The aptly named Binge is a brand new app for iPhones, iPads, and Macs that has set its sights on Letterboxd. Like that standard movie-centric social media platform, Binge offers you a method to monitor what you’ve got watched and what you need to watch. However whereas Letterboxd sticks largely to films, Binge covers each films and TV exhibits, and provides “soar scare warnings,” an revolutionary characteristic Letterboxd cannot match (although in testing it out, I skilled combined outcomes).
Maintaining tabs on my viewing is one thing I very a lot need assistance with, and whereas I’ve had a Letterboxd account for some time, I do not log into it or replace my viewing historical past fairly often. As a result of it gives one spot to trace each films and TV, I made a decision to offer Binge a attempt—and regardless of the aforementioned points with its standout characteristic, I largely appreciated what I discovered.
Use Binge to trace each films and TV exhibits
You do not want to enroll in an account to make use of Binge, however in the event you do, you possibly can sync your exercise within the app throughout a number of Apple units. So far as the interface goes, you’ve got received three tabs for trying out new and trending content material—Uncover, Films, and Exhibits. The ultimate tab is the Library, the place your viewing is logged.
The monitoring is admittedly easy: You possibly can mark films or TV exhibits as watched or that you just’d like to look at sooner or later; for exhibits, you too can log what number of episodes you’ve got received by way of. That is all then sifted right into a timeline in your Library web page. (One non-Letterboxd characteristic I take pleasure in is the I do like the choice to select a range at random out of your want-to-watch record—an excellent wager for these occasions while you simply cannot resolve what to wathc.)
Binge gives a clear and easy format.
Credit score: Lifehacker
Total, Binge is less complicated than Letterboxd, which crams in so many choices—marking one thing as watched, ranking it, including it to lists, and sharing it with others—into the identical pop-up window; whereas that app gives extra to do, it additionally feels cluttered. Binge gives simply the fundamentals, which is a plus for a low-effort media tracker like me.
The identical goes for the built-in search: It is way more complete on Letterboxd, the place you possibly can actually dig down into search classes like style, 12 months of launch, and solid and crew members. Binge gives a extra easy key phrase seek for matching titles or individuals related to a title.
Nonetheless, Binge is spectacular when it comes to how a lot info it presents for every film or TV present. In addition to solid and crew lists, you’ve got received trailers, rankings from throughout the online, awards and nominations, info on which streaming app you must watch one thing, and a mother and father information that flags up something that is horrifying, violent, or in any other case grownup in nature.
You get loads of details about every title.
Credit score: Lifehacker
The Library tab is effectively performed, sorting every little thing in a simple to observe method, although you possibly can create collections for films and exhibits if you wish to set up them extra intentionally. I like the concept of the Your Subsequent Watch part, which recommends titles based mostly on what you’ve got already seen, and it turned up some fascinating picks for me.
You possibly can customise a whole lot of the interface inside Binge, so if there are options you are not likely keen on—like evaluations of a film or lists of what number of awards it is picked up—you possibly can disable them with a faucet. It is also attainable to tone down among the results, like parallax and shimmer, which are utilized by default.
THe soar scare tracker is a superb thought, however it did not fairly work for me
I am not a lot of a fan of horror or violence—I actually don’t love being scared or grossed out—which may make watching films difficult. A number of the most critically acclaimed and standard flicks include these parts included, and so I discover myself wanting to look at them whereas additionally worrying about being traumatized.
What do you assume to date?
Binge gives an answer for this within the type of soar scare warnings: Many title pages provide a timeline displaying when the jumps are coming, and particulars of what occurs (so beware spoilers). There is a timer you can begin while you start watching that can ostensibly ship a soar scare alert to your cellphone as a “Reside Exercise” earlier than the scary scene hits. Nevertheless, whereas the timeline display screen was easy sufficient, I could not get the Reside Exercise notifications to pop up persistently—the app appeared to lose monitor of what it was monitoring and when, and there is not any method to manually alter the time elapsed as soon as you’ve got already began a film or TV present. Nonetheless, the soar scare timeline by itself is beneficial. The scares are sorted into minor and main classes, and in the event you do not thoughts getting advance warnings a couple of plot level or two, then they’re helpful to have if you wish to know when to cowl your eyes.
A soar scare timeline.
Credit score: Lifehacker
Sadly, soar scare charts aren’t accessible for each film. In looking, I discovered that movies like The Invisible Man (2020) and Prometheus (2012) provide them, however they’re lacking on older fare reminiscent of Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Single White Feminine (1992). I am undecided the place Binge is getting its knowledge from (probably WhenJumpScare), however it’s not assured for each movie.
The opposite draw back: Leap scares are a paid additional in Binge. You will want to enroll in a month-to-month ($1.99), yearly ($17.99), or lifetime ($49.99) package deal to get them. The subscription additionally unlocks a number of different options, like episode rankings graphs, the flexibility to set customized film posters (additionally a paid characteristic on Letterboxd), and reminders for upcoming films and exhibits.
The app contains suggestions too.
Credit score: Lifehacker
The app additionally scores extremely for its knowledge import and export instruments. You possibly can load in current info out of your accounts on Trakt, Letterboxd, and iMDb, and export every little thing you’ve got logged in a JSON file to make use of elsewhere. It’s also possible to sync exercise with Trakt, although that is one other premium characteristic.
Binge is a worthy Letterboxd different
Whereas hardened movie nerds are nonetheless going to desire Letterboxd—not least for the baked-in neighborhood and sharing options—Binge is a worthy different for the remainder of us. You possibly can rise up and working in only a few minutes, every little thing is neatly laid out and straightforward to parse, and there are quite a few cool touches unfold all through. It would lastly get me to extra faithfully monitor my media consumption.
