Hello,
I’ve been using Trakt for over 8 years, and I’ve also been a paying VIP member for that entire time.
Over the years, Trakt has become one of my favorite websites for tracking movies and TV shows. I use it every day, it is part of my routine, and I genuinely care a lot about the platform.
I mainly use Trakt on desktop, so the desktop experience is extremely important to me and reflects most of my actual use of the site.
That’s why this post is not meant as an attack on the team or on V3.
It is simply honest, detailed, and constructive feedback from a long-time user who wants Trakt to improve.
What I genuinely like in V3
To be fair, there are some good additions in V3:
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Some design choice are great.
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Trivia is a very good addition.
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The new history calendar is clean, modern, and enjoyable to use.
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The same calendar-style view for social activity is also excellent.
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The reworked Smart Lists have real potential.
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Being able to finally change the interface language is also a good improvement.
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I also like that lists now use infinite scroll instead of pagination, which feels smoother and more modern.
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Dynamic season loading is also a good idea in principle, even if it still needs improvements.
That said, my overall feeling is still very negative on one core issue:
V3 looks better on the surface, but it feels less powerful, less customizable, and less functional than V2 across many essential use cases.
That is the real underlying problem for me.
1. V3 loses a lot of the customization that made Trakt great
One of V2’s biggest strengths was how much it could adapt to different users.
People use Trakt in very different ways:
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how they rate,
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how they filter,
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how they organize their watchlist,
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how they browse,
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how they display titles,
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how they use lists, profiles, views, and priorities.
Why V2 felt better
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V2 felt like a tool you could shape around your own habits.
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It gave users a lot of control.
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It supported different styles of use instead of forcing a single workflow.
Why V3 feels worse
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V3 feels more rigid and standardized.
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There are fewer settings, fewer filters, fewer sorts, and less user control.
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Many of the problems below are really symptoms of this larger loss of customization.
Bottom line
What I miss most in V3 is not just one missing feature here or there. It is the broader loss of flexibility and personalization that used to make Trakt so strong.
2. Ratings are worse in practice
The move from a 10-point scale to a 5-point scale feels like a real step backward to me.
What I understand
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I know V3 allows half-stars.
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So technically, that gives a level of granularity close to a 10-point scale.
Why it still feels worse
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I still strongly prefer seeing a true /10 rating directly.
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A 5-point scale with halves means mentally converting the value.
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That makes the system less immediate and less readable.
What I would prefer
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A real 10-point rating system.
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Ideally with half-points as well.
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That would give both immediate readability and better precision.
3. Movie and show pages have lost logic and hierarchy
The problem is not just that some information is lower on the page.
The bigger issue is that an entire details section is isolated at the very bottom, even though those details should be integrated with the main information at the top of the page.
What feels wrong
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The details are separated from the title, poster, summary, and main metadata.
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That separation makes the page feel fragmented.
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It also wastes space that could be used much better in the upper information area.
What would make more sense
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Merge those details into the main information area near the top.
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Keep all core metadata in one logical place.
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Make the page easier to scan without unnecessary scrolling.
4. Navigation lost very useful shortcuts
V2 placed certain navigation elements exactly where users needed them.
A good example is collections / franchises.
In V2
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The collection link appeared directly above the movie title.
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It was immediate, clear, and extremely practical.
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It worked like a real breadcrumb.
In V3
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That hierarchy shortcut no longer feels naturally integrated into the header.
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It seems pushed further down into secondary sections.
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That makes franchise browsing slower and less intuitive.
Why it matters
This was not decorative. It was a real navigation tool.
5. “Watched” is not the same thing as history
Seeing that a movie is marked as watched is not the same as seeing when I watched it.
In V2
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This information was visible near the top of the page, close to the poster and the main title information.
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I could immediately see:
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how many times I watched something,
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the date and time of my watch,
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and a direct View History shortcut.
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That made Trakt useful not just as a tracker, but as a real personal memory tool.
In V3
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That watch information is no longer presented as part of the main header area.
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Instead, watch history is pushed much further down the page into a separate History section.
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That means I now have to scroll down to find information that used to be immediately visible.
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And the biggest issue is this: when there is only one watch, that history basically disappears from view.
What I would like to see
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Bring the latest watch date back near the top of the page.
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Keep View History easy to access from the main information area.
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Always surface the latest watch date, even when there is only one watch.
6. The social side has lost visibility
One of Trakt’s biggest strengths has always been that it is not only about your own activity, but also about your friends’ activity.
In V2
The People You Follow block gave useful, concrete social information:
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I could immediately see which of my friends had watched a movie or show.
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I could see the rating they gave it.
In V3
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That social layer is no longer clearly visible on the page.
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I can no longer quickly see which friends watched something and how they rated it.
