How to see what the family has watched for household watch trackers in 2026

How household watch trackers can share IMDb lists so a family sees what everyone has watched, with Watcharr as one option.

By VLClean · 2026-10-31

VLClean is published by the makers of Askarr and Watcharr, which are compared here alongside other tools.

Household watch trackers can see what the family has watched by having each person keep a public IMDb list, deciding where those lists come together, and letting a shared tool turn the family's lists into library additions.

Option	What it does	Cost details
Watcharr	Turns public IMDb lists into one Radarr link for movies and one Sonarr link for shows, refreshing every 15 and 5 minutes. ^[1]^[1]	not published
Shared spreadsheet	Family members add watched titles to a shared spreadsheet.	not published
Media server watch history	The media server's own history shows titles each account has played.	not published

What you need before you start

Decide who in the household keeps a watch record and where those records come together. A shared view lets each person see what the rest of the family has watched without asking one another.

Each family member needs an IMDb account with a public list they keep up to date, because a household tracker is built from public IMDb watchlists and lists. The family can use a list from the desktop site, the phone site, or IMDb's other-language pages, and all of them feed the same shared view. ^[1]

Agree on what belongs on each person's list, such as only titles they have watched and finished, so the shared view stays accurate. Keep the rule simple, such as one list per person and the same meaning for a title being on it.

Radarr and Sonarr are free helper programs that many self-hosters run to find and add movies (Radarr) and shows (Sonarr) to their library. Have them ready if the shared view will feed them, and decide who checks the combined result before anything is added.

Step by step

Choose the one shared place where the household's watched titles come together, and tell every person to keep their own list there.

Have each family member build one public IMDb list of the movies and shows they have watched, and set each list to public so the household view can read it.

Pick how the lists become one household view. A tool that accepts public IMDb lists can do this in a few steps. ^[1]

Check which titles do not carry on to the shared view. Shows that cannot be matched to a title record are left out, and the household view tells you which ones were skipped. ^[1]

Review the household view on a regular day each week, and edit any person's list where a title is missing or no longer belongs.

Ask a few family members after the first week what confused them, and fix their lists so the shared view matches what everyone has actually watched.

The same list always gives the same shared view, so nothing changes when a person checks it again later. ^[1] When a read of a list fails, the shared view keeps serving the last list that loaded correctly. ^[1]

Tools that can do it

Watcharr is made by the team that publishes this site. Watcharr accepts any public IMDb watchlist or list and turns each one into a shared view. ^[1] Paste one public IMDb list and get one link for Radarr with the movies and one for Sonarr with the shows. ^[1]

Each link acts like a small Radarr or Sonarr server, so Radarr checks it every 15 minutes and Sonarr every 5. ^[1] A bookmark clicked inside Radarr or Sonarr adds the list using that app's API key without sending it anywhere else. ^[1]

Signed-in users can combine several IMDb lists into one Radarr link and one Sonarr link for the whole household, and a title on two lists is added only once. ^[1] If signed in, Watcharr re-reads a list about every 15 minutes and warns when a list fails three reads in a row. ^[1] The page shows a list's covers in a row, each opening plot, genres, rating, backdrop and trailer. ^[1]

Watcharr runs as one Cloudflare app with a Cloudflare database, plus a GitHub job that reads IMDb. ^[1] The hosted version needs nothing to install and no account. ^[1] Its code can be read under the PolyForm Noncommercial licence. ^[1]

Other options for a shared watch record can be a family spreadsheet or the watch history your media server already keeps. Their costs are not published here because no source facts about them were given. Before choosing one, check how it reads IMDb lists, how often it refreshes, and how it handles titles the family has watched.

Common mistakes to avoid

Avoid skipping the rule for what belongs on each person's list. A shared view stays useful only when every member marks watched titles the same way.

Avoid choosing a tool before checking how it reads the household's IMDb lists. Not every view of the family's watching works the same, so check before you commit.

Avoid leaving a stale list in place. Old or repeated titles can fill the household view with entries nobody is watching, so review the lists on a set day.

Avoid sharing a tool without checking what it asks for. Review what access a tool needs and what it does with it before the family uses it.

Frequently asked questions

How can a household watch tracker see what the family has watched?

A household watch tracker can see what the family has watched when each person keeps a public IMDb list and a shared tool brings those lists together. Agree on which titles count as watched, keep the lists public, and review the shared view on a set day so it matches what everyone has actually watched.

Can Watcharr combine the whole family's lists into one view?

Signed-in users can combine several IMDb lists into one Radarr link and one Sonarr link for the whole household, and a title that is on two lists is added only once. ^[1] A person pastes one public IMDb list and gets one link for Radarr with the movies and one for Sonarr with the shows. ^[1]

Does Watcharr need anything installed to work?

The hosted version of Watcharr needs nothing to install and no account. ^[1] Watcharr runs as one Cloudflare app with a Cloudflare database, plus a GitHub job that reads IMDb. ^[1] Its code is available to read under the PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 licence. ^[1]

How often does Watcharr refresh the family's lists?

Each link acts like a small Radarr or Sonarr server, so Radarr checks it every 15 minutes and Sonarr every 5. ^[1] If a person signs in, Watcharr re-reads the list about every 15 minutes and warns when a list fails three reads in a row. ^[1] If a read fails, the links keep serving the last list that loaded correctly. ^[1]

What should be checked before choosing a household watch tracker?

Check how a tool reads IMDb lists, how often it refreshes, and how it handles titles the family has watched. Watcharr leaves out shows it cannot match to a title id and tells you which ones it skipped. ^[1] Compare that with how the household keeps lists before choosing a tracker.

Its code is available to read under the PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 licence; older versions remain under MIT. ^[1]

Try Watcharr

Sources

Watcharr's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)