Update of April 15, 2025: Initially planned to coincide with the launch of the first Copilot+ PCs in 2024, the Recall functionality had raised numerous concerns in terms of cybersecurity and data protection. Faced with these criticisms, Microsoft had decided to postpone its deployment (read below).
Microsoft has just announced that Recall is now available in Preview via the Windows Insider program. To use this feature, it is necessary to activate it manually and register with Windows Hello, to ensure that only the main user can access his snapshots.
As a reminder, Recall is a tool designed to be exclusive to PC Copilot+. It automatically records screenshots of the desk every few seconds and analyzes them. The objective is to allow the user to easily find what he has seen or done on his PC, using a kind of photographic memory. Thanks to the small models of language integrated in PC Copilot+, it is possible to interact with a time line showing the history of the actions carried out on the computer.
Update of October 1, 2024: Microsoft wants to restore confidence vis-à-vis the recall function presented last summer. With this function, the Windows 11 operating system takes a few seconds of the desktop and analysis every few seconds. After the announcement, serious reservations were issued. In a blog article, David Weston, Vice-President Enterprise & OS Security at Microsoft, tries to appease mistrust and mentions some adaptations of functionality. He underlines that the function is opt-in, that is to say that users must consciously activate it when configuring Copilot+-PC. Users who are not interested can uninstall Recall completely.
For those who wish to use this feature, Microsoft has strengthened data protection. The snapshots and all the information linked to it in the vector database is always encrypted, can be read in the blog post. Microsoft protects encryption keys with the Trusted Platform Module and binds to the Enhanced Sign-In safety identity of Windows Hello. Other users do not have access to the keys and therefore not either to Recall data.
For more transparency, an icon indicates when a snapshot is created. In addition, Microsoft wants to give users more control over data that is collected by Recall. That’s why:
- Recall does not record information from private navigation windows (Edge, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Chromium -based browsers).
- Users can exclude specific data collection applications and websites (Edge, Firefox, Opera and Chrome).
- Passwords, identification and payment information is filtered by default and is not recorded by Recall.
- Users can determine the retention period of recall content and the memory space available for this purpose.
- Users can delete a time slot, all the content of an application or a website or whatever they find in the recall search.
Update of June 11, 2024: Microsoft reverse recall. The functionality, announced recently for the new PC Copilot+ line (read below), performs screenshots of all the actions carried out on a computer. Although Microsoft assured that the data would remain local and would never be sent to the cloud or on the web, serious concerns quickly appeared. Indeed, the tool does not moderate the content and does not hide sensitive information such as passwords or bank account numbers. The defenders of privacy, including the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) of the United Kingdom, expressed their fears about the potential consequences on cybersecurity and privacy.
Pavan Davuluri, head of the Devices unit at Microsoft, said in a blog post that the company had heard these concerns and that it wanted to facilitate the choice of recall activation on Copilot+PCs. Before the preview version of the functionality, scheduled for June 18, several changes are scheduled to take place. First, the Configuration Experience on Copilot+ PCs will be updated to allow users to clearly choose Recall. If users do not proactively choose to activate it, the function will remain deactivated by default. Second, Windows Hello recording will be necessary to activate Recall. Third, Microsoft adds additional data protection layers, including a deciphering protected by Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security (ESS), ensuring that recall screenshots will only be decrypted and accessible when the user approaches.
Article of May 23, 2024: Recall records each fact and gesture on the new PC Copilot+
Microsoft has announced a new category of Windows PC designed for artificial intelligence. Labeled Copilot+, these PCs are based on a new system architecture incorporating a new high performance neural processor (NPU). Optimized by large models of language (LLM) operating on Azure, in concert with small models of language (SLM) on-device, the Copilot+ PCs are, according to the Redmond firm, particularly powerful and effective when it comes to treating IA workloads. “They surpass Apple’s MacBook Air 15” of 58% in terms of sustained multithreading performance, “said Microsoft, before highlighting the improved battery, which would guarantee a day’s autonomy. Marketed soon, the first Copilot+ models include the Microsoft Surface, as well as PCs of Acer, Asus, HP, HP, Leno Samsung.
Recall: all interactions with a recorded PC
During the presentation of PC Copilot+, Microsoft highlighted the Recall functionality. Exclusive to this new category of PC, it allows users to access what they have seen or done on their PC in a way that is like a photographic memory, explains Microsoft. With the small language models that hide the Copilot+PCs, it is thus possible to interact with a chronological wire bringing together the history of the interactions carried out on the computer. Users can fly over their chronology to review their activity in a preview window. To search with Recall, just type or dictate “goat cheese pizza” to find a recipe seen earlier, it doesn’t matter where. By selecting a location on the preview window, it is allowed to interact directly with the content (a functionality called “Sceenray”). Users who select an image can copy, modify or send it to another application. Highlighting text allows you to open it in a text editor. In many cases, users can use the Recall function to return to the exact location of the item, for example by reopening the web page, the PowerPoint presentation or the execution application when an image (“snapshot”) has been taken.
A snapshot every five seconds
Recall is currently optimized for a limited number of languages, including French. The functionality uses the advanced PC Copilot+ treatment capabilities to take Snapshots from the active screen at intervals of a few seconds (snapshots are taken every five seconds when the content of the screen is different from that of the previous snapshot). The snapshots are encrypted and saved on the computer. The default recall allowance on a 256 GB device is 25 GB, about three months of snapshots. However, it is possible to increase the storage space allocated to Recall in the computer settings. Recall uses optical character recognition (OCR), at the local level, to analyze images and facilitate research.
Deactivation and possible controls
Microsoft is aware that this feature may not be welcomed with open arms by everyone. For IT administrators, the firm indicates that Recall can be deactivated via the “turn off SenapShots for Windows” rule. By doing so, the already recorded snapshots will be deleted. It is also possible to keep a certain control on the functionality if it remains active, in particular by pause it and by configuring the time of reactivation. Users can also access recall settings to delete specific snapshots, or to exclude certain applications and websites such as banking services. Note that Recall does not record any navigation activity in private mode, with Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome or other browsers based on chromium.
The functionality concerns
However, despite these control parameters and Microsoft’s guarantees that locally stored data will never be sent to the cloud or on the web, Recall is concerned. Microsoft specifies, for example, that the tool does not make content moderation and that it does not hide information such as passwords or financial account numbers. “These data may be in snapshots stored on your device, especially when the sites do not respect standard Internet protocols, such as concealing password entry,” said Microsoft. Enough to alert the British Data Protective Regulatory Bureau, the Commissioner’s Office (ICO) information, which has quickly declared: “We find out with Microsoft to understand the guarantees set up to protect the privacy of users”.
Many online comments point out that Recall evokes an episode of the dystopian series “Black Mirror”. This is in particular the opinion expressed on X by Elon Musk, which specifies that it will hasten to deactivate the functionality.
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