Windows 11 Recall behaves poorly in testing, and the solution to the biggest problem is an age-old favorite: turn it off and then back on
- Recall has some bugs in initial testing (not surprising)
- One glitch means no snapshots are saved
- The cure for that is restarting the PC (and it’s also the fix for another bug)
Windows 11’s controversial Recall feature is finally in use – well, at least in testing – and some people are running into issues, one of which has an age-old fix from Microsoft. Yes, turn it off and then back on.
As a reminder, when Recall was first unveiled, it caused a major privacy and security storm because it was an AI-powered powerful search tool (for Copilot+ PCs) that regularly takes screenshots (called snapshots) of activity on your PC (using these grabbers for its natural language search capabilities). It was subsequently withdrawn and postponed several times before finally being put back on the table by Microsoft last week.
One of the main issues some of Recall’s early testers are now experiencing is not being able to save snapshots at all Tom Warren of The Verge complains about on Bluesky, as indicated by TweakTown.
CNBC further noted that Recall can currently take “several minutes” between taking the screenshots it uses to power its AI search, which can leave gaps in the timeline of snapshots, potentially weakening those search capabilities.
Microsoft has acknowledged the issue with snapshots being delayed or not appearing at all, and recommends a PC restart to resolve the latter issue.
In the known issues for the preview build with Recall (in the Dev channel for Windows Insiders), Microsoft advises: “Some users experience a delay before snapshots first appear in the timeline while using their device. If no snapshots appear after 5 minutes, restart your device. If snapshot saving is enabled but you see that snapshots are no longer being saved, restart your device.
Turn it off. Enable it again.
Analysis: expected problems
Recall has only just been deployed in testing, and with such a complex function we can expect teething problems. You could say that Microsoft has continued to work on Recall since the functionality was removed from release in June, when it was originally set to release (in preview for Copilot+ PCs). So shouldn’t it be quite polished by now?
It’s not that simple, however, as there have clearly been a large number of changes in that time – with various security and privacy elements strengthened – and so all that new work needs to be put to the test. And so far, only limited (internal) testing has been conducted, and that only goes so far.
Other notable issues according to Microsoft include Recall not working with some accessibility apps, and the feature telling you to “Make sure Recall saves snapshots” when snapshots are actually enabled. The latter problem is apparently solved by restarting your PC. So we’re back to that old chestnut – turn it off and then on again.