Help Center

How do I create an account?

CineMatch offers three ways to sign in:

• Apple Sign In — The fastest option. Tap "Sign in with Apple" and authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode.
• Email — Create an account with your email address and a password.
• Guest Mode — Start exploring immediately without creating an account. You can sign up later to sync your data across devices.

Navigating the app

CineMatch has four main tabs at the bottom of the screen:

• Search — Find movies and TV shows by title, with advanced filters for genre, year, and more.
• Discovery — Browse trending and popular content, get personalized recommendations, and explore mood-based suggestions.
• Watchlist — Your personal library of saved movies and shows, organized by status and collections.
• Profile — Manage your account, preferences, subscription, and app settings.

Adding your first content

There are several ways to start building your watchlist:

1. Search for a movie or show using the Search tab.
2. Tap on any title to open its detail page.
3. Tap the Add to Watchlist button to save it.

You can also add content directly from the Discovery feed, recommendation cards, or the AI Concierge.

How do I add content to my watchlist?

Tap on any movie or TV show to open its detail sheet, then tap Add to Watchlist. You can also swipe on recommendation cards or use the AI Concierge to add suggestions directly.

Status tracking

Every item in your watchlist has a status you can update at any time:

• Plan to Watch — Saved for later.
• Watching — Currently in progress.
• Completed — Finished watching.
• Dropped — Decided not to continue.
• On Hold — Paused for now.

Episode tracking for TV shows

For TV shows, CineMatch lets you track individual episodes. Open a show from your watchlist, navigate to its seasons, and mark episodes as watched. Your progress is synced and reflected in your watchlist status automatically.

Collections & folders

Organize your watchlist by creating custom collections. Group movies and shows by theme, mood, genre, or however you like. Free users can create up to 2 collections; Premium users get unlimited collections.

Sharing your watchlist

Share your watchlist or individual collections with friends using the system share sheet. Tap the share icon on your watchlist or a collection to send a link.

How personalized recommendations work

CineMatch uses a hybrid recommendation engine that combines multiple approaches to find content you will love:

• Content-based filtering — Matches your genre preferences, favorite actors, and viewing patterns.
• Collaborative filtering — Finds users with similar taste and recommends what they enjoyed.
• AI enhancement — Uses artificial intelligence to re-rank and refine suggestions based on relevant taste signals when AI Features are enabled.

The more you rate and react, the better your recommendations become.

AI Concierge

The AI Concierge is your conversational recommendation assistant. Describe what you are in the mood for in natural language — like "a dark thriller from the 2010s" or "something funny to watch with my family" — and get tailored suggestions instantly.

Mood-based filtering

Not sure what to watch? Use mood filters on the Discovery tab to browse content by vibe — whether you want something exciting, relaxing, thought-provoking, or lighthearted.

"Ask AI" natural language search

Tap the Ask AI button on the Discovery tab to describe what you want in plain English. The AI extracts your intent, searches across 500+ candidates, and returns personalized results ranked by your taste profile.

Improving your recommendations

React to recommendations to train the engine:

• Love and Like — Signals you want more content like this.
• Dislike and Hate — Removes the item and tells the engine to avoid similar content.

Rating content in your watchlist also feeds into your taste profile for better future suggestions.

Free vs Premium

How to upgrade to Premium

You can upgrade at any time:

1. Go to the Profile tab.
2. Tap Upgrade to Premium or visit the Paywall.
3. Choose your plan: $3.99/month or $34.99/year (save 27%).
4. Confirm your purchase with Face ID, Touch ID, or your Apple ID password.

How to restore purchases

If you reinstalled the app or switched devices, restore your subscription:

• Open the Paywall screen and tap Restore Purchases, or
• Go to Settings within the app and tap Restore Purchases.

How to cancel your subscription

Subscriptions are managed through Apple:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap your Apple ID at the top.
3. Tap Subscriptions.
4. Select CineMatch.
5. Tap Cancel Subscription.

Your Premium access continues until the end of your current billing period. All billing is handled entirely by Apple through the App Store.

Privacy settings

Adjust your privacy preferences within the app by going to Settings > Privacy. You can control data collection and personalization options from there.

Third-party services used by CineMatch

CineMatch uses Firebase for accounts, storage, Cloud Functions, and notifications; OpenAI for AI Features after you enable them; Apple for Sign in with Apple and App Store subscriptions; TMDB for core movie and TV metadata; OMDb for ratings and plot enrichment; TVMaze for TV episode and schedule enrichment; and TMDB watch-provider data with JustWatch attribution for streaming availability. Trakt is used only if you connect a Trakt account.

Metadata and availability providers may receive lookup details such as title searches, TMDB or IMDb IDs, dates, content type, and region. CineMatch does not send those providers your full personal profile unless you connect a third-party account flow such as Trakt, where sync requires the relevant watchlist, rating, and watched-history data.

Calendar integration

Calendar integration is optional. If you enable it, CineMatch uses iOS calendar access to add episode air dates and planned viewing reminders, show previews of CineMatch-created events, and remove events previously created by CineMatch.

Deleting your account

You can permanently delete your account and all associated data:

1. Open CineMatch.
2. Go to Settings > Account > Delete Account.
3. Confirm the deletion.

For more details, see our Data Deletion page.

Privacy Policy

Read our full Privacy Policy to understand how we collect, use, and protect your data.

Recommendations not showing

• Check your internet connection.
• Pull down on the Discovery tab to refresh.
• Make sure you have items in your watchlist — the engine uses your history to generate personalized suggestions.
• If you are a new user, add a few items and rate them to help the engine learn your taste.

Subscription not reflecting

• Tap Restore Purchases in the Paywall or Settings.
• Verify your subscription is active in the iOS Settings > Apple ID > Subscriptions.
• Restart the app and check again.
• If the issue persists, contact us at hello@cinematchapp.net.

Push notifications not working

• Open the iOS Settings app.
• Scroll down and tap CineMatch.
• Tap Notifications and make sure they are enabled.
• Ensure "Allow Notifications" is toggled on, and check that your preferred alert style is selected.