🍿 Rippple II: A New Home

After years of building Rippple as an independent project, Rippple II is now available on the App Store and becomes an official Trakt app.

It now sits alongside the other official apps on Apple devices:

  • the main Trakt app
  • Watcht
  • Showly
  • and now Rippple II

Each of them has its own focus and style. Rippple continues to be the one centered on a native Apple experience on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with a few unique features and opinionated design choices to make it feel different.

For Android users, you can use the Trakt app or Showly.

And if none of the first-party apps fit exactly what you’re looking for, that’s totally fine too. You can explore many great third-party options here.


:thinking: Why This Change

About a year ago, I started doing Product Management at Trakt. At first, it was mainly to help with the API and third-party integrations, but over time it grew into something broader.

Working with Trakt made something I already knew very clear: the ecosystem is one of Trakt’s biggest strengths. Trakt powers apps and integrations. Apps push the platform forward. Improvements on either side benefit all.

Rippple joining the official ecosystem simply makes sense in that context. It allows Rippple to evolve alongside Trakt, instead of orbiting around it from the outside.


:purple_heart: For Rippple Users

If you’ve been using Rippple recently or for a while, first of all: THANK YOU!

Rippple started as a small side project because I wanted a Trakt app to read comments that felt right on my iPhone. Over time, I merged a lot of MOVIST and SERIST into it, and it grew into something bigger that a lot of people use daily, which still feels a bit surreal.

Rippple II is the continuation of that project, with a long-term home inside the Trakt ecosystem.

If you’re using Rippple I, you’ll see a migration option with a simple three-step process:

  1. Download Rippple II
  2. Run the migration from Rippple I
  3. Keep going exactly where you left off

Your settings and data (including iCloud data) move with you.

Rippple I will eventually be sunset.


:laptop: For Mac Users

You may notice that the Mac version of Rippple II isn’t available yet. It’s currently stuck in the Apple review process.

Unfortunately, “transferring” the app turned out to be a pretty bumpy road. The standard app transfer wasn’t available for Rippple for obscure technical reasons, so I had to submit it as a new app, build a migration process, and go through multiple review cycles.

Right now, the App Store Review team is rejecting the Mac version of Rippple II for being too similar to Rippple I :upside_down_face:

This may take some time to resolve. In the meantime, you can use Rippple I on your Mac and Rippple II on your iPhone or iPad. Not ideal, but I’m working on getting this sorted as quickly as possible.

Edit 01/04: the Mac version of Rippple II is now also available on the Mac App Store :partying_face:


:crown: Trakt VIP and Rippple II

A change you’ll notice is that Rippple II integrates directly with Trakt VIP.

Instead of having a separate “Rippple Premium”, the advanced features now align better with the Free and VIP tiers on Trakt.

The good news is that many paywalls have been lowered in Rippple II, so you shouldn’t feel blocked if you don’t have Trakt VIP and shouldn’t feel left out. Most of the core experience is available to everyone.

If you previously purchased Rippple Premium, that will continue to work in Rippple I until that version is officially sunset. I recommend trying Rippple II and deciding from there what works best for you. Just :waving_hand: me if you have any questions.


:laptop: Rippple Is Now Open Source

Another thing I’m really excited about:

Rippple II is now open source.

The project is available on GitHub under the GPL-3.0 license.

That means you can now:

  • :lady_beetle: report bugs
  • :sparkles: suggest improvements
  • :light_bulb: submit ideas
  • :technologist: contribute code
  • :shuffle_tracks_button: fork and build your own version (just let me know if you do)

:backhand_index_pointing_right: GitHub: trakt/trakt-rippple

I’ll be honest: I’m excited… and a bit nervous about this part.

This is the first time I’ve open-sourced a project like this. I’ve cleaned up the codebase quite a bit, but it’s still something that has grown over ~8 years as a side project.

So there are definitely parts that are nice and tidy… and other parts that might make you go “huh, interesting choice Kevin”.

But opening it felt like the right move. Rippple has always been shaped by community feedback, and now the community can help shape the project directly.


:next_track_button: What’s Next

Rippple II is the next step. Same philosophy. Same product direction. Just with a stronger connection to Trakt and a lot more room to grow.

And yes… I’ll still be the one reading your feedback, answering questions, fixing bugs, and shipping updates :victory_hand:

Thanks again to everyone who has used Rippple over the years.

