Key Takeaways
1. Brave will disable Windows 11’s Recall screenshot feature by default to protect user privacy.
2. Recall captures screenshots every few seconds and stores them unencrypted, raising security concerns.
3. Microsoft has made changes to Recall, allowing users to opt-out and excluding certain applications from its use.
4. Brave has modified its code to classify all browsing windows as private, preventing Recall from capturing any activity.
5. The Recall feature will be available soon in the public release of Windows 11, but Brave users can toggle it on if desired.
Brave is not happy with Windows 11.
The privacy-centric browser Brave will, by default, stop the Recall screenshot feature of Windows 11. This contentious Microsoft feature captures screenshots of a user’s screen every few seconds, which has angered many because it could be used as a backdoor into people’s private activities.
Background on Recall
Recall was introduced last May to assist Windows users in reverting their PC to an earlier state. One of the tools used for this purpose was an automatic screenshot feature that recorded instances of a user’s active screens every few seconds, saving these images. However, these screenshots were stored in an unencrypted format, making it easy for other software (including malware) and malicious users to see a record of everything users did on their computers.
Changes to the Recall Feature
Microsoft has since backed off from the mandatory use of Recall, although users can still choose to enable it. Part of this rollback allowed software developers to exclude their applications from Recall. Moreover, Microsoft has indicated that Recall will not take screenshots of web browsing windows classified as “private” by the system (like Chrome’s Incognito mode).
To ensure Recall does not take pictures of users’ browsing habits, the developers of Brave have modified the browser’s code to mark all browsing windows as private, at least from the operating system’s viewpoint. Therefore, all Brave browser windows will be exempt from Recall’s scanning.
Future Updates
This feature is activated by default and has already been implemented in Brave’s Nightly builds. It is set to reach the stable version in the upcoming weeks.
Users who still wish to use Recall while on Brave can easily enable the feature again through a simple toggle in the browser’s settings.
Currently, Windows Recall is limited to Preview builds but is anticipated to be available in the public release of Windows 11 shortly.
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