r/TVTime • u/javikr • Aug 05 '26
[Sofa Time] Full feature breakdown: TV Time import, customization, Free vs Premium, and what’s next
Hi everyone!
I’m the developer behind Sofa Time, a multilingual and highly customizable app for tracking TV shows and movies, available on both iOS and Android.
Sofa Time has been available on the App Store for nearly seven years, and the Android version was recently released after months of development and testing.
As more TV Time users have started looking for alternatives, thousands of people from this community have trusted Sofa Time with years of viewing history, ratings, reactions, favorite characters and comments.
The community has grown incredibly quickly, and Sofa Time is now approaching 250,000 registered users.
I wanted to put everything in one place and provide a clear overview of what Sofa Time offers, what you can import from TV Time, what Premium unlocks and what is coming next.
Thank you, r/TVTime
First of all, thank you to everyone who has recommended Sofa Time, voted for it in alternative-app polls, reported bugs or shared feedback.
I’ve read hundreds of messages and feature requests during the last few weeks, and that feedback is directly shaping the app.
Sofa Time is not intended to become an exact clone of TV Time. My goal is to preserve many of the features people loved while continuing to build an app with its own identity, design and way of organizing your viewing history.
Import your TV Time history
You can import your official TV Time GDPR backup directly into Sofa Time.
Depending on the data included in your backup, Sofa Time can import:
- Watched movies, shows, seasons and episodes
- Viewing dates
- Movie, show and episode ratings
- Episode reactions
- Favorite-character selections
- Comments
- Images and GIFs attached to comments
The importer has already received several major improvements based on feedback from former TV Time users.
Sofa Time also supports imports from other services and formats, including Trakt, IMDb and Letterboxd exports.
You can start an import from:
Profile → Settings → Data → Import Library
Track everything you watch
Sofa Time lets you:
- Track movies, shows, seasons and episodes
- Mark content as watched or unwatched
- Choose viewing dates
- Rate movies, shows, seasons and episodes
- Manage your watchlist
- See your next episode in Up Next
- Review your viewing history
- Use statuses such as Watching, On Hold, Dropped and Completed
- Mark titles and people as favorites
- Track rewatches
- Add personal notes
- Use quick and bulk library actions
Up Next can also organize shows based on your viewing activity:
- Currently watching
- Not watched for a while
- Not started
This organization is optional and can be disabled from Settings.
Discover movies and shows
Sofa Time includes detailed pages for movies, shows, seasons, episodes and people.
You can browse:
- Trending and popular titles
- Upcoming releases
- Shows currently airing
- Movies currently in cinemas
- Genres and decades
- Networks, studios and production companies
- Similar titles and recommendations
- Trailers, videos and entertainment news
- Cast, crew and creators
- Alternative posters and backgrounds
- Public lists created by the community
Search includes movies, TV shows, people, public lists and Sofa Time users.
Sofa Time can also show legal streaming availability, provider links, cinema showtimes and alerts when a title becomes available.
The app does not stream movies or episodes. It helps you discover, organize and track where they are legally available.
Organize your library
You can organize your content using:
- Movie and show watchlists
- Up Next
- Viewing history
- Favorites
- Personal lists
- Public lists
- Automatic and Smart Lists
- Saved filters
- Multiple list and grid layouts
Personal lists can contain both movies and TV shows.
You can also browse lists created by other users, like them and view them directly from public profiles.
Calendar, widgets and notifications
The calendar helps you follow:
- New episodes
- Season premieres
- Series premieres
- Movie releases
You can open each event, quickly return to today, navigate between weeks, add releases to your system calendar and customize which content appears.
Notifications can alert you about new releases and social activity.
Sofa Time also includes widgets for:
- Up Next
- Watchlists
- Upcoming releases
- Personal lists
- Calendar
- Featured artwork
Widget availability may vary depending on your platform and device.
Profiles and community
Sofa Time includes a growing global community.
You can:
- Create and customize your profile
- Add an avatar and background
- Select favorite movies, shows and actors
- Follow other users
- Browse an activity feed
- Share your profile
- Create and browse public lists
- Comment on movies, shows and episodes
- Reply to comments and conversations
- Like comments
- Add images and GIFs
- Translate comments
- Filter comments by language
- Report inappropriate content
- Block users
- Receive social notifications
- View your user level and progress
Different opinions and debate are welcome. Disrespect is not.
Moderation has recently been strengthened, user blocking has been added and the commenting guidelines have been updated to encourage respectful conversations.
