Windows 11’s contentious Recall AI feature is finally ready to test

Microsoft is positioning its contentious Recall feature for Windows 11 as a headline capability for Copilot+ laptops. So it’s kind of weird that when the previously delayed tool went live, it only did so for x64-based machines and not Arm-based Snapdragon laptops that made such a splash earlier this year. Well, if you have one of those, you can now try Recall via the Windows Insider program.

Microsoft just announced that Recall, which records pretty much everything you do on Windows, is now available to Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs. You’ll need to get on the Insider Program (a fancy title for a beta) and join the Dev Channel if you want to see what all the hubbub is about. Fortunately, it’s easy enough to get back off when the updates reach stable (or you just don’t want to be on that channel anymore).

Recall has had a rocky road since its announcement as one of Microsoft’s most dramatic new AI-powered tools. After being the focus of intense (and justified) scrutiny for its privacy and security implications, Microsoft delayed its rollout by months and assured regular users that they could turn off its access to certain programs. Microsoft also made the decision to turn Recall off by default for enterprise machines — if you want it on a compatible work PC, you’ll need to clear it with your IT manager before manually opting in and turning it on.

At this point, it seems exceedingly unlikely that Recall will make it into the general release channel for Windows 11 before 2025. And even then, only a fraction of the market will have the ability to try it out since it’s only available on Copilot+ PCs from this year or newer.

Which, by the way, Microsoft really wants you to buy into — so much so that it’s pushing full-screen ads for users still on Windows 10.