Build Your Own TV Show & Movie Tracker (No Template)

If you’re hunting for a Google Sheets TV show tracker template, you probably want one place to log what you’re watching — without wrestling formulas into shape. Here’s a different approach: build your own tracker that works exactly the way you watch.

Why build instead of borrow a template

A tv show tracker spreadsheet works, but it’s fiddly. You end up maintaining columns, copying titles by hand, and hunting for a Notion movie tracker template that’s almost-but-not-quite right. Every generic movie log template makes you bend your habits to fit its structure.

Auto flips that. It’s camera-first: you describe what you want, snap a photo, and it builds you a small personal app — a “Frame” — around it. For a watch log, that means no manual data entry. You point your phone at the title card on your TV, and your log fills itself in.

The point isn’t to find the best tracker someone else made. It’s to make one that matches your taste, your shows, and how you actually watch.

Build it in Auto

You can have a working tracker in a few minutes:

1. Describe the job. Tell Auto you want an app that logs a TV show or movie when you snap a photo of it.
2. Snap a photo. Point your camera at the screen — ideally on a title card or poster. Auto reads it and logs the entry.
3. Tune it. Add the touches you want: thumbnails, ratings, a recommendations button. Auto rebuilds the Frame as you go.

That’s it. No columns, no formulas, no app store.

How someone built theirs

One Auto user built a Frame they called TV Watch Log, and their prompts are a good blueprint.

They started simple: build a TV watch log where snapping a picture of a show — probably a title card — logs it as watched. Smart detail: they told Auto to assume they enjoyed anything they logged (a default thumbs-up), with an option to thumbs-down the misses. That way logging takes one tap, not a whole rating flow.

Next they made it earn its keep. They asked Auto to generate recommendations from the last 30 days of watching, triggered by a button, returning a short list of one to three shows. So the log isn’t just a record — it suggests what to watch next based on your real habits.

Finally, a visual polish: they asked for a thumbnail of each movie, turning a plain list into something that actually looks like a watch shelf.

Three prompts, one personal app. No template required.

FAQ

Do I need to know how to code? No. You describe what you want in plain language and snap photos. Auto builds the Frame.

How is this better than a spreadsheet or Notion? A spreadsheet or Notion movie tracker template needs manual upkeep. Here you log by taking a photo, and you can add features like recommendations that a static template can’t do.

Can I track both TV shows and movies? Yes. Snap either one, and add a movie log template-style thumbnail view if you want them to look like a proper library.

What if I want to change how it works later? Just tell Auto. Add a field, change the rating, add a filter — the Frame rebuilds around your new request.