Microsoft’s Recall AI feature won’t be available to Windows Insiders until October

Microsoft says it plans to let Windows testers try out its controversial Recall AI feature in October. The software giant originally planned to launch Recall with its Copilot Plus PCs in June but was forced to put the feature on hold after security concerns were raised.

At the time of the June 13 delay, Microsoft promised that the feature — which lets you take screenshots of almost anything on your PC — would be available to Windows Insiders “in the coming weeks,” but now it’s more of a matter of months. “With our commitment to providing customers with a trusted and secure Recall (preview) experience on Copilot Plus PCs, we’re sharing an update that Recall will be available to Windows Insiders starting in October,” Windows and Surface boss Pavan Davuluri told Insider. updated blog post.

The feature uses local AI models built into Windows 11 to take a screenshot of most things you see or do on your PC, then lets you search and download the things you’ve seen. An exploreable timeline also lets you scroll through all of these snapshots to look back at your work on a given day.

While Microsoft has always maintained that Recall is secure, local, and private on the device, security researchers found that the database was not encrypted, and malware could potentially gain access to Recall. Microsoft is now working on major changes to Recall, including making the AI-powered feature available with user consent instead of enabled by default, encrypting the database, and authenticating via Windows Hello.

Davuluri doesn’t explain why Recall has been delayed, but he does say that “security continues to be our top priority, and we’ll publish a blog with more details when Recall is available to Windows Insiders in October.” It’s likely that Microsoft simply needs more time to fully test the security changes in Recall.

This could mean we won’t see a full launch of Recall this year, though. Microsoft typically tests Windows features in its Insider program for weeks or months before rolling them out more broadly. That timeline could depend on exactly when Microsoft manages to release the Recall test build in October.