I got tired of saving movies in Notes — so I built WatchNext

For years, my “watchlist” lived everywhere except one place.

Some movie names were in:

• Apple Notes

• WhatsApp chats

• Screenshots

• Random messages to myself

Every time someone recommended a movie, I’d save it somewhere, forget where, and then repeat the cycle.

So I finally decided to build a very simple product:

👉 WatchNext
A clean, personal watchlist — nothing more.

What WatchNext is (and what it’s not)

WatchNext is:

• A personal watchlist

• A replacement for Notes, screenshots, and scattered reminders

• A place to quickly save what to watch next

WatchNext is not:

• A streaming service

• Netflix / Prime / Disney+

• A place to watch movies directly

You save what to watch.
You decide where to watch.

That clarity mattered a lot while building.

Why I built it anyway (despite many existing apps)

Yes, there are watchlist apps already.

But most of them felt:

• Overloaded

• Social-first instead of personal

• Heavy on opinions, reviews, feeds, or noise

I wanted something:

• Fast

• Private

• Minimal

• Habit-forming

If saving a movie takes more effort than opening Notes, the product fails.

How I built it (simple stack, simple goal)

I kept the stack intentionally boring and reliable:

• Next.js for the frontend

• Supabase for auth + database (Google login)

• Vercel for hosting

• A movie database API for metadata (titles, posters, ratings)

No over-engineering.
No AI buzzwords.
Just shipping.

What went wrong (and what I learned)

A few honest lessons:

• Auth is never “just auth”
  Google login took more time than expected, especially around branding and approvals.

• SEO confusion early on
  I overthought indexing and structure before realizing: ship first, refine later.

• People assumed it was a streaming app
  This was unexpected — but useful feedback.
  It forced me to sharpen the positioning: “Stop saving movies in Notes.”

• Resisting feature creep is hard
  Every idea sounds good. Most are distractions.

Current status (early, but real)

• Live on the web

• Early users signing in and saving lists

• Actively observing behavior instead of rushing monetization

• Collecting real feedback before adding features

No fake numbers.
No vanity metrics.
Just learning.

👉 Link: https://www.watchnext.co/

A realization I didn’t expect (about AI & execution)

Halfway through this build, I noticed something interesting.

I’ve been working on very different projects recently:

• A novel (Come Back As Anyone)

• Children’s books (FunTantra, cursive books)

• WatchNext (this app)

• A consulting / inspections business (Gravymatrix)

Different industries.
Different audiences.

But the execution loop was the same every time.

AI didn’t magically “build” anything for me —
it removed friction:

• Faster drafts

• Faster decisions

• Faster iteration

• Less hesitation between idea → execution

The insight for me:

AI didn’t make me creative.
It shortened the distance between thinking and doing.

That mattered more than any feature.

What I’m focused on now

• Improving clarity (what the product is / isn’t)

• Making saving + revisiting effortless

• Letting habits form naturally

• Not forcing monetization too early

I’d rather build something people return to
than something people pay for once.

I’d love feedback from this community

Especially on:

• How you personally manage watchlists today

• What would make you actually use a tool like this weekly

• What you’d remove if this were your product

I’m learning in public and happy to share what works (and what doesn’t).

Thanks for reading 🙏