Microsoft has once more delayed the AI-driven Recall feature for Copilot+ Windows 11 PCs, moving the preview release from October to December.
Senior Windows product manager Brandon LeBlanc said in a statement to Techopedia that the company needed more time to “refine the experience” before making it available to Windows Insider members.
Microsoft originally planned to make Recall available when Copilot+ PCs like the Surface Laptop 7 launched in June. The feature takes periodic snapshots of software activity and lets you search through it to find content you’ve seen, even if you don’t know the exact name.
However, Microsoft postponed the release at the last minute to address privacy and security concerns, such as unencrypted data. The company then pushed back availability to October, and has made sure that you can disable the feature if you’re uncomfortable with it.
The tech firm still hasn’t narrowed down general release for Windows users, but that now won’t happen until sometime in 2025.
The absence of Recall won’t necessarily do significant damage to Windows PC sales over the holidays. There were already signs of recovery after longstanding market trouble. Even so, it’s at least a symbolic blow to Microsoft: one of the signature Copilot+ features won’t be available to spur demand at a critical time of the year.
The delay also represents unfortunate timing when Apple has just introduced M4 Macs that will feature AI as a selling point, even if the largest upgrades (such as a context-aware Siri) might not be ready until 2025. For now, Copilot+ is limited to a handful of features such as image generation.