Microsoft confirms that Windows 11 Recall AI is not optional — a glitch made it appear so in the Windows 11 24H2 KB5041865 update
Early this morning, Microsoft confirmed in a statement to The Verge that last week’s Windows 11 24H2 update, KB5041865, had not added the ability to uninstall Recall in the “Turn Windows features on or off” dialog and that its addition to that menu was a bug that will soon be fixed. It should be noted that this bugged option to uninstall Recall was also added before Recall itself, so it had no actual functionality besides (seemingly) being a way to opt out ahead of time. Once shipped, Recall will also be something Windows users can disable but not entirely remove.
For those still holding out hope that Recall may be utterly removable once it’s added, Microsoft’s comments may discourage. However, past regulations have forced it to compromise on this question before it could uninstall Microsoft Edge in European Economic Area (EEA) countries. And, of course, the backlash to Recall and its security concerns contributed to Recall’s rollout being delayed in the first place, which may also encourage Microsoft to allow its complete removal once released.
Microsoft’s comments indicate that Recall will roll out to Copilot+ enabled PCs starting next month for Windows Insiders, as planned. However, if it can’t be genuinely uninstalled instead of just disabled, one could see how Copilot+ devices could become blacklisted in specific corporate or government environments.
