Reflecting on Google Photos Recap: A Regretful Experience

In the early days of December, it’s not just about Christmas but also about recapping the year. What started with Spotify Wrapped ten years ago has now become a trend across industries, with almost every brand jumping on the bandwagon to get some free publicity. From Monzo telling you how many times you’ve logged into the app to Nectar updating you on your satsuma buying rankings at Sainsbury’s, the examples are endless.

One recap that caught my attention recently was Google Photos Recap. As someone who clicks thousands of photos and relies on Google Photos to sync them across devices, I was eager to see what insights it had in store for me.

Unfortunately, the recap turned out to be a useless 90-second clip that failed to reflect my year in any meaningful way. Google can surely do better than that.

Impressively bad photos and videos

Throughout 2025, I’ve amassed quite a collection of bad photos and videos that I never bothered to delete. While I understand that Google doesn’t manually curate photos from my camera roll, some of the choices for my Google Photos Recap were truly baffling.

For example, the recap highlighted an AI-generated image from WhatsApp, a blurry picture of my laptop screen, a glass of cider at a gig, a blurry image of the headline act at the same gig, and more. It’s surprising that even the most basic AI couldn’t differentiate between a focused and an out-of-focus image.

The trend continued throughout the video, with Google managing to include irrelevant memories or pick the worst photos from each situation. The algorithm seemed to struggle with identifying signs and blurry images.

Where’s everyone else?

Photographs are essentially digital memories, and it’s the people we spend time with that make those memories special. However, my Google Photos Recap barely focused on the people I shared moments with in 2025. After showcasing my 387 selfies (for camera testing purposes), it only highlighted me and my mom’s dog as my ‘faves’.

While they may appear frequently in my camera roll, what about everyone else? There are several great photos with family and friends that I would have loved to see included.

Interestingly, the algorithm seemed to prioritize inanimate objects over humans and animals, making the recap feel functional and dull.

A distinct lack of substance

The absence of other people in my Recap reflects the overall video. It lacks the elements that would make me reminisce fondly about the year, despite having hundreds of suitable photos at its disposal.

The current structure of the recap, including stats, a few people, and random photos and locations, makes it a chaotic mess.

The Recap feature seems more engaging in the US, where customers with Gemini features enabled can highlight “standout hobbies” and “top highlights.” However, I doubt this would address the improvements I desire.

Google Photos Recap has immense potential, and it’s one of the few Spotify Wrapped imitators I would like to see continue. But in its current state, the feature feels underdeveloped and more irritating than enjoyable.

According to Google, you can “Relive your Recap all month long.” However, once was enough for me. The video version on YouTube appears to be more captivating, but it may not be available to everyone.