YouTube is finally joining the year-end recap craze popularized by Spotify Wrapped, rolling out a personalized summary of each user’s viewing habits for the first time.
But early reactions show viewers are torn between excitement, dread, and confusion.
What is YouTube’s new yearly recap feature?
According to a press release, YouTube will now release yearly recaps in a story format for viewers. YouTube Music previously released recaps, but this update will extend the feature to videos on the main platform as well.
The story cards will rank viewers’ top categories and share when they are in the top percentage of viewers for their favorite channels.
The move likely aims to drive engagement, as other social media sites’ recaps are shared widely on users’ profiles at the end of the year.
For what it’s worth, many YouTube users have been begging for a feature like this for years—even Hank Green.
What do viewers think of the new feature?
On X, some viewers joke about what will be featured on their annual recap.
“They acting like my 3am rabbit holes are meant to be shared publicly,” one writes.
they acting like my 3am rabbit holes are meant to be shared publicly
— Dexrk (@dexrk) December 2, 2025
“YouTube really said: ‘Here’s a recap of your questionable life choices,’” another comments.
“Please don’t tell me that [expletive] I don’t want to know,” a third jokes.
Others question if the feature will work with watch history turned off.
“Good luck doing that when my watch history has been turned off since 2013,” one says.
“Interesting.. let’s see how it goes with me, as I have disabled the watch history,” another X user writes.
Users are having trouble finding the recap
Despite the feature being released to many viewers, others lament that they haven’t received theirs yet.
“I’ve tried to find it on both mobile (fully updated) and desktop, and it isn’t showing up anywhere. I’ve tried going to the url directly, going to the ‘you’ tab in the bottom right of the app. Nothing shows me the recap card/applet,” one Reddit poster writes.
Per YouTube’s own instructions, the recaps can be found in the YouTube app starting today in certain regions:
Recap will be available starting today for YouTube users in North America, and roll out to the rest of the world this week. Your Recap can be found right on the homepage, or under the “You” tab, accessible on mobile devices and desktop.
They’ve also uploaded a video with instructions, too:
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