Recall is the Windows AI feature people fear most - and the one with the strongest off-switch story. It exists only on Copilot+ PCs, it is opt in, and everything it saved can be deleted. Here is the full control panel, honestly explained.
First, the two facts that decide whether this page even applies to you. Recall runs only on Copilot+ PCs - machines with an NPU - and on those machines saving snapshots is opt in: Microsoft asks during setup, and unless you agreed, Recall has taken nothing. If your PC has no Settings > Privacy & security > Recall & snapshots page, stop reading and relax - the feature is not on your machine. If the page is there, this guide walks every control on it: verify the state, switch saving off, delete what exists, pause it from the tray, and remove the feature entirely.
Open Settings > Privacy & security > Recall & snapshots and read the Save snapshots toggle. On a Copilot+ PC that was set up without opting in, the toggle is already off and the storage line shows nothing saved - in that case your only job on this page is to note the state and move on. Microsoft designed Recall as an explicit opt in after the criticism of its first announcement, and the setup screens of a new Copilot+ PC ask the question directly. Trust the toggle, not the headlines - in both directions.
If the toggle is on and you want it off, switch Save snapshots off. From that moment Recall records nothing new. Be precise about what this does and does not do: it stops future snapshots; it does not erase the ones already stored. Turning off and deleting are two separate actions on the same settings page, and doing only the first leaves the existing history sitting on your drive. That is not Microsoft being sneaky - it is the same pattern as pausing a camera versus wiping its memory card - but you do need both steps, in either order.
On the same settings page, find the Delete snapshots section. You can delete all snapshots, delete a chosen time range, or delete everything Recall captured from a specific app or website. Delete-all is the clean end state for anyone turning Recall off for good. Microsoft states snapshots are stored on your own drive, encrypted, protected by Windows Hello, and are not shared with Microsoft or third parties - deleting them is therefore a local wipe, completed on your PC, with nothing to request from a server. After deleting, check the storage figure on the page drops to zero.
Sometimes the right answer is temporary. The Recall icon in the system tray offers a pause option - use it before opening banking, medical or client-confidential work on a machine where you otherwise like Recall. Pausing is honest, reversible and instant, and the icon shows the paused state so you can verify at a glance. The trap to avoid is treating pause as off: a paused Recall resumes, and a forgotten pause is how snapshots of the one sensitive afternoon end up existing. For anything long-term, use the settings toggle, not the tray.
The same page lets you exclude specific apps and websites from ever being snapshotted, and Microsoft applies a sensitive-information filter by default. Excluding your password manager and banking site by name is the configuration most keepers of Recall actually run. Honest grading: filters reduce exposure; they do not equal turning the feature off, and anything not on your list is still recorded. Treat the filter list as a seatbelt for a feature you chose to keep - not as a reason to keep a feature you do not want.
On Copilot+ PCs, Recall is also an optional Windows feature: open Turn Windows features on or off (search it from Start), find Recall in the list and untick it, then restart. That removes the feature rather than only disabling it - the strongest local grade available. Two honest notes. First, offices can go further with the Windows AI policy that disables Recall data analysis across a fleet. Second, a feature update can re-add optional components - if Recall matters to you, add this checkbox to your post-update checklist alongside the Copilot app check.
Every step shown live on a real Windows 11 PC - which AI features go, which stay, and the honest limits of removing them.
▶️ Watch Full VideoAccording to Microsoft's own Recall documentation, no. Snapshots and the information drawn from them are saved and encrypted on your local hard drive, Recall does not share them with Microsoft or third parties, and Windows Hello is required to open them. The processing that makes snapshots searchable runs on the device's NPU. You do not have to like the feature - but the uploading claim is the part that is not true.
Recall snapshot saving is opt in - during Copilot+ PC setup you are asked, and declining leaves it off. The five-second proof is the settings page: Settings > Privacy & security > Recall & snapshots shows the Save snapshots toggle and how much storage snapshots use. Off plus zero storage means nothing was ever recorded.
Deleting all snapshots from the settings page wipes the stored snapshot data Recall holds on your drive, and the storage readout returns to zero. Turning saving off first (or after) stops new ones being created. Together the two actions are the complete end state - a feature that is off with an empty history.