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

Microsoft has announced that it plans to let Windows testers test its controversial Recall AI feature in October. The software giant had originally planned to launch Recall with its Copilot Plus PCs in June, but was forced to suspend the feature after security concerns were raised.

At the time of the June 13 delay, Microsoft had promised that the feature — which captures almost everything on your PC — would be available to Windows Insiders “in the coming weeks,” but it’s now expected to arrive in the coming months. “With the commitment to delivering a reliable 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,” Pavan Davuluri, head of Windows and Surface, said in an updated blog post.

This feature uses local AI models built into Windows 11 to capture most of what you see or do on your computer, then gives you the ability to search and retrieve the items you’ve seen. A browsable timeline also lets you scroll through all of these snapshots to revisit your work on a particular day.

While Microsoft has always maintained that Recall is secure, local, and private on the device, security researchers have discovered that the database is not encrypted and malware could have accessed the Recall feature. Microsoft is currently working on major changes to Recall, including making the AI-powered feature an optional opt-in experience instead of being enabled by default, encrypting the database, and authenticating via Windows Hello.

Davuluri doesn’t explain why Recall was pushed back, but he does say that “security remains our top priority and when Recall is available to 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 for Recall.

This could mean, however, that we won’t see a full launch of Recall this year. Microsoft typically tests Windows features with its Insider program for weeks or months before rolling them out more widely. That timeline could well depend on when exactly Microsoft manages to ship the test version of Recall in October.