Review: 60Hz 3.0 for iOS reimagines how you interact with your TV schedule

If you watch a lot of TV, you may be familiar with a problem that plagues many TV lovers: you can never keep track of which shows come on which nights or which episodes you missed last week. Thankfully, there are a whole host of online services that can track this information for you.

I’ve tried a few different apps to keep track of my TV viewing habits, and today one of my favorite apps in this category, 60Hz, has been updated with a brand new design and a bunch of new features and tweaks.

The most noticeable change in version 3 is the new design. It still has very much the same look as the previous version, but with a few functional changes. For example, the main view on the app is still a list of your TV shows broken into sections for upcoming or missed episodes. You’ll also find a list of episodes airing today and can mark any episode as watched. However, unlike in the old version of the app, you can now swipe these episodes to see a full episode list for that show or to check-in on trakt.tv.

A few even bigger changes have been made to the main screen to accomadate new discovery features. The old version put a search bar at the top of the main page, along with images from shows in your library. Below that was a customizable set of filters for viewing different types of media or other parts of the app (movies, TV, a schedule view, settings, and more).

The bulk of the navigation, while slightly reorganized, works in much the same way as it previously did. The search bar may have moved to its own screen, but tapping the search icon on the main toolbar will give you basically the same view as before. You can search for full or partial titles, filtered by whether the title is of a TV show or movie, and get a quick synopsis by tapping any entry. From here you can add any show or movie to your watchlist (a wishlist for items you haven’t seen) or your collection (a list of shows you watch each week or movies you have previously seen).

Trending view

The image at the top of the main library view is no longer necessarily from a show on your list, but is instead part of the new “trending” view. When you pull down on this image, the app reveals a long list of popular TV shows and movies that trakt.tv users have checked into recently.

On the left side of the search button is the schedule button. This screen shows you which shows air on what nights in a week-long timeline, but also includes new shows premiering that night to help you discover new favorites.

The third button on the main toolbar brings up your collection, seen in the image at the top of this review. From here you can manage all of your previously-viewed TV shows or movies. A number of filters allow you to see only shows that are currently airing (not on hiatus or cancelled), shows you’re not caught up on, and more. You can also get to your watchlist from here to quickly check off items you’ve finally gotten around to seeing.

Of course, as with the previous version, all of this data can sync with your trakt.tv account if you login through the app’s settings.

A few issues

There are a few missing features I’d like to see in future versions of 60Hz. For example, the show detail pages and the main list view don’t currently tell you what time a show comes on, or which network airs it. Currently I have to flip around until I find the right channel, and usually end up having to consult the web or another app to see exactly what time certain shows air.

60Hz supports push notifications to alert you when a show you watch is airing today, but unfortunately these notifications are limited to a single time each day. Depending on what time you set this notification to go off, you could either miss the show entirely or forget it’s coming on by the time it airs. Ideally, I’d like to have ability to set the app to alert me ten minutes before a show airs, or after the show airs in some cases, such as when two shows overlap and I have to make one up later.

My final issue has to do with the placement of the settings button. In previous versions it was put right in the main navigation bar with the other controls. Now the button has moved to the top corner of the collection page. I think it would probably be easier to find from the main toolbar, but I can understand the decision to hide away an icon that isn’t going to be used as often as the others.

I’ve also discovered a weird bug in the Schedule view: it’s always empty. This wasn’t the case in version 2, and the developers have said it will be corrected in an upcoming fix. In fact, the developers are great at listening to feedback and have informed me that they hope to address all of these issues in an upcoming 3.1 update.

Availability

Other than those few small issues, I’ve found this update to be incredibly useful. The reworked navigation allows me to get where I want to be faster than before in most cases.

With today’s update, 60Hz maintains its position as my favorite TV tracking app. If you’re looking for something to keep track of your TV shows and movies, I highly recommend giving it a try. 60Hz 3.0 is a free update for all existing users. New users can get a the iPhone version for just $1.99. An iPad version is also available for $3.99.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I believe a new episode of Community is airing in a few minutes.

iPad screenshots