Which were your favorite photos taken this year? Rather than going through 12 months of your photo library, Google Photos is making it easier with a new end-of-year feature. These special recaps are located at the top of the app’s main page through the featured memories carousel on both the iOS and Android Google Photos apps.
As Google explains, the year-in-review tool provides a personalized look at your year through your photos. It includes several categories to highlight different aspects of your year: “Longest streak” shows your longest consecutive days of taking pictures. “Year in smiles” counts the total smiles captured and identifies who you smile with the most. “Your top faces” reveals the people who appeared most frequently in your photos.
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Meanwhile, “Year in color” presents the dominant colors in your pictures, creating a unique palette for your year. Finally, “Your 2024 vibes” analyzes your photos to determine your top three “personas.”
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You can save and share your Recap memories and insights. After the new year begins, these memories will be pinned to the photos grid under December.
Each memory reel is backed by an automatically generated soundtrack.
Screenshots showing Google Photos' 2024 Year in Review feature.
Bryan M. Wolfe / Digital Trends
To take advantage of the end-of-year feature, you must have Face Groups enabled in the app and have taken a minimum number of photos throughout the year (the exact number is not specified).
This feature is available not only on smartphones, but also through the Google Photos app for tablets and iPads, as well as on the Google Photos website.
Spotify was perhaps the first technology-focused company to offer a year-in-review feature with its popular Spotify Wrapped tool. Others have now followed, including ones from Apple Music, Last.fm, and YouTube Music. Beyond music, there’s now the Reddit Recap, Goodreads Year in Books, Letterboxd Year in Review, and more.
Since its launch in 2015, Google Photos has undergone consistent improvements over the years. Recently, it was announced that the app will replace its “Memories” tab with a new feature called “Moments.” Similar to its predecessor, this feature helps users rediscover and relive their cherished memories by curating photos and videos from their Google Photos library and presenting them in a visually appealing and engaging manner.
I am truly impressed with the year-in-review feature of Google Photos. It’s allowing me to relive wonderful memories from the past year. For me, this brought back fond memories of a cruise I took in the summer and the joy of my daughter’s spring musical at school. Each of the featured photos looks especially awesome on my iPhone 16 Pro Max. Well done, Google!