Import your TV Time data: the complete guide

Summary: to import your TV Time data, you need the GDPR archive exported before the July 15, 2026 shutdown. A compatible app like Kino reads that ZIP file and automatically rebuilds your history, watched episodes, ratings and watchlist in minutes. Here’s the complete walkthrough, and the traps to avoid.

Your TV Time archive is sitting in a corner of your phone, with years of binge history waiting inside. Good news: putting it back to work takes less time than a sitcom episode. In this guide, you’ll see exactly what your archive contains, how to import it into a new app in one tap, how to check nothing’s missing, and what to do if you have no file at all.

What you need before you start

Only one thing is essential to restore your TV Time history: the GDPR archive downloaded before the shutdown. It’s a ZIP file obtained through TV Time’s official export tool, sent by email or downloaded directly. Without it, automatic import is impossible, though there’s a plan B (more on that below).

Where to find it? Three places to check, in order:

• Your inbox, searching for “TV Time export” or “your data”.
• The Downloads folder on your phone or computer.
• Your cloud (Google Drive, iCloud), if you followed our guide to exporting your TV Time data.

Since the shutdown, Whip Media has confirmed the permanent deletion of all data on its servers. Your local file is now the only remaining copy: before doing anything else, duplicate it to your cloud.

⚠️ Watch out: don’t unzip or edit the archive. Most importers expect the file as is; a renamed or modified archive can break the import.

What’s inside your TV Time archive (and what’s missing)

Here’s what the TV Time GDPR export contains:

• Your tracked shows, with their status (watching, finished, dropped)
• Your watched episodes, with viewing dates
• Your watched movies and their dates
• Your ratings for shows and movies
• Your watchlist (everything you planned to watch)
• Your account information (profile, preferences)

All of it comes as CSV and JSON files, readable by an import tool or by our free TV Time stats tool, which turns your archive into a full recap of your viewing years.

What’s missing? Comments, reactions, badges and the whole social layer: TV Time never included them in the export, as TechCrunch confirmed when the shutdown was announced. Your progress transfers; your TV Time social life doesn’t.

Import your archive into Kino in one tap

In practice, importing your TV Time archive into Kino happens at account creation: the app offers “Import from TV Time”, you select your ZIP file, and it rebuilds everything automatically. Every title is matched against the catalog through TMDB, the reference database used across the industry.

The step-by-step:

1. Grab the Kino app on the App Store or Android beta.
2. Create your account and pick “Import from TV Time” when the app offers it.
3. Select your ZIP file from your documents or cloud.
4. Let the matching run: a few minutes for several years of history.
5. Enjoy the result: shows, checked episodes, ratings and watchlist, all there.

And the price? The import is free, complete and without episode limits. It’s our unapologetic front door for TV Time orphans, as we explain in our comparison of the best TV Time alternatives.

🚀 Your history is waiting: Download Kino and import your TV Time archive in one tap.

Check everything made it: the post-import checklist

A successful import takes 3 minutes to verify. Open your profile and check four key numbers: tracked shows, total watched episodes, rated movies and watchlist size. If they match your memories (or your archive’s stats), the migration is clean.

The possible catch? A few unmatched titles. It happens when a show changed names or exists in several versions (remakes, country editions). In that case:

• Search the title manually in Kino and check it off: two minutes tops.
• Use the AI search and describe the plot if the exact name escapes you.
• Check for duplicates between versions of the same show.

💡 Key takeaway: compare the total watched episodes shown by Kino with your archive’s count (visible in our TV Time stats). A gap of a few episodes is normal; a massive gap calls for a re-import.

No archive? The plan B that works

Without an export file, automatic import is impossible: TV Time’s servers are off and the data deleted, as confirmed by MacRumors. But you can rebuild the essentials by hand, faster than you’d think.

The full method is in our article TV Time shut down: what to do now, but in short: start by re-checking your current shows (the ones that matter daily), lean on the watch history of your streaming platforms, and let memories resurface over the weeks.

A useful reminder: the right to access your data, guaranteed under EU data protection rules, only applies to data that still exists. Going forward, pick an app that makes exporting easy at any time: fool me once, and all that.

The mistakes to avoid during migration

Most failed migrations come down to three avoidable mistakes: importing a modified file, migrating to several apps at once, and deleting your archive too early. A little method spares you a lot of frustration.

In detail:

1. Modified file: unzipping, renaming or “cleaning up” the ZIP often breaks the import. Import the original.
2. Parallel migrations: test one app at a time. Comparing three partial imports makes verification impossible.
3. Archive deleted too soon: keep your ZIP for at least a few weeks after import, until everything checks out.
4. Neglected watchlist: verify it specifically; it’s what drives your next watch nights.

✅ Good practice: run your import on a quiet evening, not five minutes before starting an episode. A calm migration means a serious check afterwards.

Key takeaways

• The TV Time GDPR archive is the one key to importing.
• Kino rebuilds history, ratings and watchlist in one tap.
• Check 4 numbers after import: shows, episodes, movies, watchlist.
• No archive? Streaming history plus assisted memory works.

Conclusion

Importing your TV Time data is ten minutes of work to save years of history. Archive in hand, it’s one tap; without it, rebuilding is slower but very doable. Either way, what matters is restarting on solid ground: download Kino and get your show tracking back on the road tonight.

So, how did your import go? Come tell us how many episodes you got back (and whether the counter made you smile or slightly ashamed, no judgment).