Windows 11 apparently won't offer an option to uninstall the controversial Recall feature after all, after a preview build suggested it might do so, at least in some regions.
Deskmodder, a German tech site, recently highlighted the option in a new preview of Windows 11 24H2, the big update coming later this year.
This prompted Brandon LeBlanc, a Windows product manager at Microsoft, to reach out to The Verge to clarify the issue: “We are aware of an issue where the Recovery option appears incorrectly in the ‘Turn Windows features on or off’ dialog box in Control Panel. This will be fixed in an upcoming update.”
So presumably the upcoming 24H2 release will have this option removed from the Control Panel.
Windows 11's Recover feature is essentially an AI-powered search that takes regular screenshots of activity on your PC and uses them to find things, going far beyond the scope of a typical Windows search (and no, that's not difficult, we agree).
The problem is, Recall has been causing quite a stir and generating a ton of concerns ever since it was first announced, to the point where Microsoft pulled plans to debut it (in preview) with Copilot+ PCs, and then pulled it from Windows 11 beta builds. It's now going back into beta, albeit in October, so get your surfboards ready for more waves of controversy (no doubt).
We should also note that Recall is only for PC Copilot+, although in the future it is likely that many more computers will have the necessary NPU (and security) to be classified as such a device.
Analysis: The option to delete has been removed
We found it hard to believe that Microsoft would include an option to completely remove Recall from Windows 11, when the software giant can simply offer an option to disable it (the scheme that was previously in place). Removing all functionality of Recall from a Windows PC would mean it would be more complicated to turn it on, should a user abandon it and then perhaps change their mind at a later date – it’s perhaps a niche scenario, but still, why would Microsoft make such an uninstall option easy?
Probably not, but the company might have to do so in the EU, where data and privacy regulations may push back against Recall more harshly than in other regions. However, if this option is a mistake, does that mean there will be an option for European users elsewhere, or simply that they won’t get Recall? Or might it make no difference at all for EU users? Possibly.
It must be said that this is a bit of an odd bug (and it's not like weird bugs occurring on Windows are anything new, of course). Whatever is going on, some people were glad to see the possibility of removing the Recall feature, and now that Microsoft has clarified that this isn't going to happen, they probably aren't too happy about the functionality even if it's in the background on their PC.
The concern among some is that the feature will end up being enabled in the future — or rather, that the concrete presence of Recall, built into Windows 11, is an indication that this is the direction Microsoft is headed in at some point, anyway.
