The big Apple Intelligence launch finally took place when Apple showed off iOS 18 and other software updates at WWDC earlier this week, but it's far from the only game in town. Microsoft's Copilot Plus PCs are set to launch next week, but they'll now be missing one of the company's tentpole features.
Following the controversial unveiling of Recall, a feature that can take screenshots of a Windows PC to make things easier to find later, many people raised privacy and security concerns about how such information could be misused. Now, Microsoft has backed down and confirmed that it is delaying Recall's launch.
“We are adjusting the release model for Recall to leverage the expertise of the Windows Insider community to ensure the experience meets our high standards for quality and security,” Microsoft confirmed in a blog post. “When Recall (preview) becomes available in the Windows Insider Program, we will publish a blog post with details on how to get the preview.”
Better late than never
The Recall feature could undoubtedly be useful, but some people are understandably concerned about the prospect of Microsoft taking constant screenshots of whatever they are doing on their computers. The potential for then being able to access information at a later date that might otherwise be lost is huge, of course, but so is the potential for that data to be misused. And that seems to have been enough to get Microsoft to rethink its launch.
"Recall uses local AI models built into Windows 11 to screenshot mostly everything you see or do on your computer and then give you the ability to search and retrieve items you’ve seen," The Verge explained when detailing Microsoft's new plans. "An explorable timeline lets you scroll through these snapshots to look back on what you did on a particular day on your PC. Everything in Recall is designed to remain local and private on-device, so no data is used to train Microsoft’s AI models."
No such feature will be available as part of the Apple Intelligence launch when macOS Sequoia arrives this fall.
