ciniq

On Apple TV, the phone does the typing.

ciniq on Apple TV has the same jury rows and the same Tonight as the phone — chosen by juries and academies of filmmakers, never the public. Two things need more than a remote: your Watchmode key, and a rating. For both, the TV shows a code, any phone scans it, and what the phone sends can be read by that TV and nothing else. Not by us. There is no account, and nothing to sign in to.

Where to watch — your key, once

1
Open any film.

With no key on the TV, the card shows a code and one line: scan it with any phone.

TV · Siri Remote
2
Scan it.

The phone's camera opens a page on ciniq.app. iPhone, Android, anyone's phone, any network — it does not need to be on your Wi-Fi.

phone · camera
3
Paste your Watchmode key.

Free at api.watchmode.com, 2,500 lookups a month, no card. Your key, your quota. Tap Send to my TV.

phone · browser
4
The card fills in.

A few seconds later the film's streaming and rental sources appear. Press ▼ on any card to switch region — useful on a VPN.

TV

Rating — blind, from the couch

1
Press ▲ on a card.

A second code appears. This one carries the film, so the page already knows what you watched.

TV · Siri Remote
2
Ten dials.

Storytelling to memorable impact, −10 to +10 each — the same rubric as the phone app. No one else's numbers are shown; that is what blind means.

phone · browser
3
Just watched, or from memory.

Say which. A rating written at the credits counts differently from one recalled a year later.

phone · browser
4
Tonight learns.

The rating lands in the TV's own store and, if iCloud is on, in your iCloud. Next time Tonight picks, it picks from your taste — not from a crowd's.

TV

Why nothing typed on the TV is also nothing readable by us

The code on the screen contains two things: a six-character room name and a random encryption key. Both are in the part of the link after #, which browsers never send to any server — so ciniq.app never sees the key.

The phone encrypts what you typed with that key and drops the result in the room. The TV, which invented the key, has been checking the room every two seconds; it picks up the blob, opens it, and deletes the room. The room lives five minutes at most, and the only thing ever stored on our side is ciphertext we cannot open.

Guessing a room name gets you nothing useful, and a blob sealed with the wrong key is rejected by the TV. The only person who could plant a key is someone who photographed your screen while the code was up — a guest in your living room — and all they could plant is a working Watchmode key.

The remote does the rest.

◀ ▶ ▲ ▼ move · OK open a film / watch
▲ on a card rate on a phone · ▼ on a card region
▲ from the top row Shortlists · Tonight · Menu back, then Home
ciniq on the App Store — iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV

No Apple TV? The phone can still drive the television.

Everything above is the Apple TV app. If your set runs Roku instead, ciniq for iPhone does the same job from the other side: pick a film, tap the TV icon beside wherever it is streaming, and the right app opens on that title — Netflix, Prime Video, Kanopy, hoopla. Nothing is installed on the TV, and nothing about it is typed on a remote. Your phone finds the players on your Wi-Fi and sends the film; nothing leaves your network.