Microsoft finally rolling out Recall feature to Windows Insiders

Microsoft has begun gradually rolling out a preview of its long-delayed Recall feature to Windows Insiders , according to a company blog post. This suggests the controversial AI-powered feature may finally be approaching a wider release.

Recall, which captures screenshots of user activity on Copilot Plus PCs to enable searching through past computer usage, was originally scheduled to launch alongside Copilot Plus PCs in June 2024. However, security concerns prompted Microsoft to delay the feature twice - first pushing it to October 2024, then delaying it further to address security and trust issues.

Limited previews of Recall did appear in November 2024, initially for Qualcomm-powered Copilot Plus PCs before expanding to Intel and AMD devices.

Microsoft emphasizes user privacy controls in its announcement, noting that users must explicitly opt in to save snapshots, with the ability to pause collection "at any time." The company also highlights that snapshots are encrypted on local storage and protected by Windows Hello authentication .

The feature requires substantial hardware, including a Copilot Plus PC with at least 16GB RAM , 256GB storage (with 50GB free), and device encryption. Recall automatically pauses if available storage drops below 25GB.