Microsoft Will Apparently Let Windows 11 Users Uninstall Recall

The latest preview update for Windows 11 version 24H2 contains a little surprise for those who don’t trust the software giant. It allows you to remove Recall, the coming AI-based timeline feature that will help Copilot+ PC users find things they did in the past.

Or something.

It’s unclear what this really means: Recall isn’t available in Windows 11 version 24H2 today, so removing the app is pointless. And weirder still, I’m seeing this change on my x64-based PCs running Windows 11 version 24H2, and not just on my Snapdragon X-based Copilot+ PCs. Recall will not be made available on those PCs whenever it does ship to the public.

But in keeping with Microsoft’s explanation for delaying the release of Recall in preview, this is almost certainly more theater than anything else, or a way to appease EU regulators by making more and more of the OS optional and uninstallable, as it did earlier with Copilot. It’s also a nice gift for those who are concerned about the privacy or security implications of Recall. See? Now you can uninstall Recall if you fear it so much.

Assuming it stays this way, that is.

For now, if you are running Windows 11 version 24H2 and installed KB5041865, you can see this change by opening the Windows Features control panel–the easiest way to search for windows features; it will be the top result–and then scroll down until you see Recall. It’s enabled by default. To “uninstall” it–again, it’s not there now, not even in preview–just uncheck it and click “OK”

Whether this change is retained in next month’s Patch Tuesday update and beyond is an unknown. Perhaps this is work being done ahead of the Recall preview, which will be tested in the Windows Insider Program. Perhaps it’s just a mistake or a test. No one outside of Microsoft knows. And no one inside of Microsoft is saying a thing, as usual.