Google Photos Recap 2025 gets an AI upgrade

Google Photos is once again rolling out its year-end Recap, the service’s answer to the digital nostalgia craze sparked by platforms like Spotify Wrapped and earlier apps such as Timehop. The 2025 edition aims to deliver a more personalized retrospective by weaving together standout photos, stylized visuals, and a set of stats that capture how users documented their lives over the past twelve months. But this year, Google is taking a significant leap forward, turning to its Gemini AI models to surface memories you might not have realized were highlights at all.

The Recap is designed to feel familiar to anyone who has enjoyed an annual digital roundup. You’re greeted with a curated sequence of moments pulled from across your photo library — vacations, milestones, the unexpected snapshots that reveal more than you remembered. These images are presented with dynamic graphics and effects, making the recap feel less like a slideshow and more like a short, personalized story. But the biggest shift comes from Gemini’s involvement. Exclusive to U.S. users at launch, Gemini digs into your photo history not just to recognize faces or places, but to interpret the context behind them. According to Google, the AI has been trained to understand patterns that point to your “one true passion” as well as four additional themes that defined your year. Whether you rediscovered a hobby, traveled more than usual, or spent meaningful time with someone important, Gemini is meant to spot it and elevate it within the Recap.

Google’s approach reflects an evolution of the annual-review trend. While 2024’s Recap marked the feature’s debut, this year serves as a broader experiment in blending AI analysis with personal media. Rather than simply collating your most-photographed people or places, Google Photos Recap 2025 aims to offer something closer to a narrative. It’s an attempt to answer not just what you captured, but why those moments mattered.

Alongside Gemini’s thematic highlights, Google Photos still surfaces straightforward photo statistics. You’ll see your total photo count, the people who appeared most often in your images, and — new this year — the number of selfies you took. The update also introduces more control over what appears in your Recap. If there are certain individuals or specific images you’d rather not include, you can hide them and instantly regenerate a new version. This feature acknowledges that not every memory needs to be part of your annual story.

To expand how users can share their Recap, Google is integrating third-party tools into the experience. Notably, a new button lets you export your Recap directly into CapCut. From there, you can apply templates and editing tools to customize it even further before posting it online. Google is also adding a social-friendly carousel at the end of the Recap, featuring short videos, photos, and collages tailored for quick sharing. One option even enables you to send your Recap straight to your WhatsApp Status, reinforcing Google’s focus on seamless social distribution.

For anyone eager to access their Recap immediately, Google Photos lets you request generation straight from the top of the app if it doesn’t appear automatically. Once created, your Recap remains accessible through the entire month of December. Users can revisit it through the Memories carousel or via a permanent pin in the Collections tab. And the year-end review isn’t the only highlight Google has planned; the company says it will continue releasing additional 2025-themed moments throughout the month, offering new ways to look back at the year as it concludes.