Microsoft has dismissed rumors that it is installing controversial AI feature Recall on PCs without users’ knowledge

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced the Recall feature for Copilot Plus PCs with Windows 11, which takes screenshots of almost all user actions and records any activity. This innovation caused a lot of controversy, especially after it turned out that the Recall database was stored on users’ PCs in unencrypted form. Now there are rumors that Microsoft is secretly bringing the mentioned feature to PC, but it seems that this is not the case.

Image source: Microsoft

The Recall feature is currently not available even to Windows Insiders. At the same time, rumors spread on the Internet that the software giant allegedly began introducing this tool along with the Windows 11 24H2 update. These rumors began to be spread by YouTube bloggers who found references to Recall in the mentioned update, which made it seem that the function was part of the operating system. “Recall installs on every system within 24 hours,” said one blogger.

The situation was commented on by a Windows researcher known as Albacore, who previously managed to run Recall on a computer with an old Snapdragon processor. He explained that references to the controversial feature, which can be found in Windows 11 24H2, are due to the fact that Microsoft is looking to simplify the process of removing or disabling Recall for users and system administrators. He also added that Microsoft is trying to make it easier to remove Recall, but ironically, the company was once again suspected of spying on Windows 11 users.

The abrupt exclusion of Recall from Windows 11 builds, which occurred amid the hype after the announcement of the feature, seems to have led to the appearance of errors in the OS in certain scenarios. So, some users noticed problems with Explorer when using certain utilities in Windows 11 24H2. In September, the option to remove Recall appeared in some builds, after which Microsoft called this innovation a consequence of a bug, and later confirmed that users will indeed be able to remove Recall themselves.

«The preview version of Recall for Copilot Plus PCs is not yet available to Windows Insiders. However, the information about Recall published on David Weston’s blog in September, including confirmation that the Recall experience is voluntary and that users will also be able to uninstall Recall, is accurate,” said Brandon LeBlanc, senior product manager. Windows at Microsoft.

Concerns about Microsoft secretly installing Recall on users’ computers have spread through YouTubers. On the Internet you can find ways to remove a function that is not even in Windows 11 24H2. “Recall is implemented through the AIX user experience package, and in all current builds this package is a stub,” Albacore said.

The Recall feature is expected to be available to Insiders soon, as Microsoft has promised to open the tool for testing in October this year. Obviously, a larger distribution of the innovation will not begin until all the changes made are properly tested, including the option to remove Recall from user PCs.