YouTube is closing out 2025 with a major new feature – and it’s something users have been requesting for years. The company announced the rollout of YouTube Recap, its first-ever personalized year-in-review experience that turns each user’s watch history into a set of tailored insights, personality types, and top content roundups.

It’s a familiar concept – Spotify Wrapped comes to mind – but YouTube is applying it at a massive scale. With billions of users and an incredibly diverse content library, Recap marks a significant step toward deeper personalization on the platform.

The feature goes live today for users in North America and will expand globally throughout the week. It’s accessible directly from the YouTube homepage or the “You” tab on both mobile and desktop.

A new way for users to see who they were this year

Recap takes a playful, aesthetic approach to summarizing a user’s viewing habits. It generates up to 12 cards that highlight:

• top channels
  
• top interests
  
• changing viewing patterns over the year
  
• what Recap calls your “YouTube personality type”
  

So if 2025 was your “keyboard modding” era or the year you discovered K-pop or deep-dive documentaries, YouTube is ready to remind you.

Music lovers get an even richer experience. Recap integrates tightly with YouTube Music, offering:

• top artists and genres
  
• most-played songs
  
• international listening patterns
  
• podcast habits
  

It’s clear YouTube is aiming to make Recap not just fun, but a shareable moment – much like Wrapped, Reels, and Shorts have become.

‘Made for you, by you’ – and tested extensively

YouTube says Recap was shaped by nine rounds of feedback and more than 50 concept tests before landing on its final format. The company used watch-history patterns to define personalities such as:

• The Adventurer
  
• The Skill Builder
  
• The Creative Spirit
  
• The Sunshiner
  
• The Wonder Seeker
  

These archetypes add a human touch to what is essentially a massive data-driven personalization engine.

YouTube notes that the most common personalities this year were Sunshiner, Wonder Seeker, and Connector, while Philosopher and Dreamer emerged as the rarest – a detail users are already posting about online.

Why this matters: year-end recaps are engagement powerhouses

Spotify proved that personalized recaps can fuel massive social sharing, user loyalty, and platform visibility. YouTube has been slower to adopt this kind of moment, but the potential is enormous.

Recap gives YouTube:

• a viral, shareable cultural event
  
• increased app engagement at the end of the year
  
• deeper emotional connection with users
  
• an incentive for creators to encourage year-round viewing
  

This is especially impactful for a platform juggling creators, advertisers, and ever-rising competition from TikTok and streaming services.

Why developers and app builders should pay attention

YouTube Recap signals a broader shift in how users expect apps to behave.

• Personalization is now the default. People want experiences that reflect their habits, progress, and identity.
  
• Data storytelling drives engagement. Turning user activity into simple, beautiful insights increases loyalty.
  
• Recap-style features boost organic growth. Shareable summaries create viral moments without extra marketing.
  
• Personality-based insights deepen connection. Users love seeing themselves interpreted through app data.
  
• Expectations are rising across all app categories. From fitness to finance, users now anticipate year-in-review insights.
  

For modern apps, delight is becoming just as important as functionality – and Recap shows exactly why.

The bottom line

With Recap, YouTube is doing more than offering a fun end-of-year feature. It’s formally entering the era of AI-driven, data-powered personalization – and setting expectations across the app ecosystem.

For developers and digital product teams, Recap is a reminder that the most successful apps in 2026 will be the ones that not only deliver value…
but reflect the user back to themselves.