Recall: The First Exceptional AI Productivity Tool for Windows 11

Microsoft’s new Windows Recall feature is finally out for testing, and I’ve had it running on my Surface Laptop 7 since the preview launched last week. Honestly, my initial take is more positive than I expected, especially considering all the delays and the privacy concerns that initially surrounded this feature.

I’ve always been intrigued by the concept of Recall. Imagine an app or service woven right into your operating system (OS) that keeps track of everything you do on your computer. It’s like a digital safety net that backs up your work, so you can easily revisit it later. Recall’s true value shines when you find yourself in a jam; for instance, I recently trashed a few paragraphs while drafting an article, only to realize later I’d need them for another piece.

Without Recall, I’d have been stuck rewriting those sections. Luckily, with my Surface Laptop 7 and Recall enabled, I simply traveled back to the moment those paragraphs were created and copied them into my project, saving a ton of time.

It proves super handy when you’re trying to track down something whose name you’ve forgotten. Just the other day, an ad for a smartwatch caught my eye, but I didn’t click on it. Later, all I had to do was type “watch” in Recall’s search, and voilà, I found it.

Recall supports both text and image searches, and impressively, it’s quick. You can type in common terms, and it will display relevant visuals even if the specific keywords are absent from the screen snapshots.

The app’s design is intuitive, showcasing a large image at its center with a timeline at the top you can easily scroll through. As more snapshots accumulate, the timeline stretches, letting you seamlessly explore past activities with your cursor or dig deeper into specific moments with a click-and-hold feature.

You can also fine-tune what Recall captures. Worried about sensitive information? No problem—filter out particular apps and sites. Personally, I’ve filtered my banking info and chats on Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp to ensure they remain private. These filters operate smoothly, handling everything in the background once Recall is enabled.

Frankly, I’ve grown quite fond of Recall during my trial period. It might just be the most efficient AI-powered tool I’ve encountered in a desktop OS, operating in the background as part of the seamless OS experience. While Copilot with its flashy AI capabilities never quite won me over, Recall is a feature I can stand behind, along with its upcoming counterpart, Click To Do.

What’s slightly irritating is the inability to sync snapshots across devices. Microsoft, wary of privacy concerns, hasn’t made it possible to upload your snapshot data to the cloud. So, my snapshots are scattered across devices without a straightforward way to unify them—a bit frustrating but understandable.

As with any early-stage feature, there are hiccups. Setting up Recall is cumbersome, requiring hefty downloads via Windows Update before it’s fully functional. It lacks a progress indicator, which leaves you guessing until completion. And to top it off, you have to restart the app post-setup, which isn’t automatically signaled.

Another tiny gripe: Windows Hello prompts for authentication every time the app opens, slowing things down, especially for someone like me who frequently dips in and out of the app. It’s more of a Windows Hello issue than Recall itself. A quicker wake-up for the IR sensors or skipping the manual “OK” click would streamline the process considerably.

Security-wise, I get the necessity of Windows Hello, but a slight tweak here and there could make the experience much more fluid.

All said and done, Recall is becoming indispensable to me. The ability to hop back in time to retrieve information is liberating—no more anxiety about losing web pages, conversations, or images.

Windows Recall is now in preview for Snapdragon-based Copilot+ devices, with support for Intel and AMD versions expected soon. It seems likely that a broader rollout will happen by early 2025.