What to know

  • No, Windows Recall does not use cloud to analyze your snapshots. Microsoft can’t access or view the snapshots either.
  • All analyses is done by the on-device AI and your snapshots stay on your machine. 

Recall is a new Windows feature that saves snapshots of your computer state every few seconds so its AI can search through the timeline and find the content you ask for. But where does it analyze your personal data? Let’s find out.

Does Windows Recall use cloud to analyze your snapshots?

The AI search of Windows Recall is dependent on it saving your snapshots. The larger the storage capacity you allocate it, the farther back you can search. And when you open a snapshot, Recall enables Screenray which lets you interact with its elements. But neither the snapshots nor their analysis use the cloud or even require an internet connection. 

All of Recall’s data stays on your device, locally. As Microsoft’s support page mentions, “No internet or cloud connections are required or used to save and analyze snapshots. Your snapshots aren’t sent to Microsoft.” 

Everything is done by the on-device neural processing unit (NPU) and remains secured with Device Encryption or BitLocker which are enabled by default on Windows 11. Furthermore, because of its hardware requirements, the Recall feature is coming exclusively to Copilot+ PCs.