Microsoft Finally Releases Recall as Part of Windows Insider Preview

Six months after announcing (and modifying and delaying) Windows Recall, Microsoft has released a first-look preview of a reworked version for Windows Insiders via its Dev Channel. 

The preview is available only to Windows Insiders with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and Plus Copilot+ PCs. The build of Windows that includes Recall (preview) with Click to Do (Preview) is Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.2415 (KB5046723), Microsoft said. Support for Intel- and AMD-powered Copilot+ PCs will be available at a later date.

Recall takes "snapshots" of a user's PC that can be searched at anytime, thus allowing users to "recall" any application action, website visited, or image or document previously accessed on the system. Recall uses optical character recognition (OCR) to extract the text in screenshots and saves both of the images and text into a searchable database. When users describe what they are looking for, Recall searches the database to help them find it. The built-in neural processing unit is capable of running artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning workloads locally and does not store anything in the cloud. This means Microsoft doesn't have access to any Recall snapshots, and none of the snapshots will be used to train Microsoft's AI models.

Recall was initially scheduled to be released last summer, but Microsoft had repeatedly delayed it to address privacy concerns. In September, the company explained how it was working to secure Recall snapshots.

Several of the new security-focused additions are available in the preview. Those who download the preview must opt in to saving snapshots, which is a change from the original plan to make it an opt-out feature. Recall now requires BitLocker disk encryption and Secure Boot to be enabled. Users must also be enrolled in Windows Hello because they must reauthenticate with Hello each time they access Recall's database. Users have the ability to delete any snapshot they want, and the system can detect sensitive personal data, like credit card numbers, passwords, and PINs, and won’t save them.

Users can also opt out of using Recall on specific apps and websites or just uninstall it altogether. For enterprise and education users, Recall will be managed by IT administrators. Administrators can also completely uninstall Recall if they are concerned about data exposure. 

The purpose of the Windows Insider preview is to give users the ability to try out the feature in real-world scenarios and help Microsoft identify issues that need to be addressed. Users can submit their feedback of the preview versions of Recall and Click to Do (recognize text and images in Recall snapshots and then copy the text or save images out of the snapshots) via the Feedback Hub. Insiders are asked to provide feedback on Recall's "updated security and privacy architecture" through the Windows Insider Preview Bug Bounty Program. 

Microsoft did not say how long it plans to keep Recall in preview before it would be considered ready for general release.