There are several companies that allow you to “check in” to TV shows, but now a startup called IntoNow has launched an app that already knows what you’re watching. Using its own patented technology called SoundPrint, the IntoNow mobile app listens to your TV set’s audio — when you tell it to. Much like Shazam, the music app, it thinks about it for a few seconds, then reveals what you’re watching.
We gave it a spin, and it’s impressive. IntoNow works for both live programming and on-demand content, from TV shows to movies (that you would find on TV, so not newer releases.) It even worked on a Food Channel show where the host was mumbling with a mouthful of food. When you check into a commercial, you’re asked to try again. One gap, however: we tried IntoNow on a local show here in Seattle, and it came up empty-handed. But it’s a great start.
When you identify a show you’re watching, you’re in effect “checking in” to it, sharing what you’re watching with your IntoNow friends. (IntoNow’s Adam Cahan hates the word, “check-in,” which would explain why it’s absent from the app.) You can also share what you’re watching with your Facebook and Twitter friends.
You can also see what shows are trending and who’s watching them. When available, you can click over to watch the show on Netflix or iTunes. And perhaps most interesting: IntoNow features a “discover” tab that will suggest shows based on your viewing behavior. While that’s marginally interesting in a mobile app, it becomes extremely valuable when married with a program guide on TV — or your iPad.
IntoNow’s Cahan told TechCrunch that the app redefines the check-in just like Foursquare redefined Dodgeball. With Dodgeball, you had to type in the name of a business to check in. With Foursquare, GPS narrowed it down to what’s near you. “Now our industry is in the same place. We’re the GPS layer,” Cahan said. “With IntoNow, it detects what you’re watching, making the check-in easy.”
While IntoNow will get lots of early buzz, it’s late to the check-in battle behind GetGlue, Miso, Tunerfish and Philo. But in many ways, it has redefined the battleground.