Create a personalised year-in-review recap users want to share

A year-in-review recap turns each user’s activity over the past year into a short, personal story. It might show their most-played songs, the distance they ran, the books they read or the projects their team shipped. Each screen ends with a card designed to be shared. When users post their recap, they advertise your product to their friends in a way that feels like self-expression. This tactic fits apps, SaaS tools and consumer products that collect meaningful usage data and have an engaged user base.

Why it works

People like sharing things that say something about who they are. A recap gives them a ready-made, flattering story about their taste or effort, and the share card makes it one tap to post. Because many users post at once, feeds fill with the same format, which creates a sense of an event and pushes others to open the app and find their own.

Each shared card also explains your product without a sales pitch. A friend sees what the app tracks and why someone values it. That is persuasive and free, and it repeats every year.

How to do it

1. Audit your data. List what you can reliably measure for each user over a year. Check accuracy before you design anything, since a wrong number is quickly noticed and mocked.
2. Pick five to eight stats with emotion. Choose numbers that create pride, surprise or humour, such as a top category, a personal record or a ranking against other users. Avoid stats that could embarrass anyone.
3. Design it as a story. Use full-screen vertical slides, one idea per slide, with bold type and motion. Vertical slides match the stories format where most sharing happens.
4. Build share cards for each platform. Make cards sized for stories and for square posts. Put the user’s highlight in large text and your brand clearly but modestly.
5. Respect privacy. Let users preview and choose what to share. Never auto-post, and leave out anything sensitive, such as health details or client names.
6. Plan the launch moment. Pick a release date, prepare an announcement email and in-app banner, and get your own team posting their recaps on day one.
7. Give non-users a way in. Link the share card to a page that explains the product and lets visitors sign up to get their own recap next year.
8. Learn for next year. Record which slides were shared most and which were skipped. Use that to shape the next edition.

Example

Spotify’s Wrapped is the best-known version of this idea. According to Spotify’s newsroom, it began in 2015 as a year-end campaign called Year in Music that attracted more than 5 million unique users. It was renamed Wrapped in 2016, alongside a “Your Top Songs” playlist, and was built directly into the Spotify app in 2019. Users get a personal story of their listening with cards they can post, and Spotify now describes Wrapped as a global cultural phenomenon. The lesson for smaller products is the format: personal data, told as a story, packaged for sharing.

A smaller example: a habit-tracking app could show each user their longest streak, most consistent habit and best month, ending with a card that says “I kept a 120-day streak in 2026” and the app’s name.

Metrics to track

• Recap open rate. The share of active users who view their recap. Low opens point to weak announcement or timing.
• Share rate. The share of viewers who post at least one card. This is the main driver of reach.
• New sign-ups from recap links. Visits and sign-ups from the landing page linked on share cards.
• Reactivation of lapsed users. How many inactive users return to see their recap.
• Slide drop-off. Where viewers stop tapping through, which shows which stats bore people.

When it backfires

• Wrong or odd data. Errors or strange results get screenshotted and mocked, which turns the moment into a joke at your expense.
• Privacy slips. Revealing sensitive behaviour or allowing it to be shared by accident can cause real harm and backlash.
• Too little data. Light users get thin, unflattering recaps. Offer them a lighter version or skip them.
• Late or buggy launch. Slow loading or crashes on release day waste the one burst of attention you get.
• Copycat without substance. A recap with generic stats that tell users nothing new feels like a marketing stunt and rarely gets shared.

Questions people ask

What data should a recap include?

Pick a few numbers that make users feel proud, curious or amused, such as their top category, total time or a milestone. Skip anything private, embarrassing or commercially sensitive.

When should we release it?

Late in the year, before the holidays, is a common choice, since the year feels complete and people are in a reflective mood. Choose a date you can hit reliably every year so people come to expect it.

Can a B2B product do a recap?

Yes. A SaaS tool can show a team the work it completed, time saved or milestones reached. Make the share card safe to post publicly, without client names or internal figures.

Sources

• We're Commemorating a Decade of Spotify Wrapped With Our Best and Boldest Wrapped Yet