Introducing Trakt Lite

Announcements
1

Introducing Trakt Lite

New Year, New App :sparkles:

Check out the preview web app that we are developing as a streamlined alternative to the full website: https://app.trakt.tv

Simplified :trakt:

Trakt Lite is your minimalist companion with a focus on the most used features. We’ve kept things lean, minimizing dependencies to deliver a fast user experience.

Localized :globe_with_meridians:

Trakt Lite is ready to speak your language. With internationalization at its core, prepare for a truly global media tracking experience.

Open-sourced :computer:

Join the community on GitHub, explore the code, share your thoughts, expose any bugs, and if you’re feeling adventurous, submit a pull request:
https://github.com/trakt/trakt-lite

This is just the beginning, and together, we’ll forge the future of Trakt Lite!

8 Likes
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Hi @justin ,

Testing it out I noticed a few things probably will affect other devices on mobile when creating a shortcut to Home Screen if using it a phone.

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You might need to play around with the top and bottom margins as it’s getting blocked by front cameras (which can’t be seen on a screenshot) and top nav menu of the phone as well as the bottom of the phone screen.

When viewed directly in a browser it is fine.

It might look different on a different phone. I’m currently viewing it saved to the Home Screen as a web app on the iPhone 16 pro.

Other than that, it looks pretty clean if a user wants to use this instead of the official apps.

Below is when viewed directly in a browser window which looks fine.

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Aside from the issue that @LoganWolverineX mentioned when saving the “app” to your homescreen, it looks amazing! As long as you load it directly in the web browser on the phone the display margins work correctly.

I love how the progress bars show on each show card, I would love to have that in the actual app. Really clean design, well done!

Quick Edit: I just pulled up the site on my desktop and its even better. This could be a new design inspiration for parts of the site. Super Hyped!

1 Like
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What does this mean? What’s the philosophy behind this app?

Trakt Lite is your minimalist companion with a focus on the most used features

I’m thinking this means just the tracking, the history, and the calendar (not custom ones I’m guessing). No lists, CSV exporting, or filtering.

It would be focused on what you’re actually watching. Trakt serves as your database. It has your entire history of shows. The ones you finished, dropped, and put aside. Trakt Lite would take the shows you are actually watching from that database.

Open-sourced

Uh, how open sourced are we talking here? Sorry, not that experienced with coding. Can someone make their own app for personal use and connect it to their personal TVDB API? Can someone connect to APIs for datebases on books and games? Their own SQL database?

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A bit too lite (well, actually dark) for me…

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(Briefly flashes some content, but then shows a blank/black page only, in Mobile Safari on iPhone and iPad)

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Oh, looks better when you disable Noir… :sweat_smile:

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What a great initiatiave, personally I like the fact that we can now see localised episode titles & descriptions.

As a native Dutch speaker, I don’t mind if an app or site is in English but most local shows are never broadcasted abroad and thus have no English translations in TMDB.
Personally I would love if Trakt Lite & full Trakt site/app allowed me to select a fallback language (somewhat like TMDB does). I would use the app in English, but would still be able to see the info in Dutch.

Anyway, just published my first PR with i18n changes! Hope it helps :smiley:

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Doesn’t look too great right now… (with Noir disabled)

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It is published under the MIT license. You can see details about it here: trakt-lite/LICENSE at main · trakt/trakt-lite · GitHub

I think the app only works with the Trakt API, as this is different from TVDB. But you are free to use the code of the app and adjust it to a completely different backend as long as you give credit.

1 Like
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I love the new design! I would have loved to contribute, but I believe the new API is private and not available to the public for creating OAuth apps. Great work, though! I’m excited about what’s coming. However, the horizontal scroll for very long lists is a put off for me.

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I love it. One thing though: I can’t seem to rate movies/shows in this version.

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I’m not entirely sure in which use case I’d use this over the main site. I feel like it’s too limiting and simplistic.