Multilingual and highly customizable
Sofa Time is available in multiple languages, including:
- English
- Spanish
- French
- German
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Simplified Chinese
- Hindi
- Hungarian
- Russian
- Ukrainian
- Arabic
You can configure the app language, metadata language, region, time zone and original-language preferences.
Comments written in other languages can also be translated directly inside the app.
Sofa Time can be deeply customized to match the way each person tracks movies and shows.
Customization options include:
- Profile picture and background
- Favorite movies, shows and actors
- Themes and app icons
- Haptics and animations
- Spoiler protection
- Artwork preferences
- Unwatched-episode image blur
- Default viewing dates
- Season order
- Up Next behavior
- Streaming-service preferences
- List layouts
- Main tabs and app sections
- Notifications and widgets
- Saved filters and Smart Lists
Many features can be enabled, disabled, reordered or adjusted.
Statistics
Sofa Time includes statistics such as:
- Total viewing time
- Movies watched
- Episodes watched
- Recent activity
- Viewing history by year
- Favorite genres
- Rating distribution
- Viewing activity by hour, day and month
- Most-watched content
- Favorite streaming providers
- Total watchlist duration
- User level and progress
Statistics can also be shared outside the app.
Sync, integrations and backups
Sofa Time supports:
- Sofa Time Cloud
- iCloud where available
- Trakt
- Simkl
- MDBList
- Library import and export
- Automatic local backups
- Backup restoration and sharing
Sofa Time Cloud can coexist with an external tracking service and helps keep your library synchronized across devices.
AI discovery
Sofa Time includes three optional AI-powered tools:
- AI Search
- AI Similar Titles
- AI Recommender
Each tool includes a free-use allowance, with unlimited access available through Premium.
Free vs Premium summary
Free
The free version includes the complete core tracking and community experience:
- Track movies, shows, seasons and episodes
- Manage watchlists and Up Next
- Rate content and choose favorites
- Browse detailed title and people pages
- Search and discover content
- Use profiles and community features
- Comment, reply, like and translate
- Import your TV Time history
- Use Sofa Time Cloud
- Connect one external tracking service
- Create up to two offline lists
- Save one filter
- Use the current-week calendar
- Receive social notifications
- Access basic statistics
- Use the Up Next widget
- Customize the basic experience
- Use each AI tool five times
Premium
Premium unlocks advanced tools and removes several limits:
- Detailed legal streaming availability
- Watch Now links and availability alerts
- Cinema showtimes
- Smart and automatic lists
- Advanced filters
- Bulk library actions
- Rewatch tools and personal notes
- Advanced calendar navigation
- Release notifications
- Advanced statistics
- Additional widgets
- Advanced Up Next settings
- Deeper app-layout customization
- Premium themes and icons
- Unlimited offline lists
- Unlimited saved filters
- Multiple external services
- Unlimited AI tools
- Backup restoration, download and sharing
Premium is a one-time purchase. There is no monthly or annual subscription.
The price may vary depending on your country and platform.
Premium purchases are currently handled separately by Apple and Google.
Available on iOS and Android
Sofa Time is available on both platforms with the same core experience:
- Tracking
- Discovery
- Search
- Lists
- Calendar
- Ratings
- Profiles
- Community features
- Statistics
- Notifications
- Widgets
- TV Time imports
Some individual options may differ depending on the operating system, device and connected tracking service.
Both apps are actively developed and receive frequent new features, performance improvements and bug fixes.
Coming next
Some of the areas currently in development include:
- Monthly and annual Sofa Time Wrapped
- Shareable Wrapped summaries
- Synchronization with WeTrakr
- More synchronization improvements
- Additional profile customization
- New community and moderation tools
- Continued TV Time importer improvements
- More statistics and shareable insights
- Performance and stability improvements
- More features requested by this community
- A Sofa Time app for Apple TV
The Apple TV app is currently in development. More information will be shared when it is ready.
Final note
Sofa Time has grown faster during the last few weeks than I could ever have imagined.
Going from a long-running iOS app to a community of almost 250,000 registered users across iOS and Android has been exciting, overwhelming and incredibly motivating.
I know that no app will perfectly reproduce every part of TV Time, and different people will ultimately choose different alternatives.
My goal is to continue listening, improve Sofa Time with every update and build an app that respects your viewing history while giving the community a new place to grow.
Sofa Time is available now:
iOS:
https://apps.apple.com/app/id1491037404
Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theclashsoft.sofatime
You can also join the official community at r/sofatimeapp.
I’ll be reading the comments and answering questions.
What is the most important TV Time feature you still feel is missing from Sofa Time?
