Signal just locked Microsoft out of your laptop chats

Image Credit - Andrey Matveev on Unsplash

Popular security-centered messaging app Signal is now blocking Windows Recall from taking snapshots of your chats.

Not too long ago, it became clear that Microsoft will include Windows Recall to Copilot+ PCs quite soon, whether you like it or not. Apparently, the secure chat app Signal doesn't like it and is now introducing a feature that will block Windows Recall from accessing your chats.

There's a new "Screen security" setting in Signal. A recent app update enables the feature by default, and this feature blocks Windows Recall from capturing your screen.


As you can probably imagine, such a thing would raise privacy and security concerns. And it did, back when Microsoft announced the feature: hence Windows Recall was delayed in order for the company to iron out these concerns. Now, for example, Windows Hello is required to use Windows Recall.

Windows Recall also lets you control which apps can be captured, and you can delete snapshots... but it seems this wasn't enough for the makers of Signal. They believed they needed to add a security layer within the messaging app.

In a blog post, the company says "By default, Signal doesn't Recall" in a bold statement. The company says that Microsoft has made adjustments to the feature, but the revamped version of Recall still places any content that's displayed within privacy-centered apps at risk.



This Signal feature uses the same tech as apps like Netflix that prevent you from taking screenshots of content.


Signal has gained quite a lot of popularity in recent years, and is one of the best chat apps if you want a privacy and security-centered approach. The app is free and open-source and offers end-to-end encryption for texts, voice calls, video calls, and files that you send or receive. You can download the latest version of Signal on Signal's website.

Meanwhile, keep in mind Signal will prevent Windows Recall from taking screenshots of what you do in the app, not across your computer. If you wish to get rid of Windows Recall completely, you can do that as well.

You can go to Windows Settings, then "Privacy & Security", select "Recall and Snapshots" and then in this section, you can toggle "Save Snapshots" off if you wish to disable Windows Recall. From that section, you can also delete snapshots, or add filters for specific apps. With these filters, you can exclude certain websites or apps from being taken into Recall.

Windows Recall has been a controversial feature since it was announced back in May of last year. Generally, trusting AI with so much information about yourself (like everything you do on your laptop or PC) makes quite a lot of people feel uneasy (me included). Initially, Microsoft delayed the feature by one year to implement security measures into it.

Now, the feature is rolling out to Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs. It's not all bad, though: the feature could generally be useful, especially if you tend to be forgetful. Thankfully, you're allowed to disable it, if you wish to do so.