Windows Recall

Windows Recall is an AI-powered feature of Windows 11 intended to help users remember anything they do on their PC at any time and potentially resume or investigate it later. Users can query the AI through natural language. This feature has a rigid set of system requirements, including a 40-trillion-operations-per-second neural processing unit (NPU), and device-level cryptography. The feature has met significant backlash.

Overview

Windows Recall takes a screenshot of a user's desktop every few seconds, then uses on-device large language models to allow a user to retrieve items and information that had previously been on their screen. It was announced by Microsoft, alongside the integration of GPT-4o into Microsoft Copilot and an upgraded user interface in Windows 11, in May 2024.

Systems using Recall must meet the following requirements:

• A Copilot+ PC that meets the Secured-core standard
• A neural processing unit (NPU) capable of 40 TOPS
• 16 GB RAM
• 8 logical processors
• 256 GB storage capacity, with 50 GB of free space (saving snapshots automatically pauses if the device has less than 25 GB of free storage space)
• BitLocker Device Encryption enabled
• Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security enabled, with at least one biometric sign-in option

Reception

Microsoft announced Recall during Build conference in May 2024 claiming that Recall stores all user (index) data locally and encrypted. Shortly after announcement, security experts criticized lack of an option to disable the feature. In early June, a simple script tool called Total Recall demonstrated a bypass of Windows Recall security stealing all local data (which was stored unencrypted). Shortly after, Microsoft pledged to rework Windows Recall to address demonstrated weaknesses. Originally Microsoft planned to sidestep testing Recall in Microsoft Insiders program to ship Recall on Copilot Plus PC program launch on June 18. On June 13 2024, tech media reported that Microsoft engineers struggled to secure Recall by the original deadline, prompting Microsoft on June 14 to delay release and to do more testing in Windows Insiders release channel. In early September 2024, Recall appeared among optional Windows 11 features allowing users to uninstall it, but Microsoft promptly claimed that this ability is a bug. Later the same month, via a blog post Microsoft announced a "more secure" version of Recall with full database encryption and the ability to be uninstalled. Microsoft then changed the feature to opt-in and provided instructions for how to remove it.

In May 2025, privacy-focused messaging app Signal started blocking Windows Recall from taking screenshots of chats in Signal Desktop on Windows 11. Signal users can consent to Recall by disabling "Screen security" option in Signal settings. Brave and AdGuard added similar functionality in July 2025.

Although Microsoft claims that all information from Recall is stored locally and that they cannot access it, their track record regarding user privacy has led many to conclude that, even if their claims are true of the present version, it may not be true of later versions, and that data from Recall could eventually be used for advertising. Because of this, many people are looking to disable Windows Recall.