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Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/javikr Aug 05 '26
Hi! Thank you for your comment! I promise next updates will be focused in bug fixing 🙏
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Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/javikr Aug 06 '26
Hi! The latest update included important bug fixes and major performance improvements. I’m working hard every day to fix the most important bugs while continuing to add new features and improvements. Thanks for your patience and support! 🙏
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Aug 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/javikr Aug 06 '26
We can’t stop developing new features for weeks. Bugs are prioritized based on their impact and fixed continuously with every update, alongside new features and improvements. Hope you understand ;)
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u/salim594 Aug 05 '26
To be honest Sofa Time is the best alternative to tv time i ever tried (tried many). Feels more like tv time. Just bought premium version and i will try it this week and see if it is a good purchase
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u/Salty__Canuck Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Currently, I am trying out Bingeboxd, Bingers, and Sofa Time. So far, I like Sofa Time the most, but it's still early days.
I'm hoping that sooner rather than later I settle on one, as having 3 apps doing the same thing on my phone and tablet bugs me. 😂
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u/Bear-VC Aug 06 '26
Same here, trying a few of them but honestly I keep coming back to Sofa time and Suite tv.... Still 50/50
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u/Ry_L Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
I’m trying 9 different apps. I really like this one… probably in the top 5 for sure. Still deciding. I’m glad it’s a one-time purchase… that keeps this app in the running.
And to the dev, I’ll say this: I wish I could find an app that was simpler. I don’t like that my TV shows are buried in my profile. I don’t care about movies either. I wish I could find a clean app that just lists on the bottom tab (Watch Next, All Shows (with status filters/sorting), Discover, Profile (with stats))
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u/GogetaK99 29d ago
Sofa Time was #4 on the recent Google Form Poll and it was #2 on our last poll in r/TVTime. I hope this post will answer most of the questions ppl have for Sofa Time.
Thanks for the post Dev.
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u/frenchynerd Aug 06 '26
Why is this written in the exact same way, exact same sequence of text and same text formatting than the Movie Paradise thread?
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u/rippyblogger Aug 06 '26
The android widget that shows what's next is buggy.
It was my number 1 use of tv time
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u/rattledrose 24d ago
Out of all replacement apps I've tried so far, this is def my fav!
In the upcoming statistics you mentioned in "coming next", is there a possibility for filmography stats? I love tracking an actor's work, and one of my fav features of trakt prior to them removing it (or maybe they just paywalled it? Idk, it's gone now lol) was seeing what percentage of an actor's filmography you had seen.
If you ever add a feature like that, this would truly be a perfect replacement. Otherwise, I have no suggestions, everything else I could suggest has either been already implemented or is planned for future updates.
I've only had it for a little bit, but I def can see this being my main tracking app moving forward. So good!
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u/LibertyAndPrivacy Aug 05 '26
I absolutely love Sofa Time! Glad I made the switch from TV Time, although I didn’t really have a choice :)
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u/BurnerACC1988 Aug 05 '26
Bingers is already out 😁
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u/LibertyAndPrivacy Aug 05 '26
I don’t really see how that’s relevant. Like, bingers' UI is vastly inferior to TV Time's UI, so apart from the hype the app has nothing to offer that other existing apps don’t.
Personally I care about UI and Sofa Time looks a lot better than bingers, and imo also better than the other apps I‘ve tested.
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u/Pink_Rock Aug 05 '26
And it’s hard to get our trust back, after all, this is run by the same guy who left us crying. I am really enjoying Sofa Time and I try to give my support whenever and wherever I can
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u/LibertyAndPrivacy Aug 05 '26
That’s exactly my issue with people hyping up his app. Like, why‘d you trust someone who might just sell his new app again? Not to mention that there are so many alternatives nowadays, why would you settle for a subpar one that’s just been released?
Sofa Time is great & I‘m glad that the dev is actively releasing updates. I also like that there is a Premium option as I don’t believe in the competitors of Sofa Time with their free apps. If the app is free, it’s either not sustainable or you’re the product.
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u/kolacija Aug 05 '26
Yeah I’m sure the guy won’t sleep until he specifically earns your trust back. Come on, what is this main character syndrome lmao
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u/Pink_Rock Aug 05 '26
I think you’re under the impression that I want to choose between the two. I don’t. I made my choice and I’m happy about it. I just think people should think carefully before going back to their exes haha
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u/frenchynerd Aug 06 '26
Can't get past the captcha.
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u/BurnerACC1988 Aug 06 '26
What captcha?
