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Whether you’re new to TMDB or a longtime user, it’s natural to have questions about where the data comes from, which features are available, and what the app can and can’t do. The answers below cover the most common things people ask — from how ratings work to whether you can build a watchlist. If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, you can reach out through the support channel or browse the rest of the documentation.
TMDB is a movie and TV show discovery app powered by The Movie Database (TMDB) — a community-built database that has catalogued millions of films, series, actors, and crew members since 2008. When you search for a title or browse by genre, the app queries the TMDB API in real time and presents the results in a clean, browsable interface.The TMDB API provides structured data including titles, release dates, cast and crew, trailers, posters, backdrops, ratings, and more. All of that information flows through the app to give you a comprehensive picture of any title you’re exploring.
Yes. The TMDB app is free to use for personal, non-commercial discovery. The underlying TMDB API also offers a free tier that covers the vast majority of read operations — browsing, searching, fetching details, and retrieving images.If you’re a developer building on top of the TMDB API, you’ll need to register for a free API key at themoviedb.org. Commercial use or high-volume applications may be subject to separate licensing terms defined by TMDB.
Creating a TMDB account to use features like watchlists and favorites is also free.
All content data — titles, descriptions, cast lists, release dates, genres, ratings, and images — comes directly from The Movie Database (TMDB). TMDB is a community-maintained database, meaning that registered contributors can add and edit entries, similar in spirit to Wikipedia.TMDB’s data is supplemented by official sources where available, including studio press materials, IMDb cross-references, and community contributions that are reviewed for accuracy. The app does not maintain its own separate content database; it relies entirely on what the TMDB API returns.
TMDB’s database is updated continuously by its global community of contributors, and the API reflects those changes in near real time. When someone adds a new film, corrects a cast entry, or uploads a new poster, those changes are typically visible within minutes to a few hours.The app fetches fresh data from the API on each request, so you’re generally seeing the most current information available. Some responses may be briefly cached to improve performance, but caches are short-lived (typically a few minutes).
If you notice something looks stale, try refreshing the page. A hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R on most browsers) bypasses the browser cache entirely.
TMDB does surface “Watch Providers” data for many titles — this includes information about which streaming services, rental platforms, and purchase options are available for a given movie or show. This data is powered by TMDB’s watch providers API, which aggregates availability across major platforms.Keep in mind that streaming rights vary by region and change frequently. The watch provider information shown reflects what TMDB has on record for your region and may not always be perfectly up to date. Always verify availability directly on the streaming platform before expecting a title to be there.
Watch provider data is region-specific. Make sure your region is set correctly in your account or app settings to see relevant results.
Yes. If you have a TMDB account and are signed in, you can add movies and TV shows to your watchlist and mark titles as favorites. Both lists are stored in your TMDB account, so they sync across devices and persist between sessions.
  • Watchlist — titles you plan to watch
  • Favorites — titles you’ve loved and want to save
You can also rate titles on a scale of 1–10 from within the app, and those ratings are stored in your TMDB account and contribute to the community average.
The TMDB API supports a wide range of languages for both content metadata and the interface. You can retrieve title names, descriptions, and other fields in dozens of languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, Korean, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), and many more.The app respects the language preference set in your browser or account settings and requests localized data from TMDB where available. Note that not every title has translations for every field — when a translation is missing, TMDB typically falls back to the original language of the content.
Yes. The TMDB app is designed to be responsive and works on modern smartphones and tablets. You can browse, search, view details, and manage your watchlist from any device with a current web browser.For the best experience on mobile, use an up-to-date version of Chrome, Safari, or Firefox. Some advanced features may work better on a larger screen, but core discovery and browsing functionality is fully supported on mobile.
The rating you see for a movie or TV show is the TMDB community rating — a weighted average of scores submitted by registered TMDB users on a 1–10 scale. TMDB uses a weighted formula that accounts for the number of votes to reduce the impact of very few ratings on a title’s score.These ratings are separate from critic scores (like Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic) and reflect the opinions of TMDB’s user base. A title needs a minimum number of votes before a rating is displayed, to prevent a single vote from skewing the score unfairly.
Your personal rating for a title is stored separately and does not override the community average — it contributes to it.
Yes. TMDB is an open, community-maintained database. To contribute, you need a free account on themoviedb.org. Once registered, you can:
  • Add missing movies, TV shows, or episodes
  • Edit incorrect metadata such as titles, descriptions, and release dates
  • Upload posters, backdrops, and other images
  • Add or correct cast and crew credits
  • Submit translations for localized metadata
Edits go through a basic review process to maintain data quality. Contributions you make on TMDB will appear in the app once the API reflects those changes, usually within minutes to a few hours.