TikTok has introduced a new feature allowing users to reflect on their activity over the past year. Similar to Spotify’s Wrapped and Instagram’s Top 9, “Year on TikTok” provides a personalized video compilation showcasing individual users’ most notable TikTok experiences. This includes details such as the duration of their time on the platform, the types of videos they frequently viewed, their preferred songs and creative effects, and data regarding their commenting and sharing habits.

The feature also identifies a user’s dominant “vibes” – representing the categories of videos they enjoy most, like DIY projects, culinary content, animal videos, travelogues, or the various communities thriving on the social video platform.

For newer users who haven’t established distinct “vibes,” TikTok will instead present popular videos from its broader “Year on TikTok: Top 100” compilation.

The “Year on TikTok” page also features a collection of broader TikTok highlights, including trending memes, popular creators, viral videos, influential personalities, top musical tracks, and other significant year-end trends.

TikTok users can access their “Year on TikTok” experience by tapping an icon on their For You feed or by locating the banner at the top of the Discover page.

The precision of TikTok’s recap is open to discussion. In one instance, despite a feed largely focused on politics and current events, the platform identified a user’s top “vibes” as home, travel, and animal content. While not inaccurate, this representation felt incomplete and didn’t fully reflect the user’s predominant engagement. It appears TikTok may be prioritizing more upbeat “vibes” in its curation, excluding potentially sensitive themes.

Despite any attempts at refinement, personalized retrospective features have proven popular with users and serve as an effective marketing tool.

Spotify’s Wrapped, for example, became so widely shared that it temporarily saturated social media feeds. Spotify responded by introducing customization options for its 2020 Wrapped, allowing users to adjust the color scheme before sharing, reducing the visual uniformity and potential for annoyance.

The “Year on TikTok” feature is also expected to perform well, as evidenced by the 5.4 billion views already accumulated on the hashtag #YearOnTikTok, driven by users aiming to increase their video visibility and reach the For You page. The ultimate measure of success will be the number of creators displaying the 2020 badge on their profiles.

For those seeking a more comprehensive experience, alternative third-party options are available.

Retroplay, a new app, has launched its own 2020 TikTok Year in Review. This app goes beyond simple statistics, allowing users to vote for their favorite creators and videos through “Superlatives” awards, collect cards from creators, and customize their own highlight reels. However, the app is currently experiencing technical issues, including a temporarily disabled highlight reel feature and difficulties processing usernames that begin with punctuation marks.

“We wanted to focus more on the year-in-review for content creators, and over the past two weeks have been working with creators to get their ideas. We’ve temporarily disabled the Highlight Reel feature based on feedback,” the developers explained in a statement to TechCrunch. They announced a new feature enabling Top 4 or Top 9 video compilations will be released later in the week.

Despite these initial hurdles, Retroplay’s design is visually appealing and its interactive features are engaging, suggesting a promising future if the developers can resolve the existing issues promptly.