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A TV Tracker in Arabic, and in Eight Other Languages

Most TV trackers are built in English and translated later, if at all. The menus get translated. The layout does not. The plots stay in English. In Arabic, the numbers and arrows end up on the wrong side.

OpenTV is built to work properly in nine languages, and Arabic is one of them, right to left, from the first screen.

Every language is free and works with no account.

The nine languages

OpenTV is available in:

Each language is listed by its own name, so you can find yours even if the app is currently in a language you do not read.

How to switch

By default, OpenTV follows your phone. If your phone is in Arabic, the app opens in Arabic.

To choose a different language, open Settings, go to the App tab and tap Language. The first option is Match the phone. Below it are the nine languages. Tap one.

You can also pick a language on the very first screen, before you import anything, so the whole setup is in your language.

Right to left, done properly

Arabic is not just translated text. The whole layout turns around.

Changing the direction of the whole app only happens when it starts. So when you switch into or out of Arabic, OpenTV tells you: "Close OpenTV and open it again to finish switching." Do that once and everything is mirrored.

Numbers you can read

In Arabic, phones disagree about how to write numbers. Some show them as 390, others as ٣٩٠, and the same screen could look different on an iPhone and an Android phone.

OpenTV writes numbers the same way on every phone: 390. Episode counts, hours watched and dates all read the same, whichever phone you have.

Words that fit the number

Many languages change a word depending on the number in front of it. English has two forms: one episode, two episodes. Arabic has six. Polish has its own rules for 2, 5 and 22. French treats zero like one.

OpenTV uses each language's real plural rules, so "15 hours" in Polish or "11 episodes" in Arabic is written the way a person would write it, not the way a machine would.

Plots in your language

Menus are one thing. The descriptions of shows and films are another, and in most apps they stay in English.

In OpenTV, show and film synopses follow your app language when a translation exists, and fall back to English when it does not. Titles are not changed. A show keeps the name you know it by.

If you would rather read plots in English while the app is in another language, there is a setting for that. In Settings, on the App tab, open Plot language and choose English instead of App language. The line under it says what it does: "Show and film synopses. Titles stay as they are, and English is used when there is no translation."

When you change it, plots update quietly in the background. Nothing has to download all at once.

Comments in any language

If you read comments, including the old TV Time comments that OpenTV shows under episodes, there is a Translate button on each one. Tap it and the comment appears in your language. Tap Show original to switch back.

That makes the community feel much bigger. A comment written in Arabic can be read by someone in Italian, and the other way round. More about where those comments come from in the TV Time episode comments are back.

Search in your own words

Films are often known by different names in different countries. OpenTV keeps several titles for a film, including the one in your language, so searching for the name you know finds it.

Coming from TV Time in another language?

A TV Time export holds titles in whatever language that account used. You can import it whatever the language, and switch OpenTV to the language you want afterwards. Start with how to get your TV Time history back.

Is it free?

Yes. All nine languages, the right-to-left layout and plots in your language are free, with no ads and no account.

Get OpenTV

OpenTV is free on the App Store for iPhone and iPad and on Google Play for Android. Open Settings, then Language, and pick yours.

Questions or ideas? Ask on Discord or r/opentv_app.

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