about everything you watch, Serializd. If your library is mostly anime, Simkl. Those are real jobs, each of those apps is genuinely the best at its own, and if one of them is all you need then take it.
But tracking is not one job, it is six, and every one of those apps asks you to give something up: your movies, your ratings, your platform, your way back out. Only one option on this page marks an episode in a tap, reminds you when shows return, keeps your films beside your series, brings your whole TV Time history across with the ratings intact, and still syncs two ways with Trakt so you are never locked in again. That is exactly what we built Hobi to be. Free, independent, ten years in, and already on the phone in your hand.
The new arrivals: Bingers and Kino
Two names come up a lot since the shutdown, so here they are, honestly.
Bingers comes from Antonio Pinto, who co-founded the app that became TV Time in 2011. The pedigree is real, his founder letter is worth reading, and the plan he describes, keeping running costs low enough that the app survives on its own, is exactly the right lesson to take from what happened in July. If what you miss most about TV Time is the community reacting under every episode, that is what Bingers is aiming at, and nobody else really is.
The catch is that there is still nothing to install. Checked on August 1, 2026: no App Store listing, no Google Play listing, and bingers.app still leads with "Join waitlist" and carries no store badges, after the team said in late July that they were submitting to both stores imminently. That is not a criticism, review queues are slow, but it is the difference between a plan and something you can use tonight.
Kino is a freshly launched iOS tracker that also claims to import TV Time with ratings, but it is days old, iOS only and in beta, from a solo developer.
Both are worth watching, and neither is worth waiting for, because your export file does not expire. Import it today and choose again later if something better arrives. The deeper question is the one everybody here just lived through: not whether a team means it when they say your data is safe, because they all do, but what happens in year three when the novelty is gone and the servers still cost money. Bingers answers that with intent, and it may well turn out to be right. Hobi answers it with ten years of already having done it. Those are two different kinds of evidence, and only one of them can be checked today.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best TV show tracker app?
It depends on how you track, but for most people it is Hobi. It is the one app here that covers all six things a tracker has to get right: one tap episode marking, real statuses, a calendar with reminders that fire, movies and TV together, a TV Time import that keeps your ratings, and two way Trakt sync so your data stays portable. Free on iOS and Android, ten years live, past 10 million downloads. If what you want is an open data hub that scrobbles from media servers, Trakt is the standard, and because Hobi syncs with it two ways you can run both.
What is the best TV Time replacement?
The best TV Time replacement keeps your history and your ratings, marks episodes in one tap and reminds you when shows return. Hobi is the official migration partner for TV Time users: upload your TV Time export file as is and your watch history, watchlist, movies and ratings come across in one go. See the full TV Time alternative breakdown.
Which TV show trackers can import from TV Time?
Hobi imports the official TV Time export file directly and keeps your ratings. Trakt has an importer, but it does not carry ratings across. Serializd and JustWatch shipped their own import tools too. TV Time has since shut down, so a new export is no longer possible, but if you saved your export file it still works forever.
Are TV show tracker apps free?
Most trackers are free to use with optional paid tiers for extras. Hobi is free to download and track on iOS and Android. Trakt, Simkl, MyShows and Moviebase all have subscription tiers that unlock additional features.
Moving from TV Time? Start at hobiapp.com/tv-time, then get Hobi free on iOS and Android.
