Microsoft Recall

Recall is a feature of Windows 11 that takes a screenshot of a user's desktop every few seconds and 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 Copilot and an upgraded user interface in Windows 11.^[1] Recall's release immediately caused controversy, with experts warning that the feature could be a "disaster" for security and privacy,^[2] particularly since there was initially no option for users to disable it.^[3] This backlash prompted Microsoft to postpone its rollout.^[2][4] Microsoft changed the feature to opt-in and provided instructions for how to remove it.^[5]

Backlash against Recall was centered on both security and privacy. Upon its release, Recall was described as a "potential security nightmare".^[6] The initial version of Recall saved all data to a plaintext database, making it easy for the data to be stolen.^[7] Later versions of Recall have added encryption.^[3]

Hardware requirements

• Copilot+ PC that meets the Secured-core standard^[8]
• 40 TOPs NPU (neural processing unit)
• 16 GB RAM
• 8 logical processors
• 256 GB storage capacity, of which 50 GB of storage space must be free (Saving snapshots automatically pauses once the device has less than 25 GB of storage space)
• Users need to enable Device Encryption or BitLocker
• Users need to enroll into Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security with at least one biometric sign-in option enabled in order to authenticate