Microsoft has reintroduced its controversial Recall feature in a new Windows 11 Insider Preview Build for beta testers. The feature, which was postponed following privacy concerns, is now available with several changes to address those issues. Recall acts as a photographic memory for your PC, making it easier to find files, websites, or data you accessed on the device.
It takes snapshots of your screen every few seconds and stores them for future retrieval. You can then “recall” what you were doing through a text query or by scrolling back through a timeline. Microsoft has made Recall an opt-in experience and requires users to encrypt their hard drive through BitLocker.
The feature will only turn on if the PC’s owner accesses the computer. Users can also choose not to enable automatic screenshot saving. “If you don’t enable saving snapshots, Recall will not save any snapshots of your activity,” Microsoft says.
All saved screenshots remain on the user’s PC and are never shared with Microsoft servers. Recall has also been designed to avoid collecting sensitive information like credit card details, passwords, and personal ID numbers. “When detected, Recall won’t save or store those snapshots,” the company states.
Microsoft is inviting security researchers to vet Recall and is offering rewards for any vulnerabilities found in the preview release.
Recall returns with privacy tweaks
The feature is currently only available on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, with support for AMD and Intel-powered devices coming soon.
Despite the privacy improvements, early user reports indicate some issues with Recall. The biggest problem is a delay in snapshots being stored, or the storage failing completely. Microsoft’s advice is to reboot the PC.
Users have also complained about difficulties in completely removing Recall. While it can be disabled, the binaries persist on the system. Microsoft has stated that a future update will allow users to fully remove the feature.
Other reported issues include inaccuracies in storing image content, although the OCR aspects for text seem to work well. The “Click to Do” feature, which allows users to take actions on selected text or images from snapshots, has received mild criticism for its limited options. There is no timeline for when Microsoft will consider Recall ready for a general release.
While the company has made strides in improving the product’s security, the need for some users to reboot their PCs to keep the snapshotting service running shows that more work is needed. The Windows Insider program aims to gather feedback and refine features like Recall before they are launched widely to the public. Microsoft will continue to make improvements based on the insights provided by beta testers.
