How to catch up after missing part of a film
How The Bit You Missed works
To catch up after missing part of a film, open The Bit You Missed, pick the film and drag the dial to roughly how far in you are. Then read the recap from the last thing you remember.
Each line is one scene, so you can catch up on the walk back from a toilet or bathroom break. The screen stays dark with dim amber text, and the app never uses your camera or microphone.
Before the film: open it while you have signal
Cinemas often have weak signal, so open the web app on the day, before the film starts. It saves the catalogue on your phone, and the recaps then read without a connection. You can also add it to your phone’s home screen. A first visit needs a connection, and clearing your browser’s stored data removes the saved copy.
Pick your film
Open the web app and tap your film in the lobby. The find field filters the list by title or by the two leads printed on the row. A film still waiting for its recap shows as a plain row, and it doesn’t open. Recaps land within 24 hours of release.
Once you have answered for a film, it sits lit at the top of the lobby with roughly how far in you are beside it. Tap it again later and the dial opens already set near where the film should be.
Drag the dial to roughly how far in you are
The dial sits at the foot of the recap. Drag it to roughly how far into the film you are now, then let go: letting go is your answer. The quarter, half and three-quarter marks help you judge.
You don’t need to know when you left, and the app never asks. Your memory of the last thing you saw tells you where to start reading. Once the film starts, your phone can stay in your pocket until you step out.
Find the last thing you remember
The recap opens at its foot, at roughly where the film is now. Scroll up to the last line you recognise, then read down from there. The lines carry no times, so your own memory finds your place.
If a line hasn’t happened yet
The timing is approximate, so the last line can run about one scene ahead of the screen. If it hasn’t happened yet, tap the line and choose Hide. That line and every line after it come off the recap.
The same menu reports a bad line. Choose Wrong if the line is wrong, or Out of order if it sits in the wrong place.
Back in your seat and still behind? “Reveal scene” adds the next scene, one tap at a time. Once the whole film is on screen the button reads “End”; tap it when you’re done.
Change your estimate
The grip above “Reveal scene” opens the dial again. Pick another position and let go.
Why the timing is approximate
The app knows nothing about your showing: not the start time, and not how long the adverts ran. It works from your answer and the time since, to the scene rather than the second. That keeps it quick to use in the dark, and it is why the last line can run a scene ahead.
It leans the safe way when you leave it alone. If nobody touches the app for half an hour, the recap steps back five minutes, so a phone left in a pocket errs behind the film rather than ahead of it.