KINO How to export your TV Time data before July 15, 2026
TV Time shut down on July 15, 2026. Here's how the data export worked, and what you can still do with your archive if you saved it in time.
Bad news: TV Time pulled the plug on July 15, 2026, and with it, years of checked-off series, ratings and watchlist. The good news? If you exported your archive before the shutdown, nothing is lost. In this article, you’ll learn how the export worked, what your archive really contains, and where to move everything now without starting from scratch.
TV Time shut down on July 15, 2026: what was at stake
On July 15, 2026, TV Time stopped for good. Since that date, accounts, viewing history, ratings, watchlists and years of tracking have vanished from the servers. If you did nothing before the shutdown, everything went in the trash, with no way back.
For many, it stings. TV lovers who kept their list for nearly ten years felt the shutdown like a small breakup. It makes sense: your TV Time profile was the memory of everything you’ve watched, season after season.
The shutdown went exactly as announced. On July 15, TV Time was removed from the App Store and Google Play, and tvtime.com closed for good, as confirmed by MacRumors and the official Whip Media statement. We retraced the whole story in our article on the TV Time shutdown.
⚠️ Warning: since July 15, 2026, no recovery is guaranteed. The data has been permanently deleted, and a new export is no longer possible. Everything below now depends on the archive you saved in time.
Why TV Time shut down (and why your data went with it)
TV Time didn’t close for lack of users, but by a strategic choice of its owner. Whip Media, acquired in early 2025 by the Blue Torch Capital fund, refocused its entire activity on its AI analytics platform called Helix. The consumer app no longer fit the plan, and it wasn’t sold off.
The message shown in the app was blunt. Here is the official statement:
“After so many incredible years, we have made the difficult decision to shut down TV Time. The service will end after July 15, 2026. While we loved supporting TV Time, it was no longer viable to maintain the service as a free app, and there wasn’t enough demand for a paid app. Thank you for being part of this incredible community. Happy watching, forever.”
The real reason? The value of the data. According to TechCrunch, the app had more than 26 million installs (Appfigures data), an asset Whip Media preferred to keep to feed its AI rather than hand the app over.
A useful reminder: TV Time was the former TVShow Time, renamed over the years. And no, it wasn’t paid: the app was free, and its real value to Whip Media was the data it generated, not subscriptions.
How to export your TV Time data in 4 steps (how it worked)
To export your TV Time data, everything went through the official GDPR self-service tool: you logged in, requested your archive, waited while it was prepared, then downloaded the ZIP file. The tool no longer responds reliably since the shutdown, but here are the 4 steps as they worked, for the record:
- You went to the TV Time GDPR export tool (kept here for reference: it no longer responds reliably) and logged in with your account.
- You chose the request to access your data, then confirmed the request to archive your data.
- You waited for the file to be prepared: TV Time notified you when your archive was ready to download.
- You downloaded the ZIP and kept a local copy (computer + personal cloud), not just on your phone.
This procedure relied on your GDPR right of access, a European right documented by France’s CNIL. In short: as long as the service was running, TV Time was required to provide your data.
✅ Best practice: if you exported in time, duplicate your ZIP now (computer + personal cloud). That file is the only remaining copy of your history.
🚀 Want to put it all back in one tap? Download Kino and re-import your history today.
What your TV Time archive does (and doesn’t) contain
Your TV Time archive covers the essentials of your tracking, but not your whole community life on the app. You get your series, your watched episodes, your ratings and your watchlist back, but not your comments or the social part. Here’s what you really get, and what’s left behind:
✅ Included in the export:
- The series you tracked and the episodes marked as watched.
- Your ratings and reviews.
- Your watchlist (to watch / in progress).
- Your account information.
❌ Not exportable:
- Your per-episode comments and reactions.
- Badges, memes and community interactions.
- The social side (feed, exchanges) that made TV Time special.
