After a few months of backlash, backtracking, and now coming back, Microsoft's Recall for Copilot+ PCs has seemingly been a beacon for controversy. The latest involves whether or not Copilot+ PC owners can even get rid of the AI-powered feature when it returns in October.
Despite promises from Microsoft that they've fixed some of the concerns and issues with Recall, many people will probably want to uninstall the program whenever it officially lands on Copilot+ PCs.
Disabling the feature via system settings is possible, but that's not the same as deleting the program. Last week, Microsoft introduced an update called KB5041865. The German website Deskmodder.de discovered that Windows would allow users to uninstall Recall. According to their findings, Recall was being added as a Windows feature, which is deletable.
However, Microsoft told The Verge that the ability to uninstall Recall is a bug, and a fix is coming.
“We are aware of an issue where Recall is incorrectly listed as an option under the ‘Turn Windows features on or off’ dialog in Control Panel,” Windows senior product manager Brandon LeBlanc told The Verge in a statement. “This will be fixed in an upcoming update.”
Recall was initially announced during Microsoft's Build event in May. The AI feature creates screenshots of everything you do on a computer and was supposed to launch with Copilot+ PCs when they were released in June. There was a near immediate backlash against the feature due to security concerns, and it barely lasted two weeks in the wild before being put back in the oven.
Microsoft told The Verge that Recall is currently "incorrectly listed," which does not answer whether it will be removable in the future.
However, similar to Apple's dealings in Europe, the European Union version of Windows may have to comply with the Digital Markets Act, which would require the ability to uninstall the program. Apple responded by refusing to launch Apple Intelligence in the EU. Perhaps Microsoft will go the same route, though allowing people to remove a program seems easier than wholesale removing a highly touted feature for an entire continent. Currently, the Edge browser can be removed in the EU.
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