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In the labyrinthine world of streaming, where TV shows sprawl across many apps, it can be daunting to keep track of what you are watching and want to watch next. The Marathon TV social app replaces posting on Facebook for recommendations or scrolling through Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB ratings.

Part tracking app and part social, Marathon TV is similar to Spotify's early days. Users can follow friends and other publicly shared playlists for ideas of what they might watch next. Buttons on a show's detail page make it fast to add a review of a show or episode or lead to a discussion about it. 

As for tracking, the app's main feature is its comprehensive tracking system, which gives users an organized view of what they are currently watching, have finished watching, and upcoming episodes. 

How Marathon TV Works
Start by downloading the Marathon TV app for Apple or Android and signing in with an Apple or Google account. Next, choose the streaming apps where you watch. It's an expansive list that goes beyond Apple TV+, MAX, Netflix, and Hulu to include less mainstream options like Fubo, Hoopla, Ovation, BritBox, and PLEX. 

Continuing setup includes selecting shows you are watching or want to watch from a plethora of popular titles from the past few years. If you miss a series, you can add it later. At this point, choose to turn on notifications if you want to be alerted to when others add to their lists, post to a discussion, or when a new episode drops.

Next, go to each series and indicate what episodes you've already viewed. Tapping on the title in the watchlist will bring up the show's detail page. Here, you'll see a detailed description of the show, viewer statistics like how many people are watching, and their average rating of the show. 

Clicking on the episodes tab brings up a list with a synopsis for each episode in the season and a place to tick a bubble if you've seen it.  

The titles you've added appear in a Watchlist. As you use the app, you may want to pause or stop viewing a show. These series are shown under the corresponding tab for paused or stopped shows. Another tab lists those series you've completed. 

The Marathon TV app launched a year ago, created by Josh Pensky, a solo developer. It's growing slowly, but its current scale allows for more intimate user interactions and community building among TV enthusiasts. Still, having personal suggestions rather than impersonal algorithmic recommendations is nice.