Refract vs TV Time: what changes now that TV Time is gone

Short answer: Refract keeps what TV Time users relied on (episode-by-episode tracking, a calendar of what airs next, reminders, profiles and lists) and adds movies and anime with proper metadata, free stats and no ads. Your saved TV Time export imports with its watch dates. What you lose is the size of TV Time's old community.

TV Time shut down on July 15, 2026, two weeks after Whip Media announced it inside the app. This page compares Refract with the app TV Time was, so former users know what carries over, what they gain, and what they lose. If you saved an export before the closure, the TV Time replacement guide walks through the import step by step.

Feature comparison

Feature	Refract	TV Time (until July 2026)
TV shows, episode by episode	✓ Full tracking	✓ Full tracking
Movies	✓ Full tracking, diary, stats	Limited
Anime	✓ Matched across TMDB, AniList, MAL	Generic TV listings
Price	Free, no paywall on tracking	Free with ads
Ads	None	Ad-supported
Import your history	✓ TV Time exports, Bingers, Trakt, Simkl, Letterboxd, IMDb, Netflix and more	✗
Export your data	✓ Any time (CSV + JSON)	GDPR request only
Episode diary and ratings	✓ Per-episode, with the day you watched	✓
Community and comments	Profiles, follows, lists; younger community	✓ Large, years of threads
Cross-device sync	✓ iOS & Android	✓ iOS & Android
Still operating	✓	Closed July 15, 2026

Does Refract import my TV Time history?

Yes, from the export file you saved before the shutdown: the GDPR ZIP or the in-app "Other" export (files from the TV Time Out extension are the same thing). Open Settings → Import → TV Time in Refract and pick the file. Shows, episode progress, movies, ratings and watch dates are rebuilt in the background, and the import can be undone in one tap. Without a file, the history cannot be recovered from Whip Media; the guide lists the other sources Refract can rebuild from, Netflix viewing activity included.

Is Refract really free?

Yes. Tracking, imports, stats, lists and social features cost nothing and show no ads. Optional cosmetic supporter tiers (badges, profile frames, name styles) exist for people who want to fund the project; they change nothing in the tracker.

Does Refract handle anime better than TV Time did?

Yes. Refract matches anime across TMDB, AniList and MyAnimeList, so seasons, OVAs and films are correct. TV Time listed anime as generic TV, which is where most of its episode-count problems came from.

What do I lose?

The community. TV Time had one of the largest audiences of any tracker and years of episode comment threads. Refract has profiles, follows, shared lists and comments, but the community is younger and smaller. If that matters most, compare the other replacements before deciding.