What an Instagram year in review is
At the end of the year, three words circulate for the same thing: year in review, year recap, and the more recent Wrapped. All three describe a summary of what you posted between January and December, usually published as a nine-photo grid or a designed card.
What separates a good review from a collage is the source: a recap uses the posts your audience actually saw, with their counters; a collage uses whatever photos you like, published or not.
What a year in review can contain
- The nine. Ranked by likes, saves or comments — one metric at a time.
- The totals. Posts published, likes, saves, comments, and the metric you led on.
- The rhythm. Which months you posted, and which you skipped.
- The palette. Dominant colours of up to 36 photos, so the card looks like your feed.
- The line. One editorial sentence, and the year in the corner.
What it should never claim
A year in review is not an official Instagram feature, and it should not pretend to be one. It should not invent counters, should not estimate a metric that Instagram did not return, and should not claim to read private data (DMs, close friends, private audience).
“These nine posts earned 3,304 likes” is a claim you can check; “your year, summarised by AI” is not.
How to make yours
- Connect a Creator or Business account (optional, read-only) so posts and counters can be imported.
- Choose the year and the metric.
- Preview the nine tiles in the real 3:4 grid, then export at 1080 × 1920 or 1080 × 1350.
Questions
Is the year in review an official Instagram feature?
No. It is a community ritual; there is no official card generated from your posts.
What is the difference with Wrapped?
Wrapped is Spotify's name for the same idea. On Instagram there is no official product, so “wrapped” and “year in review” describe the same recap.
Do I need a Creator account?
Only for the automatic ranking. The grid preview and design tools work without connecting anything.
Related: Instagram Wrapped · Year recap · Best nine 2026