Microsoft is previewing the Recall feature before making it generally available

Microsoft planned to make the Recall feature for Copilot+ PCs generally available on June 18. Before that, the company published a blog post detailing the set-up experience, privacy controls, and the approach to security surrounding the feature. The basis of the announcement was that, following customer feedback, Microsoft decided to let users opt-in to Recall during set-up, leaving the feature turned off by default unless users proactively activated it. Moreover, Recall will be enabled only if users are enrolled in Windows Hello since additional security layers make it so Recall snapshots are only decrypted once users authenticate.

These security features will combine with other previously announced device-specific security and privacy features such as Copilot PCs being Secured-core PCs with the Microsoft Pluton security processor enabled by default, and capable of  Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security (ESS) support. Additionally, Snapshots will be stored locally, not shared with anyone, Recall will let users know when it saves snapshots, with users being in control of deleting, filtering, and pausing content saved to snapshots at all times.

Up to the blog post update, Microsoft considered that these features were trustworthy and strong enough to support the general availability of Recall for Copilot PCs on June 18. However, the company recently changed its plans, announcing that it would preview the feature in the Windows Insider Program first. It strikes as a very reasonable move that Microsoft delays the general availability of Recall to gather additional feedback and ensure that all security and privacy measures are up to standard.