One thing to know: TV Time mostly tracked series, not films like a real movie catalog, so don’t expect a complete film library in the ZIP. And as the outlet Composed notes, TV Time never published the exact list of files, and the archive isn’t designed as a ready-to-use migration format. That’s exactly where an app that digests this file for you changes everything.
💡 Keep in mind: the export saves your tracking (series, episodes, ratings, watchlist), not your community. Comments and reactions can’t be recovered, better to know it upfront.
Where to bring your series now: import everything into Kino in one tap
Once you have your ZIP, you need a destination that reads this file and rebuilds your series tracking without manual entry. That’s exactly Kino’s role, the app built to replace TV Time: you drop in your archive, it finds each title in its catalog and rebuilds your history.
Concretely, you can import your TV Time data in one tap: tracked series, watched episodes, ratings and watchlist fall back into place. Every step is detailed in our TV Time import guide. You get the same tracking as before, plus a personal feed that learns your taste to suggest what to watch next. No more re-checking ten years of viewing by hand.
On the budget side, no catch: Kino is free to start, with full tracking and an unlimited watchlist. Backup and import are part of the offer, and an affordable premium option adds fine-tuned recommendations and streaming alerts if you want more. No guilt in staying on the free tier.
Looking for a simple, beautiful TV Time alternative? That’s Kino’s bet: pick up your tracking right where you left it, without the clunkiness of a technical tool.
Missed July 15? What options you have left
Now that July 15, 2026 has passed, it’s not entirely over, but the options have shrunk. Data deletion was announced as permanent, and the export tool no longer responds reliably. Three routes are still worth trying, with no guarantee of success.
First, contact support via the official Whip Media support form and explain your situation. Then, exercise your GDPR right of access with the publisher if you’re in Europe: France’s CNIL reminds us that a company must respond to a request to access your data. Finally, check your old TV Time emails: an archive you once downloaded might be sleeping there.
But let’s be clear: the only reliable option was to plan ahead. If you did your export before the date, keep that local copy safe: you’ll never have to test this fragile safety net.
Key takeaways
- TV Time shut down on July 15, 2026, and the data has been deleted.
- The export went through the GDPR self-service tool, which no longer responds reliably.
- The archive contains series, episodes, ratings, watchlist; not comments.
- Re-import everything into Kino in one tap, free to start.
Conclusion
Ten years of series don’t have to end up in the bin: if you exported in time, nothing is lost. Keep your ZIP safe and give it a new home. When you’re ready to put it all back neatly, download Kino and re-import your history in one tap. So, how many years of tracking are sleeping in your archive?
Frequently asked questions
How do I get my TV Time data back?
Before the shutdown, you could log in to TV Time's GDPR self-service tool, request access to your data and download a ZIP with your series, watched episodes, ratings and watchlist. Since July 15, 2026, the servers are off and the tool no longer responds reliably. If you saved that ZIP in time, you can re-import it into a new app.
When exactly did TV Time shut down?
TV Time stopped after July 15, 2026. On that day, the app was pulled from the App Store and Google Play, and tvtime.com closed for good. Since that date, accounts and history have been deleted, with no guaranteed recovery. That's why exporting beforehand was the only reliable option.
What does the TV Time data archive contain?
Your archive includes the series you tracked, episodes marked as watched, your ratings and reviews, your watchlist and your account info. However, per-episode comments, reactions, badges and the community side are not exportable. The export saves your tracking, not your social life on the app.
What should I replace TV Time with?
Several apps take over series and film tracking. Kino positions itself as the direct replacement: import your TV Time archive in one tap, keep the same tracking, plus a personal recommendation feed. It's free to start, with an optional premium tier for advanced features.
Can I still export my data after July 15?
Not reliably. The shutdown happened on July 15, 2026 and deletion was announced as permanent: the GDPR export tool no longer responds reliably. You can still try the Whip Media support form and, if you're in Europe, your GDPR right of access with the publisher, but with no guarantee of success. Nothing replaces an archive exported in time.
