# Microsoft Recall

15 Hacker News commenters recommended Microsoft Recall and 39 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People who recommend Microsoft Recall say it runs on device and is useful for finding past activity. Critics object to screenshots of everything and to weak storage security.

## Why people recommend it

- Good idea that brings value (2 comments): "The idea of Recall is good, but we can't trust Microsoft." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46607259)) "when I do need it, it brings a lot of value" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48626628))
- Backlash seen as overblown (2 comments): "going beyond the ragebait headlines and looking at the actual offering and its privacy policy and security documentation makes it look a lot more reasonable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46858838)) "Much of the outrage over Recall seemed excessive to me as well." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46773305))
- Processes data on device, nothing leaves (2 comments): "At least recall was on device. It was only that the storage was not secure enough." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47859174)) "Nothing leaves your machine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47878779))

## What people warn about

- Screenshots every few seconds (3 comments): "Recall takes a screenshot of your screen every few seconds, OCRs the text, and does semantic analysis of the context and actions." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46607544)) "Screenshotting every few seconds is unacceptable even if it stays on the device per se." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46914756)) "Taking screenshots of every windows user's desktop every few seconds." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46857092))
- Data sent to cloud or phoned home (3 comments): "the backlash was more against everything being sent to a cloud server where Microsoft can see everything you do" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48526157)) "Microsoft Recall had been observing everything on people's entire SCREENS and phoning home much of it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48906367)) "I don't think it's wise for them to want stuff like Recall (data exfiltration)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46292019))
- Distrust of Microsoft (3 comments): "The idea of Recall is good, but we can't trust Microsoft." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46607259)) "there's a snowball's chance in hell that I would trust Microsoft to not spy on me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46857184)) "Microsoft Recall is a non-starter for me, even though they made it "better"." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47544461))
- Opt-out and deployed everywhere (2 comments): "The problem with Recall was that it was opt-out and deployed everywhere" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47858432)) "Don't be fooled into thinking that Recall like crap will not be part of all future Microsoft OS's." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46858063))

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Microsoft Recall", https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-recall/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).