The list exists, you just have not written it down
The scrolling problem is not a shortage of things to watch, it is that the decision happens at the worst possible moment: tired, on a television, in an interface designed to keep you browsing. The fix is to move the decision earlier. Keep one watchlist that is not owned by any single service, add to it whenever something is recommended, and check availability before you sit down rather than after.
Three jobs that look like one
| Job | The kind of app | Why the streaming app cannot do it |
|---|---|---|
| Where can I watch this, here, tonight? | A cross service availability guide | It only knows its own catalogue |
| What did I mean to watch? | A watchlist that spans services | Its list disappears if you cancel |
| What have I already seen? | A tracker with a history | It tracks only what you played there |
| What is leaving this month? | A guide with alerts | Rarely advertised inside the app |
| What do we both want to watch? | A shared list | No service shares with a rival |
| Playing a file I already own | A local player | Not its business at all |
The apps
The availability question answered properly: pick your country and services, and it says where a title is streaming, rentable or leaving soon.
Still the fastest way to settle what something is, who is in it and whether the reviews suggest a bad evening. Its watchlist syncs everywhere.
For film rather than television, with the best writing of any of these and lists made by people rather than an algorithm.
TV Time. Built around tracking episodes across a household, and good at telling you which episode you actually stopped on.
A clean tracker that syncs with the major services and works offline, with a genuinely usable free tier.
SeriesGuide. Open source, quiet, no social feed, and precise about what airs when. The choice for people who want a list and nothing else.
The account most other trackers sync to, which makes it the backbone if you want your history to outlive any one app.
Google TV. Its watchlist follows you onto the television and into search, which is where the decision gets made.
A large free, advertising supported catalogue. Availability varies by country, and it is the first place to look before renting something.
Free channels that play whether you chose them or not, which is the right answer on an evening when nobody can decide.
The specialist catalogue for anime, with simulcasts the general services do not carry.
Worth knowing its own downloads expire and its catalogue differs by country, both of which catch people out before a flight.
Prime Video. The one whose store and subscription blur together, so check whether a title is included or an extra rental before pressing play.
Strong on franchises and family viewing, and its downloads are reliable for a journey.
Included honestly: it is what most evenings turn into. Subscriptions and a proper watch later list make it far less of a time sink.
For a library of your own files on a computer at home, streamed to the phone or the television, plus its free ad supported channels.
The open source media centre for the same job, endlessly configurable, and best kept to the media you actually own.
Plays the file nothing else will, including the one a relative sent in a format from 2009.
A two minute decision
- Add to the list the moment something is mentioned The recommendation arrives in a conversation, not on the sofa. Capture it then or it is gone.
- Check availability before dinner, not after The availability guide takes ten seconds and removes the argument about which service has it.
- Shortlist three, not thirty Two films and one episode of something. A short list is a decision; a long list is more browsing.
- Set a rule for ties Shortest runtime wins on a weeknight. Any rule beats another ten minutes of discussion.
- Mark it watched afterwards The history is what stops you starting the same series twice a year.
Two things worth knowing
Availability guides are only as good as the country and service list you configure. Set both properly the first time, or it will keep offering titles you cannot watch. Catalogues also change monthly, so a list made in January will have gaps by summer, and the leaving soon alerts are the most useful notification any of these apps sends.
- One watchlist outside the services
- An availability check before sitting down
- Leaving soon alerts
- A shared list for a household
- Rating everything you watch
- Three trackers kept in sync by hand
- Importing a decade of viewing history
- Following strangers for recommendations you ignore
One list outside the services, one availability check before dinner, a shortlist of three and a tie break rule. The evening starts twenty minutes earlier.
Frequently asked questions
Why does an availability app show a film I cannot find?
Usually the country setting, or a title that has just moved between services. Check the country first, then whether the entry is a rental rather than an inclusion in your subscription.
Can I move my watchlist between apps?
Often, through a shared tracker account that several apps sync with. Set that up before you build a long list, because exporting later is harder than it should be.
Do these apps cost anything?
The trackers and guides have workable free tiers, generally with advertising or a limit on lists. The catalogues are the part you pay for.
What about downloads for a flight?
Download the night before on home internet, check the files appear in the app while still online, and remember most downloads expire on a timer whether or not you have watched them.
Read next
A dot in the wrong city is not a broken receiver. It is a WiFi network that moved house.
There is no print button. There is a print service, and an entry in the share menu.
Aeroplane mode and a turn-based game will outlast any setting inside the game itself.
Read next
A search engine gives you a definition. A dictionary tells you how the word behaves.
A contraction timer is a stopwatch with good manners. It is not monitoring anything.
Every one of these apps is a location service with a chat attached. It is worth knowing what it is broadcasting.
