Windows 11 is being supercharged with AI designed to enhance productivity and search across the OS.
Microsoft has announced Windows Recall, a new Windows 11 feature that takes snapshots of your screen every few seconds and uses on-device AI to analyze and triage that content. This enables the ability to semantically search for anything you’ve ever done on your computer using natural language, giving Windows a photographic memory and enabling the user to search for things just by describing it.
To use Windows Recall, you must be using a Copilot+ branded PC. Microsoft announced Copilot+ PCs on May 20, which the company says marks the start of a new generation of Windows PCs that are designed specifically for experiences like Windows Recall. This means your existing non Copilot+ PC won’t be eligible to use Windows Recall.
Copilot+ PCs require the following system specs:
- An NPU with 40+ TOPS
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB storage
- 8 logical processors
If you meet these requirements, Windows Recall can be enabled on Windows 11 version 24H2. It will run in the background and capture everything you do on your computer, documenting and triaging everything it sees, no matter what apps or interfaces you’re looking at, and turn it all into memories that you can search for at a later point.
For Windows Recall to be able to do its magic, it relies on taking snapshots of your screen every few seconds. You won’t notice it happening, but you will know the process is active as a permanent Recall icon will be present on the Taskbar.
Windows Recall uses AI to analyze and enable interactive elements on top of those snapshots. When you select a snapshot, Windows Recall will use “screenray” to enable the ability to copy text and images directly from the snapshot for pasting into apps you currently have running on the desktop.
It will also turn visible URLs into clickable links, which will take you directly to that webpage in your default browser. Additionally, depending on whether an app supports it, a button will be present below the snapshot allowing you to jump directly into the document or file visible in the snapshot, such as a Word document or jpeg.
Microsoft says Windows Recall is safe to use as all the data it collects is stored locally on your device, and does not get uploaded to the cloud to be processed.
Windows Recall does not include content moderation, which means it will capture sensitive information such as passwords and financial information if you don’t filter out those apps and websites first.
Microsoft has ensured that Windows Recall is safe to use on Windows 11. The Recall app will require Windows Hello bioauthentication to be setup on the PC, and the company has built human-presence detection into the Windows Recall app too, which means you won’t be able to access Windows Recall data unless you are actively sitting in front of your computer.
Microsoft is fully aware that the concept of Windows Recall sounds creepy. I know that the company spent a lot of time internally figuring out how to communicate this feature to the world, but it turns out there’s no good way to communicate something like this when your users don’t trust you.
Users are describing the feature as literal spyware or malware, and droves of people are proclaiming they will proudly switch to Linux or Mac in the wake of it. Microsoft simply doesn’t enjoy the same benefit of the doubt that other tech giants like Apple may have.
Note This!
With Windows being an open platform, a built-in tool designed to collect data about everything you’ve ever seen is a recipe for disaster. Unlike iOS, iPadOS, and even Android, users and apps have complete access to the entire OS.
While some mitigations exist to ensure users and apps don’t mess around with system files on Windows, these can be bypassed.
It has been discovered that Windows Recall seemingly stores its data unencrypted, which is a huge security concern for many people.
This means that third-party apps could reach in and grab that data to learn everything about you.
Many immediately point to malware, which is certainly a concern.
However, even third-party apps that you trust could potentially reach in there to learn about you.
Your favorite web browser, video editor, or music streaming app of choice could release an update that begins scraping data from Windows Recall and uploading it to its own backend.
That would, of course, be a huge invasion of privacy, but it would technically be possible, and that’s thanks to Windows’ open nature and the reported lack of security around stored Windows Recall data.
Even your employer could build a tool that’s preloaded onto your work laptop that’s designed to scrape that data. It’s all quite concerning.
On iOS and iPadOS, users are locked out of important system files, and app developers are sandboxed and have no ability to read or modify system files outside of documented APIs. So, if iPadOS had its own version of Recall, that data could be stored unencrypted and still be safe from third-party attackers. It’s the same story on Android.
Windows enjoys no such luxury, so Microsoft needs to put extra effort into ensuring Windows Recall is secure. It needs to ensure that only the Windows Recall app can read and understand that data.
If that data is unencrypted, anyone can read it.
Everything it collects is reportedly stored in a plaintext SQLite database, making it easy to parse information from it.
Ultimately, you can’t have Windows Recall anyway. It’s a feature reserved exclusively for new PCs shipping under the Copilot+ umbrella, which means if you want to use it, you’ll have to buy a new device with a neural processing unit (NPU) that can output 40 TOPS of power first. Your existing Windows 11 PC is not eligible to run Windows Recall and very likely never will be.
That’s good news for those who don’t want Windows Recall, as it means there’s nothing you need to do to avoid it. Just keep using your existing device, and you should be safe from the all-seeing eye that is Windows Recall.
If you do happen to acquire a Copilot+ PC, you can choose not to use Windows Recall. There’s some discourse around the feature being potentially enabled by default, but I’m told via sources that this is being reconsidered. I suspect Microsoft will give the user a choice to turn Windows Recall on or off during the setup process on Copilot+ PCs.
Captain Convey Note
If you have one of these computers with the above installed, I suggest you get rid of it.
If your running windows 10 your ok.
If you get the latest pc’s with the AI spy installed you will get what you paid for.