What should change
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Bring back a clear social section on movie and show pages.
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Make it easy to see which friends watched something and what rating they gave it.
7. The watchlist and lists in general lost a huge amount of power
This is one of the biggest issues for me in daily use.
I use my watchlist constantly to decide what to watch next.
In V2
It was not just a poster wall. It was a real decision-making tool with:
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many filters,
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many sorting options,
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and many ways to organize the list around my own habits.
In V3
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The interface may look cleaner.
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But it is much less powerful.
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There is much less control.
The biggest missing feature for me
IMDb Rating sorting/filtering.
Why that matters
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IMDb is my main reference when deciding what to watch.
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I know IMDb is not perfect, but it is still my preferred rating source.
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The important point is that each user should be able to choose which rating system matters most to them.
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In my case, that choice is IMDb.
Removing IMDb Rating from sorting and filtering in V3 takes away that choice and breaks a major daily use case for me.
What I would like
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Bring back IMDb Rating as a sorting and filtering option.
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And ideally, let users choose which rating source they want to see across the site.
Personally, I would love the option to display IMDb ratings alongside Trakt ratings, or at least choose which rating source I want to prioritize across the site.
Bigger picture
This is another example of the larger loss of customization and user control.
8. On long-running shows, horizontal scrolling becomes a desktop usability nightmare
A show like The Simpsons makes this problem very obvious.
In V2
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Even with many seasons, browsing remained mostly vertical.
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That works naturally with a mouse wheel.
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It is simple and intuitive on desktop.
In V3
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Seasons and episodes are placed inside horizontal rails.
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You need to aim pixel perfect at a very specific area to make the horizontal scrollbar appear.
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Otherwise you end up needing awkward workarounds like Shift + scroll.
Why that is bad
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Manually dragging the scrollbar with the mouse is a real pain.
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It is not intuitive.
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It is not comfortable.
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It does not feel like a proper desktop experience.
What I would suggest
If horizontal rails are staying, then at minimum:
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allow true click-and-drag with the mouse,
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make them feel like direct manipulation,
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stop relying on hidden scrollbars.
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or let cards wrap onto new rows,
9. Losing real season pages is also a step backward
The new dynamic season behavior in V3 is not a bad idea in itself.
What works
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Clicking a season and loading episodes on the same page can be faster.
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I understand the idea.
What gets lost
If that means losing season-specific content, then it becomes a problem.
That includes:
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season reviews,
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season ratings,
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season-specific context,
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and the feeling that each season has its own identity.
A better compromise
Keep the dynamic navigation, but also add:
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a season filter in the reviews section,
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and access to season-specific content.
10. Other missing or unclear things that still matter
There are also several other issues worth mentioning.
Things I can no longer easily find
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the full list of everything I rated,
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the list of shows/items I dropped or hid.
If these features still exist, they are too hard to find. If they are gone, that is another real loss.
“Start Watching” feels unclear
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It seems to be the Watchlist in disguise.
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I do not clearly understand the difference.
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It feels redundant or poorly named.
Smart Lists are good, but still too limited
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You apparently cannot mix movies and shows in one Smart List.
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They also suffer from the same lack of advanced filters.
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Again, IMDb Rating is a major missing piece.
11. Two future improvements I would really like to see
Separate interface language from title language
This is a fundamental feature for me.
I want to use the interface in French while keeping titles in their original language.
Original titles matter a lot to me. They are an essential part of how I browse, identify, and connect with movies and shows. Because of that, the interface language should never automatically decide how titles are displayed.
What I want
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the interface in French,
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titles in their original language,
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or in their international/English form.
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and ideally a separate setting for title display.
These are two different needs and should be treated as two separate options.
Better use of artwork and images
V3 could also make much better use of:
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backdrops,
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fan art,
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screenshots,
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and galleries already available through TMDB.
I do not rank this above the functional regressions, but if V3 wants to feel more modern visually, it could go much further here.
12. The pricing context makes all of this harder to accept
As a long-time VIP user, I can accept a price increase more easily when the product clearly improves.
The problem here
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V3 still feels behind V2 in many areas I use every day.
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So the price increase is much harder to justify.
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It creates the feeling of paying more for a version that still does less.
My expectation
If V3 is going to become the main experience, it needs to at least match V2 on the fundamentals first.
Final thought
I want to repeat this clearly: I care a lot about Trakt.
That is exactly why I am taking the time to write such a long post.
I am not against V3 by principle. I am willing to help with feedback, comparisons, concrete examples, and screenshots.
But right now, my overall feeling is simple:
V3 has good ideas, but it is still clearly below V2 on too many essential points — especially when it comes to the freedom and customization that used to make Trakt so strong.
Thanks to the team if this feedback is read seriously.
