Update 10/31/2024:
It’s now nearing the end of October, and Windows Insider testers still have yet to get access to Recall, Microsoft’s controversial feature that indiscriminately saves screenshots of your PC as you use it. Why? Well, according to The Verge, Recall has been delayed yet again, after initially being planned for a launch in June alongside the company’s and its partners’ Copilot+ laptops.
Shortly before that June launch, the feature was pushed back for testing to sometime “in the coming weeks,” following community outcry about security concerns. In August, that window got moved to October, although it has still been mysteriously absent to testers in the leadup to Halloween. Now, in a statement to The Verge, Microsoft senior product manager of Windows Brandon LeBlanc has indicated Windows Insiders possibly won’t be able to try Recall until December.
LeBlanc didn’t give a clear reasoning for the continued delay, aside from saying Microsoft is “committed to delivering a secure and trusted experience with Recall.”
The statement follows previous reassurances Microsoft gave to The Verge reiterating that Recall will be opt-in and fully removable when it does launch, which in turn was a response to community worries that it was secretly being pushed out with the recent Windows 24H2 update (it wasn’t). Still, that kind of community concern might explain why Microsoft is taking its sweet time with Recall, in order to ensure it ruffles as few feather as possible given that its initial reveal left users and security experts feeling pretty skeptical (for one thing, it wasn’t always planned to be opt-in).
The slow roll is probably a good thing. While the idea of being able to use AI to search through your past few months’ of PC activity sounds convenient, it also raises significant concerns about data collection and storage. That said, the longer Copilot+ goes without its marquee feature, the more likely it is to struggle alongside competing AI initiatives like Apple Intelligence.
This article’s original text, published on 06/14/2024, follows below:
It’s been a tough few weeks for Microsoft’s headlining Copilot+ feature, and it hasn’t even launched yet. After being called out for security concerns before being made opt-in by default, Recall is now being outright delayed.
In a blog post on the Windows website on Thursday, Windows+ Devices corporate vice president Pavan Davuliri wrote that Recall will no longer launch with Copilot+ AI laptops on June 18th, and is instead being relegated to a Windows Insider preview “in the coming weeks.”
“We are adjusting the release model for Recall to leverage the expertise of the Windows Insider Community to ensure the experience meets our high standards for quality and security,” Davuluri explained.
The AI feature was plagued by security concerns
That’s a big blow for Microsoft, as Recall was supposed to be the star feature for its big push into AI laptops. The idea was for it to act like a sort of rewind button for your PC, taking constant screenshots and allowing you to search through previous activity to get caught up on anything you did in the past, from reviewing your browsing habits to tracking down old school notes. But the feature also raised concerns over who has access to that data.
Davuliri explains in his post that screenshots are stored locally and that Recall does not send snapshots to Microsoft. He also says that snapshots have “per-user encryption” that keeps administrators and others logged into the same device from viewing them.
At the same time, security researchers have been able to uncover and extract the text file that a pre-release version of Recall uses for storage, which they claimed was unencrypted. This puts things like passwords and financial information at risk of being stolen by hackers, or even just a nosy roommate.
Davuliri wasn’t clear about when exactly Windows Insiders would get their hands on Recall, but thanked the community for giving a “clear signal” that Microsoft needed to do more. Specifically, he credited the community for the choice to disable Recall by default and to enforce Windows Hello (which requires either biometric identification or a PIN) for Recall before users can access it.
Generously, limiting access to the Windows Insider program, which anyone can join for free, gives Microsoft more time to collect and weigh this kind of feedback. But it also takes the wind out of Copilot+’s sails just a week before launch, leaving the base experience nearly identical to current versions of Windows (outside of a few creative apps).
It also puts Qualcomm, which will be providing the chips for Microsoft’s first Copilot+ PCs, on a more even playing field with AMD and Intel, which won’t get Copilot+ features until later this year.
