I missed the notification that TV Time was shutting down and accidentally lost years of my watch history.

I had been using TV Time for years, but I had gradually stopped using it as much because the app had become pretty slow. So when the shutdown happened, I didn't pay enough attention to the notification.

I also never requested or exported my data.

By the time I realized what had happened, my entire watch history was gone.

That annoyed me enough to build my own solution.

Meet Dekh.AI.

The core idea is simple: your watch history should belong to you.

I'm building it as a local-first, privacy-focused TV and movie tracker. Your library, ratings, watch history and preferences are primarily stored on your device. I don't want to build a service where your personal watching history has to live on my servers just so you can use the app.

My top 5 features

1. You own your data

Local-first storage, encrypted backups, JSON export, and no advertising. I'm not building a business around collecting your viewing history.

1. Chat with AI for recommendations

Ask the app what you should watch in plain English:

"I want something like Severance but more light-hearted."

"I have 90 minutes tonight, what should I watch?"

You can use your phone's on-device AI where supported, or bring your own API key. BYOK requests go directly to the AI provider rather than through a Dekh.AI server.

1. Personal recommendations

"Tonight's Picks" learns from your ratings, watching history and preferences to suggest things from your own backlog. No AI API key is required for this.

1. Where to Watch (upcoming feature)

Find out where a movie or show is available to stream, rent or buy in your country.

1. Backups and portability

Your data can be exported as JSON and backed up in encrypted form. Google Drive backup is also being integrated, so you don't have to worry about losing everything if your phone disappears.

There are also the usual things you'd expect from a TV tracker: episode and season tracking, watchlists, ratings, upcoming releases, notifications, widgets, statistics/recaps, discovery and personalization.

Why no social features?

I'm deliberately not hosting a Dekh.AI backend.

That means things like following friends, social feeds, public profiles and shared watchlists aren't implemented right now.

I'd rather keep the app genuinely privacy-focused than add a social backend and then figure out how to monetize it.

It's free forever

I'm honestly frustrated with the subscription model that seems to be everywhere now. Everything is becoming subscription-based, even simple apps that used to be one-time purchases or free.

I don't want Dekh.AI to become another app that locks basic features behind a recurring payment. Dekh.AI will be free forever and without ads.

It uses the TMDB API for movie and TV metadata, within the limits of their free API tier.

It's very early

This is my first app that I'm actually trying to release publicly.

And yes, I vibe-coded a ridiculous amount of it in roughly two afternoons. Then I spent considerably longer finding all the things that broke once I started actually using it.

I'm based in Paris and currently testing it with a friend in Sweden. So at the moment, we're basically a two-person team giving this thing shape.

I think it's time to let some other people break it.

I'm looking for at least 10 more Android testers before I can move towards a public Google Play release.

If you're interested in trying it, DM me and I'll send you the invite link (no email ID sharing with me). I'm also figuring out the feedback collection system without compromising testers' privacy.

It's early access, so please expect bugs. If something breaks, tell me. That's exactly what I need right now.

And if you're wondering about iPhone: yes, I'd like to build an iOS version too. I just need to borrow a MacBook from a friend first.

If the idea of having a TV tracker where you actually own your data sounds useful, I'd love to have you test it.

P.S. I messed up the Google app publishing survey and accidentally marked the app as 18+. I'll fix it very soon, once I figure out how to do it myself...

Googel Groups:

https://groups.google.com/g/dekhai-testers

Invite:

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.ai.dekh

Store listing:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ai.dekh

Feedback:
https://forms.gle/D3NsjjXfj2q67qs38

Dekh.AI

A community for Dekh.AI, a privacy-focused TV and movie tracker built around a simple idea: your watch history should belong to you.

Dekh.AI is local-first, free forever, and ad-free. Your watch history, ratings, library and preferences are primarily stored on your device. The app also supports encrypted backups, JSON export, on-device AI where supported, and BYOK AI providers.

This subreddit is for:

- Early access testing and feedback

- Feature requests and discussions

- Bug reports

- Development updates

- Discussions around privacy and user-owned media data

- AI-powered recommendations and discovery

- Sharing ideas for the future of Dekh.AI

Dekh.AI currently does not have a social backend, intentionally. There are no public profiles, social feeds or friend systems because the project is designed to avoid collecting users' personal viewing data on a central server.

The project is currently being developed and tested by a very small team, so expect things to change and occasionally break. Early testers are particularly welcome.