An Open-Source TV Time Alternative That Works Like TV Time
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Most people who used TV Time for years do not want a new way of tracking. They want the old one: the yellow buttons, the posters, the Watch List, one tap to mark an episode. Learning a different app with different habits is a chore when all you wanted was to keep going.
OpenTV is an open-source TV Time alternative built around that idea. It looks and works like TV Time, and the code is public. We should say clearly what it is not, though: OpenTV is not TV Time, is not made by the people behind TV Time, and is not TV Time's code released as open source. It is an independent app, written from scratch, that follows the same design ideas.
What "works like TV Time" means
We try to keep the same shape, so your hands already know where things are.
- Four tabs at the bottom: Shows, Movies, Explore and Profile.
- Watch List and Upcoming on the Shows and Movies tabs, so you can see what to watch next and what is coming soon.
- Posters up front and one tap to mark an episode watched.
- After an episode: rate it, pick how it made you feel ("HOW DID YOU FEEL?"), and choose a favourite character ("WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE?").
- Yellow acts, green confirms, on a black background. There is a light theme too, if you prefer.
The episode metadata and artwork come from TheTVDB, the same database TV Time was built on. That means shows and episode numbers usually line up the way you remember them.
What "open source" means here
The app's source code is on GitHub at github.com/theopentv/opentv-app, under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL-2.0). Anyone can read it, check what it does with your data, and suggest fixes.
The optional community server is open source too, under AGPL-3.0. In Settings you can point the app at a community server you run yourself, instead of ours.
Open source matters most when something goes wrong. If a company behind a closed app stops, the app usually stops with it. With open code, the work can be picked up by someone else. We wrote more about this in what happens to your watch history when a tracker shuts down.
Your library lives on your phone
This is the part people notice first. OpenTV keeps your library in a database on your own phone. You do not need an account to use it, and the tracker works without a network connection. You can read about that in detail in how to track TV shows offline, with no account.
For safety, OpenTV can back up to your own iCloud Drive or Google Drive. The same cloud keeps your devices in sync, for free: iCloud between an iPhone and an iPad, Google Drive between any of them, iPhone and Android included. None of it needs an OpenTV account.
Bring your history
OpenTV reads the TV Time data export ZIP and brings back your shows, episodes, watch dates, ratings, emotions, favourites and lists. The walkthrough is in how to get your TV Time history back.
It also imports exports from Trakt, Simkl, Letterboxd and IMDb, and every import merges into what you already have. See how to move your history from Trakt, Letterboxd, Simkl or IMDb.
And it can export everything back out, in TV Time's own file format. Your library is never locked in.
The community, if you want it
TV Time was social, and some of that is here as an option. If you sign in with Apple or Google and join the community, you can:
- Read and write comments under every episode
- Read the archived TV Time comments again, through CommsUni.tv
- See how other members rated an episode
- Follow people, and find friends from your old TV Time list as they join
If you never join, none of this touches your library. More on the comments in the TV Time episode comments are back.
The rest of what it does
- Stats about what you watch, and badges
- Wrapped, a set of cards for any month or year, free to view and share
- Home-screen widgets on iPhone and Android
- Episode reminders for shows you follow
- Plex, Jellyfin and Stremio: connect them and OpenTV ticks off episodes you watched there, for shows you already track. See track what you watch on Stremio automatically.
- Nine languages: English, Arabic (with a right-to-left layout), French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Turkish and Polish
- iPad support, with layouts that use the wider screen
How it pays for itself
OpenTV is free and has no ads. There is an optional OpenTV Plus subscription that adds extras, such as Watch together, Deep Stats, profile themes and app icons, and backup and sync through OpenTV's own server. Everything described above as free stays free, and tracking never needs Plus.
Is it right for you?
OpenTV is a phone and tablet app. If you want a website to track from, or you depend on an ecosystem of connected apps, another service may suit you better. We compare the options fairly in TV Time vs Trakt vs OpenTV and on our TV Time alternatives page.
If you want something that feels like home after years of TV Time, give it a try.
Download OpenTV
Get OpenTV on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, or on Google Play for Android. Have your export ready? Follow our import your TV Time history guide. Weighing it against Trakt? Read OpenTV vs Trakt.