Wrapped time window
The span of dates a recap actually covers — a calendar year by default, but not the only honest way to slice a chat.
A "wrapped" format inherited its calendar-year default from Spotify, where a calendar year is genuinely how most people think about their listening. A chat doesn’t reset on January 1st the way a listening habit sort of does, so a calendar-year window is a choice, not a law: it means a chat exported in early January mostly shows the year that just ended, and a chat that started in October only has three months of data no matter how far back the actual friendship goes. The alternative — a rolling 365 days, or the full history — trades the "your year" framing for completeness.
Example
An export taken on January 3rd has, at most, two days of "this year" — so a wrapped built on a strict calendar year falls back to the year that just ended instead of showing an almost-empty one.
Frequently asked questions
Why not always use the last 365 days instead?+
A rolling year is more complete, but it loses the "your 2026" framing that makes a wrapped feel like a specific, shareable moment rather than a generic report.
Can I see the whole history instead of one year?+
Yes — the slides always use the calendar year, but a full numbers page can switch between the year, a rolling 365 days, or everything in the export.
Related terms
- "WhatsApp Wrapped" (the format)A year-in-review recap for a chat, in the style Spotify made famous for listening habits — built from an export, not from anything WhatsApp itself provides.
- Messages per active dayTotal messages divided by the days that had at least one — a better read on intensity than dividing by every day in the window.