Recall is a new feature on Windows that captures and snapshots all of your activity and organizes them using AI (Artificial Intelligence) in a timeline. You can then search for your past activity in natural language and quickly find the content, document, images, web pages, etc., you are viewing earlier. In addition to that, you can also interact with the snapshots to copy text or images.
While the Recall feature is useful, there are many security and privacy concerns. For example, Windows automatically tracking all your activity, and taking screenshots of your on-screen content might pose the danger of leaking sensitive information like passwords, financial documents, personal photos, etc., in intended ways. This is especially true if you are sharing your computer with others or in unfortunate situations like theft.
Thankfully, you can now easily uninstall Recall on Windows 11 and get rid of it completely. In this tutorial, I will show two methods to completely remove the Recall feature from your computer. Let’s get started.
Before You Begin
- You should be using Windows 11 v24H2 or higher to uninstall Recall.
- You need administrator rights to uninstall the Recall feature on Windows 11.
- As of now, Recall is only available on Copilot+ PCs. In case you don’t know, Copilot+ PCs are those PCs that have an NPU (Neural Processing Unit) that can perform at least 40 TOPS (trillion operations per second).
Uninstall Recall Using Windows Features
- Click the Start button on the taskbar.
- Search and open “Turn Windows features on or off“.
- Scroll down and uncheck the “Recall” checkbox.
- Click the “OK” button.
- Restart your computer.
- With that, you’ve uninstalled the Recall feature on Windows 11.
Command to Uninstall the Recall Feature
You can also use a PowerShell command to remove Recall. If the above method did not work or if you are looking for an alternate method, this method is perfect for you. Here’s how.
- Press the “Windows key + X” shortcut.
- Select the “Terminal (Admin)” option.
- Run the following command in the terminal window.
Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName "Recall" - Close the terminal window.
- While not required, it is best to restart your computer.
- With that, you’ve uninstalled Recall on Windows 11.
Wrapping Up — Removing Recall From Windows 11
Of the two methods I’ve shown, no matter which method you follow, the result will be the same. i.e., uninstalling Recall. Once removed, Windows will not track or take screenshots of your activities and on-screen content. Keep in mind that if you don’t see the “Recall” checkbox in the “Turn Windows features on or off” window or if you see the “Feature name Recall is unknown” message in PowerShell, the Recall feature is not available in your computer, these steps do not apply to you and you don’t have to do anything.
If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.
