Couchy by Sven Bacia is a brand new iOS and iMessage app for tracking your favorite television shows. Sven’s app first came to my attention when I was researching the iMessage app roundup we published earlier this week. The app wasn’t approved in time to include in the roundup, which has given me time to take an even closer look at the main app, which I like a lot.
Adding and discovering new shows with Couchy is a breeze. Tapping the plus button in the top right-hand corner opens the Explore view. From here, you can search for shows or browse the Trending, Popular, and Anticipated show lists, which are handy if you are looking for something new to watch. The data for Couchy comes from trakt.tv, which has an excellent database of TV shows. After you add a few shows and go back to the main view, it will be filled with beautiful show art and some basic data about each show you follow, like how far behind you are or when the next episode will be aired.
Tapping any show opens up a summary of the oldest episode in the series that you haven’t watched yet. You can mark the episode as watched by taping the eye icon. You can also open a list of episodes and mark several as watched at the same time, which makes it easy to set up Couchy even if you are already many episodes into a TV show. From an episode’s summary, you can access an overview of the entire season, including the plot and detailed information about episodes, the cast, and links to things like trailers and IMDb.
When you are finished with a show, you can archive or delete it by long pressing the show art. If you archive a show, it will move to Couchy’s Archive tab, but deleted shows are gone for good. The Calendar tab lists upcoming episodes of the shows you follow. You can also set notifications to alert you in advance of the airing of a show. Finally, ‘Statistics’ gives you a look at the hard data behind how much TV you watch.
My initial focus was on Couchy’s iMessage app because it is one of the best looking ones I’ve come across. With the iMessage app you can view your recently watched and upcoming shows. Tapping on one opens a thumbnail image of the show’s art in a new message with the show and episode names, ready for sending. Your recipient can tap on the thumbnail to view a summary of the episode and other information. This is a great way to recommend a show to someone because it gives them access to more detail than you would want to type in a text.
Couchy makes it easy to add shows and track them with a focus on design and usability that I appreciate. I don’t like channel surfing to see if there’s something on that I want to watch, so I also like that Couchy gives me a way to find new shows quickly. Anyone who likes to discover good TV and share it with friends ought to give Couchy a look.