Now let’s see where Rippple II goes next.

:popcorn: Kevin & the Trakt Team

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Just downloaded and signed in.

At first glance, it looks the same as Rippple.

The only improvement I would like to see is the option to hide watched items in calendar instead of just fading them out.

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From the Calendar view, you can tap the filter icon (3 lines on top of each other) and select the “Hide Hidden Shows/Movies” option :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

I’d already tried that (with v1). Tried as you suggested, and doesn’t make any difference. :frowning:

(I,m not trying to hide hidden shows, merely hide watched episodes.)

This is what the trakt v3 apps should have been. I will be using rippple going forward. I’m just glad the interface stayed the same as mark 1 for the most part.

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@kcador is there any reason to keep rippple mark 1 installed side by side with rippple mark 2?

Hope not, as I uninstalled v1 as soon as I downloaded v2 from the App Store. :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth:

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Luckily I didn’t uninstall mark 1 yet. Hope to hear back from Kevin.

Okay sorry, I didn’t realize you were trying to hide watched. I’ll see if I can add that. Thanks!

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The only other thing I would add, is that now Rippple is an official Trakt app, shouldn’t it really be available for everyone. Do you have any plans to develop an Android app, so that those not on iOS have the same opportunities as us iOS users do? I know you’ve already said that there are other alternatives for Android users, but if this is now being called an official app, shouldn’t it be more widely available.

if it wasn’t such a good app, I wouldn’t be bothering to ask on behalf of others, so I hope you take this as the compliment as was intended. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I would use rippple for android.

After the migration, it’s not needed anymore. If you don’t have a Rippple Premium subscription, you’re good to delete it. Thanks!

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Unfortunately, there’s no plan for that. At least I wouldn’t know how to do it (properly).

But now that Rippple is open source, I hope a good soul, who would be an Android developer, will take the time to port it (in respect to the license and all).

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I must admit, I didn’t even bother with import. I just downloaded and signed into v2 and then deleted v1 without even opening it. I wanted to see how quickly v2 imported my Trakt account.

I never really used v1 much anyway on account of I couldn’t hide watched calendar items and it was too slow to sync with recent Trakt changes eg watched shows (I mean shows that had been marked as watched in Trakt app before opening Rippple again). When the watched calendar items request has been added, I’m prepared to give it another try. :slightly_smiling_face:

I downloaded Rippple II, opened it but got no prompt to migrate from Rippple I

I have linked it to my Trakt account and seems to have all my history, lists etc…

It looks just the same as Rippple I to me

also why does the Calendar only show 33 days in the past? Can this not show a longer time period in the past like the Trakt app does?

The prompt is from Rippple I to Rippple II. If you open Rippple I version 26.4.1 you’ll see it. If you open Rippple II directly you won’t.

They are currently the same apps. Nothings different. New features and bug fixes will appear in Rippple II soon. But it’s the same app.

I’ll have a look at supporting longer time periods on the calendar. Thanks for your feedback.

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Hello

Is there going to be a Testflight program for Rippple 2 as there was for Rippple 1?

Yes, this is planned. I’ll have to setup a new link to join. I’ll share that asap.

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That’s great, thank you.

I’m sorry what.

This is… incredibly disturbing. So many implications and questions you did not address at all in the post.

You were hired to be the Product Manager of Trakt. To be in charge, not just help with, Trakt’s features and direction. You are responsible for v3 and have been pretty much the sole communication from Trakt.

So working on (not sure why you’re saying with) Trakt gave you no insight or appreciation of the website itself?

Hello, Trakt user here. Of the website. You forgot about us in this post.

So for the past year since you were hired, you were not completely focused on the website, correct? You’re attention and time was split between that and the app. To what degree?

You’re declaring right now that your time and focus will continue to be divided. This is very concerning with the implementation of v3. Did you know about Rippple II when that decisionw as made?

And what exactly does it mean for Rippple to be a Trakt app? VIP revenue is now going to you? Is there no conflict of interest concerns here with Product Manager of Trakt’s own app becoming official? Was there a financial transaction for Rippple to become Rippple II?

How are we supposed to be confident about Trakt’s future and the developer’s focus on the site when the Product Manager seemingly doesn’t have full passion and focus on the product?

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