Microsoft's Controversial 'Recall" Features Finally Available on Copilot+PCs

Microsoft is finally launching the controversial 'Windows Recall' feature to the public, according to an update on the Windows Experience Blog.

Available exclusively on Copilot+ PCs running Windows 11, Recall continuously captures screenshots, extracts text, and stores it in a searchable database—raising significant security and privacy concerns.

However, Recall is now opt-in rather than opt-out, and users can choose to remove it entirely.

Microsoft announced Recall in 2024; however, deployment was delayed for months after backlash.

Why it caused controversy:

• Privacy risks: People were alarmed because Recall captured sensitive information like passwords, private messages, bank details, and more — and stored it locally without strong encryption at first.
• Security concerns: If malware, hackers, or anyone else got access to the Recall database, they could basically see a detailed log of the user's activity — a huge security vulnerability.
• Default behavior: Originally, Recall was going to be enabled by default (opt-out), meaning many users wouldn’t even realize their entire computer activity was being recorded.
• Poor initial safeguards: Early testing showed that Microsoft hadn’t built robust protections into Recall, leading to widespread criticism from security researchers, privacy advocates, and the media.

Alongside Recall, Microsoft is introducing upgrades to Windows Search with more natural language processing, and "Click to Do," a tool for copying, searching, summarising, or rewriting on-screen text.

Copilot+ PCs require advanced neural processing units (NPUs) capable of over 40 trillion operations per second, and currently run on chips from Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD.