My experiment to add calendar events for TV shows I watch failed miserably. Because of programming schedules that change often and holiday breaks I can’t always predict, I ended up with a calendar full of repeating weekly events for episodes that had been delayed. Therefore, I started looking for a good TV show tracker app for my iPhone and iPad, and lately I’ve been using TV Files, developed by Italian team Whale True.
TV Files has a somewhat quirky interface that isn’t in line with what you’ve seen on iOS 7 so far. The app’s main list of shows you’re following has a yellow background that I assume is supposed to represent a folder; view names are rendered with old-school embossed labels; there are monospace fonts and when you drill into an individual show’s list of seasons, there are more folder metaphors for navigation. TV Files uses skeuomorphic elements heavily on iOS 7, and it’s strikingly different from other similar apps on the App Store.
Personally, after an initial perplexity, TV Files’ look has grown on me. It doesn’t use blurs, transparecies, and it looks like a flatter iOS 6 app, but it’s readable. I’ve tried several other TV show trackers for iOS 7, and most of them have implemented a thumbnail-based navigation that puts text labels for upcoming episodes and dates over photos of a show’s cast or promotional poster. I find that extremely hard to read because text blends with the background, and I can’t quickly glance at the screen to have an immediate understanding of the episodes I’ll be able to watch in the near future. By contrast, TV Files clearly lays out upcoming episodes under a This Week label, showing episode number, network, and days left; shows that will air soon are listed under Coming Soon, while shows that have ended are available for viewing under Terminated.
Compare the screenshots below, for instance: iTV Shows may be more “iOS 7-y” and I appreciate the focus on photography, but I find TV Files easier to read (the first item of iTV Shows is particularly “interesting” in how it handles show name and date).
When you tap on a show, TV Files automatically loads the current season; you can tap on single episodes to view a summary and other information, or you can tap the checkboxes to mark episodes as seen and thus remove them from the To See section as well. If you prefer a classic calendar view to a list of episodes, the third tab presents a traditional month view with colored dots on the days when episodes will air.
When adding new shows, TV Files offers search (which is fairly fast) and an Explore section where you can find New Series, Staff Picks, Most Popular, and Genius recommendations based on the shows you’ve added to the app. In my experience, Genius recommendations have been mostly good (I watch a lot of comedy and drama, so there wasn’t much sci-fi in the list) but I did get the occasional Sherlock or Naruto recommendation. The algorithm could definitely use some work.
I like a lot of little things in TV Files, because they suggest the app is developed by people who actually watch a lot of good television. When you add a new series, you can mark all episodes until the current one as watched with one tap: in this way, if you just got the app and want to build a history of your favorite shows, you won’t have to tap on hundreds of old episodes to mark them as watched (so many apps get this wrong). This works in conjunction with a Statistics page in the Settings, which gives you a breakdown of time you’ve spent watching TV shows, how many series you’ve added and how many have ended, and so forth. It’s a nice idea and it’s made easier to use by TV Files’ shortcuts for handling old shows (in the To See tab, you can also mark entire seasons as watched).
TV Files has a social component to follow your friends and be followed by others, but I don’t care about the social layer (profiles can be kept private); I know what shows I’ll watch because of Twitter anyway. I only created an account to use sync and push notifications, which will allow you to keep content and settings in sync across devices and receive alerts for new episodes.
You can configure a default notification time for all series as well as individual shows, but I wish the app could be smarter and allow for the creation of flexible reminders like “15 minutes before” or “1 hour later” – instead, you’ll be forced to set a notification for a specific time during the day or day after. Sync has been reliable: after an initial setup that required a few minutes for my iPad to download all the shows and settings I had on my iPhone, the app kept everything in sync, including notification settings and episodes.
The iPad app takes advantage of the larger screen with additional controls and swipeable galleries, but it can’t be used in portrait.
TV Files needs improvements: I’ve experienced a couple of crashes and I’ve seen a few typos in alert dialogs and settings. Notification settings are half-baked, there’s no support for video trailers from YouTube (only basic cast information is displayed), and the Genius algorithm should be smarter at excluding content that doesn’t match a user’s tastes. Overall, in spite of its rough edges, I’m a fan of TV Files’ unique look and readability. The options to add and manage shows are well done and the app makes it easy to look at the screen and see what’s coming up.
TV Files is $1.99 on the App Store.