  • it obscures relevant info while browsing for no good reason (eg. airing dates (which show for upcoming episodes but the info then disappears once you have the entry open)).
  • “out now” is just my watchlist sorted by release date
  • “upcoming schedule” is all shows airing that are part of my profile (collected, etc.) regardless of it I actually started it.
  • no check-in option? only “mark as watched”
  • why is the “remove from watchlist” button so prominent on movies?
  • only being able to navigate sideways is inefficient
  • the check for “remove as watched” is a bit slow - high chance of duplicates if you click it too quickly (instead of a removal)
  • “up next” takes 5s+ to load in for me
  • no movie posters at all when opening an entry while in regular vertical phone mode? odd decision.

imho anyone who just wants a “deck” to quickly do multiple things would probably only use the TV section to keep up with their shows. movie navigation is cumbersome and results in you having to use the search bar anyways.
so I’d suggest giving the TV shows more space and maybe redesign the movie section to be more interactive - give me random suggestions (from my watchlist), let me quickly filter by platform/genre/duration/year, etc.

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Sharp eye for design, friend! And your desire to contribute warms the cockles of our hearts. While the full API is still under wraps (a secret society of sorts, eh?), you can absolutely get your hands dirty by creating an app linked to your Trakt account: Sign in to Trakt - Trakt. It’s the perfect way to tinker and make a real impact.

We’re also working on some behind-the-scenes magic with our MSW responses. The dream? A future where contributors can run the application without a server – a true ‘contributor mode’ if you will. No promises, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed and our code clean!

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Fear not, for we bring tidings of joy! These commits have banished those visual woes to the shadow realm.

References:

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I’ve offered to contribute as well…LOL.

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No longer shall aspiring contributors be lost in the labyrinthine depths of setup and configuration. Instead, they shall be guided by a clear and concise path, illuminated by the radiant glow of our updated documentation.

See: docs(readme): improve guide on how to create an application and link it by vladjerca · Pull Request #248 · trakt/trakt-lite · GitHub

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Want to say the ‘upcoming shows’ doesn’t seem to be in-line with the regular site (or the 3rd party app I use) for me for some reason–here it says I have none but on both of those I see the first episode of the 3rd season of The White Lotus (airing sometime in Feb.) listed. Is this one constrained to a specific time period (ie in the next week)?

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My first impressions are mixed.

I really like the idea and goals of this project and hope it will be fully realized, so please don’t think I’m bashing at all.

I’m finding it to be unresponsive sometimes and have to refresh a lot, but that could just be beta pains. Since the main goal of this Lite version it to be snappy, I’m thinking this will get sorted sooner than later.

The horizontal navigation is not very user friendly. It looks and works like most streaming services, but I find that the app is much more user friendly for mobile use. Navigate to the section you want, then that section is laid out vertically for quick easy navigation. Horizontal menus should be for menu headings, but the actual content should be vertical-centric.

The absence of any actor information is glaring. I totally get that this Lite version could easily get bogged down when dealing with the amount of information associated with the actors, but you could at least list the names the same way you do with the writers, directors, etc…

Marking episodes watched is still too slow even when the rest of the app is being responsive. As this Lite version is not really meant for exploring or deep diving, I would think that being able to quickly manage the watch state of your shows would be paramount.

Am I wrong in thinking that to mark something watched it has to communicate with the API in real time? Would it be out of the question to cache more information locally for the top of the Up Next list? Maybe even an option in settings that could allot a user configurable about of space dedicated for for this?

I’m sure different users will have different priorities and expectations from what this Lite version could offer, but unless it could almost instantly mark episodes, I would rather just have the full experience of the website or app. I’ll keep my eye on this because if this ever gets solved, I could see this as a very useful tool.

Thank you very much to the devs for continuing to strive for the best possible user experience. I love that Trakt is always looking for ways to improve and only wish I had found it sooner than I had!

P.S. One other suggestion would be a way to link to the full version on Trakt for when you realize that you really do need more information. (Open in new tab?)

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Do you accept contributions for translations (through GitHub, Crowdin, or whatever)? I may be interested in contributing some Polish translations (currently not a lang in the app), if so. If not, any plans to add it as a language in the future? :smile:

1 Like