I’ve been on a physical media kick as of late, scooping up as many albums, series, and films as I possibly can. I love owning and collecting various pieces of media, displaying them on a shelf, comparing and contrasting different mediums, and simply enjoying the entire process from start to finish.

However, as time marches on, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to stay on top of which shows and movies I’ve already watched, which ones I plan on watching, which ones I already own, and which ones I want to own.

Before long, I found myself manually creating a spreadsheet-based list of all my media, which certainly aided me in my quest to stay organized. While a good old-fashioned list absolutely does do the trick, I was admittedly yearning for an even more streamlined experience.

That’s when I discovered the world of purpose-built watchlist applications. Rather than going in and making a list all on my own, these apps take all the work out of the equation, allowing me to focus entirely on what matters: keeping tabs on the state of my physical media library.

Here are three of my personal favorite media tracking applications, each of which brings something unique to the table.

Letterboxd

A social-first experience

Letterboxd is perhaps the go-to movie and TV show tracking application for fans interested in a social-first experience. The application, which is cross-platform, serves as a sort of social network for film and television lovers. You can browse through media, log content with a date, rating, or review tag, filter your activity feed, comment on users’ reviews, build out personal collections, and much more.

Letterboxd is free to download and install on iPhone, iPad, and Android. The service can also be accessed on a desktop PC via any web browser. The core experience is free to get started with and doesn’t require an account, though signing in will allow you to enjoy more of the app’s social benefits. A paid Pro subscription is also available, which removes ads and unlocks a whole host of bonus features.

Sofa

A Liquid Glass Experience

If you’re looking for a watchlist application that looks and feels native to the Apple ecosystem, look no further than Sofa. This Liquid-Glass-clad app offers a flexible tracking experience from top to bottom, with a robust planning logbook, custom categories, tasks with due dates and grouping tools, and iCloud syncing.

In addition to basic TV and film tracking, you can also use Sofa to track books, video games, podcasts, and more via its list functionality. The app even features a full inline podcast player with a queue system, which is a nice touch. Sofa is free to get started with, though you’ll need to subscribe to the paid Super Sofa tier to unlock reminders, sticky notes, progress tracking, and several other advanced features.

WatchMaster

A Material 3 Expressive experience

WatchMaster is a free and open-source (FOSS) watchlist application for Android that leans heavily into Google’s Material 3 Expressive design language. As such, the app looks and feels incredibly native to the system. It features various visual flourishes, including subtle animations, attractive iconography, and wallpaper-based color tinting.

The app is designed with simplicity and offline access in mind, with basic options to browse and track content, to craft personal watchlists, and to create uncluttered lists. WatchMaster is available to download and install directly from GitHub, with its source code available for perusal. At the time of writing, the app hasn’t been published onto the Google Play Store, F-Droid, or any other third-party application marketplace.