After a rocky launch in May, Microsoft went back to the drawing board with Windows Recall, which was announced to be delayed indefinitely. But now it looks like Recall's recall is coming to an end.
More specifically, the AI-powered feature seems to be slowly getting ready to make a comeback. In an announcement on the Windows Blog, Microsoft announced that Windows Insiders (basically, the company's beta testers) will get access to a preview of Recall in October.
The latest blog update comes from the same month that Microsoft teased the AI feature. At the time, they announced that it would be available to Windows Insiders “in the coming weeks.” Microsoft added in a blog post that the company wanted to “ensure the experience meets our high standards for quality and security.”
Almost immediately, Recall saw several safety measures added that were surprisingly missing. These included:
- Make the reminder optional instead of enabling it by default
- Make Windows Hello enrollment mandatory for this, so you need to be in front of your PC to access the timeline
- Encrypted the database of screenshots taken and added stronger login security so that Recall screenshots are only accessible when a user authenticates
What is Recall and what’s next?
If you’ve forgotten about Recall since Microsoft removed the feature, Windows Recall takes snapshots of everything you do on your Copilot + PC. It was originally described as a “photographic memory” of your computing activity. Essentially, it will let you revisit and scan through emails, documents, and chats to find information.
This sounds like a cool feature, but as soon as it was announced, security researchers immediately warned that the feature was easily exploitable and a potential security “disaster.” Security expert Kevin Beaumont found that Recall didn’t hide sensitive information like passwords.
From what we understand, the problem is that Microsoft surprisingly left Recall’s data unencrypted. We can only speculate, but the rush to integrate AI into everything this year has left companies pushing half-baked features and ideas into their product pipelines without many guardrails.
Basically, it was an open door if you ever accidentally installed malware or got hacked in other ways.
Much like the controversy over Google’s AI previews, Microsoft and Google have been caught trying to get their hands dirty in the AI cookie jar. While both companies have retired these specific AI tools, they continue to make progress in this area. And as you can see, neither tool is completely gone. But hopefully, the time spent in the labs is leading to better, more functional, and most importantly, more effective tools. safer tools.
In addition to this week's announcement, Microsoft said a blog post with details on how to access the revamped Recall preview build will be published in October. It will most likely require Copilot + PC, which began shipping in June.