AIster · The model wars · Products
Microsoft pulls Recall from the Copilot+ PC launch
A feature that screenshots everything you do meets a security backlash
Key facts
- Date
- 13 Jun 2024
- Era
- The model wars
- Interest
- Products
- Threads
- Safety & governance
- Announced
- 20 May 2024, with Copilot+ PCs
- Pulled
- 13 Jun 2024, moved to Windows Insider testing first
- Fixes
- Off by default, Windows Hello required, search index encrypted
- Released
- Began rolling out in April 2025, after nearly a year of delay
Microsoft unveiled Recall on 20 May 2024 as a searchable “photographic memory” of everything seen on a Copilot+ PC. Security researchers showed that preview builds kept its data in an unencrypted database that was easy to extract. On 13 June Microsoft pulled it from the 18 June launch and sent it to Windows Insiders, its public testing programme, first; an opt-in version began reaching Copilot+ PCs in April 2025.
Sources
- Microsoft (Windows Experience Blog), Update on the Recall preview feature for Copilot+ PCs, 2024-06-07
- Wired, This Hacker Tool Extracts All the Data Collected by Windows’ New Recall AI, 2024-06-04
- BleepingComputer, Windows 11's Recall AI is now rolling out on Copilot+ PCs, 2025-04-25
- Microsoft (The Official Microsoft Blog), Introducing Copilot+ PCs, 2024-05-20