Microsoft finally ships controversial Windows 11 'Recall' feature after year-long delay — now rolling out to all Copilot+ PCs

It's taken almost a year, but Microsoft has today announced that Windows Recall is now finally beginning to roll out on Copilot+ PCs.

Initially announced in May 2024, the controversial AI tool was branded a privacy and security nightmare right out of the gate due to how the feature stored the data it collected locally on the PC.

This resulted in Microsoft being forced to pull Recall from launch just days before it was supposed to. The company has since worked to address the security issues found in Recall, and Microsoft now says the feature is ready for public use. Recall has been in testing with Microsoft's Insider program since November.

Windows Recall is a feature that captures everything you do on your PC via snapshots, and stores them securely on your PC.

The Recall app lets you triage and view these snapshots, going as far back as you like. The tool lets you filter out specific apps and webpages from being captured, and you can always delete snapshots at any time.

Additionally, Microsoft assures users that Recall does not upload any data it captures to the cloud.

The snapshots and their contents are stored locally on the device in an encrypted state and can only be accessed via the Recall app after authentication with Windows Hello face unlock, fingerprint, or PIN.

In addition to Windows Recall finally being generally available, Copilot+ PCs are getting two additional features alongside it today.

Click To Do and AI search join the party

Click To Do is an extension of Recall, which adds an AI overlay to the OS that you can access just by hitting the Windows key and clicking your mouse.

Click To Do makes it easy to copy and edit images you can see on your screen, as well as define, rewrite, or summarize text that you see in an app or webpage.

The other new feature is AI in search across Windows, which lets you use natural language to find files, apps, and settings. Microsoft is adding AI to the Windows Search pane, Settings app, and File Explorer, and is supposed to make finding the thing you're looking for much easier and quicker.

All of these new features are now beginning to roll out via the April 2025 non-security preview update which is available now, and will be made available gradually on all Copilot+ PCs powered by Snapdragon, Intel, and AMD over the next month.

For countries in the European Economic Area, Windows Recall and Click To Do will begin rolling out on Copilot+ PCs later this year.

To access the feature sooner, make sure you have the "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" toggle enabled on the Windows Update settings page.