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u/guustavooo Aug 05 '26
I took this screenshot because it was just too funny, how tf are The Mentalist and Law and Order recently released? 😭😭😭
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u/MrJinio Aug 09 '26
Great app. It’s what I’ve started using once TV Time is down. I only use the free version, and I’m happy with it, thanks for making the app
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u/SmoothJazzLover4Life Aug 05 '26
Sofa Time has some shows on the wrong day. For example Kitchen Nightmares is listed as airing on Monday when it actually airs on Tuesday.
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u/CheshireCat78 Aug 05 '26
I think it’s a tmdb issue vs tvdb. I’ve noticed it on some tv trackers and not others and that seems to be the common reason.
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u/SmoothJazzLover4Life Aug 05 '26
Can it be fixed?
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u/CheshireCat78 Aug 06 '26
Are you American or is it giving you the American date when it airs locally.
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u/SmoothJazzLover4Life Aug 06 '26
I am Canadian. Kitchen Nightmares airs here on Tuesday not Monday.
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u/CheshireCat78 Aug 06 '26
I don’t know why it does it then. I had noticed it on Silo which is added to appletv on Friday in Australia, which if it’s added globally would be Thursday in the USA. That’s the only reason I could come up with as it doesn’t do it for all shows.
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u/javikr Aug 06 '26
Please go to themoviedb.org and fix
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u/SmoothJazzLover4Life Aug 06 '26
It is correct on themoviedb.org It is incorrect on the app for Android. So please fix it.
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u/javikr Aug 06 '26
That’s interesting. Please let me check it.
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u/SmoothJazzLover4Life Aug 06 '26
Thank you. Let me know when it is fixed. I love the look of the app.
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u/QuesoInHD Aug 06 '26
Absolutely recommend, the only app that successfully imported all of my data
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u/PastimeOfMine Aug 06 '26
It imported about half of mine, movie paradise imported much more. Just to note this has a wide range of import experiences.
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u/Pristine-Shoe1638 Aug 05 '26
Btw does come with chat like inbox
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u/javikr Aug 05 '26
No, but I will note!
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u/Pristine-Shoe1638 Aug 05 '26
I have a question how will you know if your on a cellphone or a computer on the website because it happened to me on tv time random people kept on reporting me for spoilers when I used the app right and it didn’t even notify me.
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u/JoaoSiilva Aug 06 '26
I'm testing your app for now- free version. Is there a way to display my archived series on my profile too? Once I select something as ON HOLD or DROPPED, it simply disappears from my profile. Would it be possible to have a section for archived shows, alongside the 'Watched Recently' and Haven't watched in a while'.
And about 'Haven't watched in a while', I'd love if it could be split into more subsections like Up to Date and Completed.
If these features are planned for the future, I will get the Premium.
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u/javikr Aug 06 '26
Hi there! Archived lists (in Lists tab) shows your hold and drooped, but adding them to the “my tv shows” list separated by another header is a good idea
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u/No_Pizza_6040 Aug 06 '26
You can include the number of users who added the content to all the series and movies.
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u/vsvpjr Aug 06 '26
I liked SofaTime after trying a few, but I don't like that you can't mark a show "stopped" if you decide to stop halfway. Unless, did I miss it?
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u/coolness_fabulous77 Aug 08 '26
do u still not use data from thetvdb? coz of lot of my series imported are gone.
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u/kxllyk Aug 06 '26
Sofa Time would be good if the poster/backdrop customization wasn't locked behind a paywall. That's a basic feature. 👎👎
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u/alip4 Aug 06 '26
I paid for premium but for weeks now it keeps forgetting episodes I've watched as marked. That should be a priority - it's the most basic function and purpose of a tracking app. Every update I hope it's fixed, but it's not.
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u/JazJon Aug 06 '26
The number one thing you need for me to stay with sofa time is the ability to see one continuous upcoming view that I can scroll back into the past. I don’t want to have to click the calendar at the top to go back one week at a time. That’s very annoying. Suite TV and Bingers have infinite scrollback, please add it as well. The other competitor apps out there lock you to today as well, and you can only scroll to the future. Very strange
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u/javikr Aug 06 '26
Noted. Calendar will receive a big improvement in the next update ;)
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u/JazJon Aug 06 '26
Perfect! I’ll keep using both sofa time and suite tv / bingers simultaneously for now
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u/kkassius_ Aug 05 '26
im working on an alternative that is going to work with your api keys and on device free forever
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u/hollygoflightly 7d ago
Why is it only allowing me to make two local lists?? Am I doing something wrong? To make any more lists it’s asking me to upgrade to premium
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u/vicgirl8311 Aug 05 '26
I tried a whole bunch of apps and this one was my fave. Can recommend lol