Microsoft has once again delayed the rollout of its controversial Recall feature, saying it needs more time to get it right.

Recall is a feature that takes constant screenshots of what a user is doing and makes them searchable via natural language interaction.

• While a promising idea, it immediately raised concerns over privacy and security. While Microsoft says all data is stored and processed locally, and never uploaded, that is merely a policy decision not a technical limitation. Many critics have expressed concern that, over time, the company could push users to allow Recall to upload and process the plethora of information it has access to in the cloud.
• From a security perspective, early iterations of Recall were a nightmare, with inadequate protections against data exfiltration. To make matters worse, the wealth of sensitive data Recall gathers will instantly make it a high-priority target for bad actors. It’s little wonder that cybersecurity researcher Kevin Beaumont said: “Microsoft are going to deliberately set cybersecurity back a decade & endanger customers by empowering low level criminals.”

In an effort to listen to feedback and beef up security, Microsoft delayed Recall’s rollout in mid-July, saying it would be available to Windows Insiders in October. October has now come and gone with no Recall in sight.

In a statement to The Verge, Brandon LeBlanc, senior product manager of Windows, said the rollout is now delayed until December.

“We are committed to delivering a secure and trusted experience with Recall. To ensure we deliver on these important updates, we’re taking additional time to refine the experience before previewing it with Windows Insiders,” said LeBlanc.” Originally planned for October, Recall will now be available for preview with Windows Insiders on Copilot Plus PCs by December.”

Given how controversial Recall has been, it’s a safe bet many users are hoping the rollout gets delayed indefinitely.