TV Time is the mobile app a lot of people use to keep up with shows. It’s built around the episode-by-episode loop — check in as you watch, react with emoji, leave comments, get reminders for the next episode, and scroll a community feed of everyone else doing the same. It’s social tracking, optimized for the phone.
Seen starts somewhere quieter. It’s a private catalog — search a title, mark it seen, add a reaction or a note that only you see. No community feed, no emoji reactions broadcast to strangers, no notifications nudging you back in. Films and TV both, kept to themselves.
If the social, gamified side of TV Time is what keeps you coming back, Seen isn’t trying to replace that. If you quietly tolerate the feed, the ads and the reminders just to keep a record of what you’ve watched, this is the comparison for you.
At a glance
| Seen | TV Time | |
|---|---|---|
| Core model | Private catalog | Social, community feed |
| Episode reactions & comments | ✓ private notes | ✓ public, emoji-driven |
| Reminders / notifications | — | ✓ |
| Ads | — | ✓ (free tier) |
| Films & TV | ✓ both | TV-led, films added later |
| Pushed recommendations | — (ask, don’t get pushed) | ✓ |
| Aesthetic | Minimal, text-first | Image-heavy, app-native |
Where Seen is different
Private by design. No community feed, no public reactions, no one watching what you watch. Your catalog is a tool for you. Full data ownership lands with self-hosting (on the roadmap, not ready yet); for now the hosted app simply keeps your catalog to itself.
No ads, no engagement loop. Seen has nothing to sell you and no reason to pull you back in — no reminders, no streaks, no notifications. You open it when you have something to record, and that’s it.
Nothing pushed at you. No feed, no engine nudging you toward the next thing. When you do want a suggestion, you go to an intelligence layer that actually knows your taste and ask — a film companion you reach for, not a recommendation sold to you.
Text-first, deliberately quiet. Where TV Time leans into imagery, reactions and a busy app surface, Seen is typographic and calm. Less to look at, less to manage.
Where TV Time is the better pick
Be honest with yourself here. If the social, gamified loop is what you want — reacting to episodes with a crowd, reading other people’s comments, reminders that keep you on track with airing shows — that community is TV Time’s whole strength, and Seen deliberately doesn’t compete on it.
Coming from TV Time?
History import is on the roadmap so you can bring your watch history across. It isn’t shipped yet — follow the roadmap to know when it lands.
Want the quiet version of tracking what you’ve watched? Try Seen.