Microsoft’s Recall AI feature won’t be available for Windows testers until October

Microsoft says it's planning to allow Windows testers to try out its controversial Recall AI feature in October. The software giant was originally planning to launch Recall with its Copilot Plus PCs in June but was forced to hold back the feature after security concerns were raised.

At the time of the delay on June 13th, Microsoft promised the feature - that screenshots nearly everything on your PC - would be available for Windows Insiders "in the coming weeks," but that's now more like the coming months. "With a commitment to delivering a trustworthy and secure Recall (preview) experience on Copilot Plus PCs for customers, we're sharing an update that Recall will be available to Windows Insiders starting in October," says Windows and Surface chief Pavan Davuluri in an updated blog post.

The feature uses local AI models built into Windows 11 to screenshot mostly everything you see or do on your computer and then give you the ability to search and retrieve items you've seen. An explorable timeline also lets you scroll through all these snapshots to look back at your work on a particular day.

While Microsoft has always maintained that Recall is secure, local, and private on-device, security researchers found that the database wasn't encrypted, and malware could have potentially accessed the Recall feature. Microsoft is now working on major changes to Recall, including making the AI-powered feature an opt-in experience instead of on by default, encrypting the database, and authenticating through Windows Hello.

Davuluri doesn't explain why Recall has been pushed back further, but he does say that "security continues to be our top priority and when Recall is available for Windows Insiders in October we will publish a blog with more details." It's likely that Microsoft simply needs more time to fully test its security changes to Recall.

This could mean we won't see a full launch of Recall this year, though. Microsoft typically tests Windows features with its Insider program for weeks or months at a time before shipping them out more broadly. That timing may well depend on exactly when Microsoft manages to ship the test version of Recall in October.