YouTube has launched its first annual Recap feature for all users. The personalized experience summarizes each person's viewing activity over the past year.
The rollout begins in North America, with a global launch scheduled for later this week, according to the YouTube Blog.
Key details on YouTube Recap launch
YouTube Recap is now available to viewers in North America on desktop and mobile, with global rollout expected this week. The experience appears on the YouTube homepage and under the "You" tab.
Each Recap generates up to 12 cards based on an individual's watch history. These cards surface top channels, content interests, and how viewing patterns changed over the year. Users can save and share cards directly from the Recap view.
- First annual Recap feature for all YouTube users.
- Up to 12 personalized cards per user driven by watch history signals.
- Summaries of top channels, topics, and year-over-year viewing shifts.
- Accessible through the Home feed or the "You" tab on both mobile and desktop, with options to save and share cards.
Viewing personalities and YouTube Music integration
YouTube Recap assigns each viewer a "viewing personality" based on their watch history. The named types are Adventurer, Skill Builder, Creative Spirit, Sunshiner, Wonder Seeker, Connector, Philosopher, and Dreamer. According to YouTube, Sunshiner, Wonder Seeker, and Connector appear most frequently, while Philosopher and Dreamer are least common.
Viewers who use YouTube Music receive additional music-focused cards within their YouTube Recap. These include Top Artists and Top Songs, reflecting listening activity over the year. The YouTube Music app also presents related data such as genres, podcasts, and international listening trends.
Development process and AI use
YouTube states that it tested the Recap feature through nine rounds of user feedback, evaluating more than 50 early concepts before finalizing the current design. These tests informed which metrics to highlight and which visual formats to include in the final card set.
In an accompanying video, YouTube representatives say the team used Google's Gemini models during development. Gemini helped analyze watch history patterns derived from YouTube's unstructured video library, supporting the creation of the structured Recap summaries shown to individual users.
Background context
According to YouTube, this is the company's first annual Recap feature focused on overall viewing across the main platform. The experience brings together viewing information from YouTube and listening information from YouTube Music within a single Recap view. More detailed music metrics remain available inside the YouTube Music app for users who want additional listening breakdowns.
The rollout begins with users in North America before expanding worldwide during the week. YouTube presents this schedule as part of its official product communication, and availability details are consistent across the blog announcement and supporting materials.
Source citations
Product details, availability, and feature descriptions are based on YouTube's official announcement, "YouTube Recap 2025", on the YouTube Blog. Information about Gemini's role and development testing is drawn from the accompanying video referenced in the same announcement.
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