The Windows Forecast is a look at the future of Windows that comments on the latest news for Windows Insiders, as well as other major announcements in the Windows space each and every week. My name is João Carrasqueira, and I've been covering the world of Windows professionally since 2018. If there's something you'd like to see covered, you can reach me at joao@xda-developers.com.

It's been a busy week for Microsoft, even with the holidays fast approaching, we got quite a bit of interesting news coming our way. And by interesting, I mean confusing, because I'm not sure what Microsoft's intentions with Copilot on Windows are anymore. Still, it's been a good week for Windows fans, so let's talk about it.

What is happening with Copilot on Windows?

Big changes are coming

Earlier this week, Microsoft released a big update for Copilot for Windows, and it's a bit confusing, but good. This new update is available to Insiders in all channels, and it turns the existing Copilot app, which is a progressive web app (PWA) into a native app on Windows. This means you'll now see the app in the system tray when it's running, and it should provide a much smoother and more natural experience. Plus, there's a new quick view, where Copilot opens in a much smaller window, so you can ask a quick question or something and easily dismiss it.

This is great news if you ask me. I'm a big supporter of native apps, and yes, I understand the benefits and ease of development of web apps, but no one who really cares about their product makes a web app its flagship experience. Google's Android apps aren't web apps, and neither are Apple's iPhone apps. So this is a great transition.

What's weird is that I don't know what Microsoft is trying to do here. We used to have a Copilot experience that was more tightly woven into Windows 11 with a dedicated sidebar and integration with certain system features. It was web-based, but it had a lot of features that tied into the OS. Then that was replaced with just a plain web app that did nothing special in terms of OS integration. It even removed the shortcut for launching Copilot (Windows + C). And now we're using a native app? Is some kind of OS integration making a comeback? That would be great to see, but it just seems like Microsoft is flip-flopping here.

I also find it ridiculous that Copilot is where Microsoft draws the line when it comes to offering good native experiences on Windows. Just months after killing off the native Mail and Calendar apps and the Outlook classic app with a web-based app everyone dislikes, the Copilot app is the one Microsoft thinks deserves better than that. I'd love to know how many people are actually using Copilot compared to Outlook for this to make any sense. Not to mention things like how the Photos app uses a web-based editor for editing Photos, or that Clipchamp also still doesn't have a proper native app. There are just so many things I don't understand.

Recall is causing a stir again

But is it actually justified?

I like beating a dead horse as much as the next guy, and I know the Recall feature has been perfect for that over the past few months, but the latest scandal makes little sense to me. Microsoft finally enabled Recall on Copilot+ PCs a couple of weeks ago for Snapdragon PCs, with Intel and AMD PCs getting it last week. As Microsoft made very clear, the company is trying to block out sensitive information from Recall, but it knows it's probably not perfect yet. In fact, Microsoft urged users to report any cases of sensitive information being captured by Recall so that it can improve its systems. So when it was reported this week that Recall is still a "privacy nightmare", I had to roll my eyes a bit after reading what actually happened.

We're talking about tests conducted on a PC in the Insider program (the Dev channel, no less). It's prerelease software meant for people willing to take risks, and Microsoft specifically asked for help finding flaws in its implementation. This kind of thing is exactly a prerelease testing programs are made for. No one should be shocked that problems exist in the current implementation, and they certainly shouldn't try to point fingers and laugh at (or criticize) Microsoft for it.

When it comes to the final product and this kind of thing is still happening, then by all means, shout it from the rooftops. In that case, it would be a very serious concern. But if you're seeing these problems now, then simply report them to Microsoft and then go back to using a machine with a finalized operating system that doesn't compromise your work. Anyone testing software should know to do that when needed.

Phone Link is getting pretty good

I may not care for it, but I respect it

The last bit of interesting news this week has to do with the Phone Link feature on Windows 11 and iPhones. I've been on the record saying I don't much care for phone-PC connectivity like this, but I will say Microsoft has been making some important strides.

This week, the company added support for sending files between an iPhone and a Windows PC, and that's frankly pretty cool. iPhones have always been much more limited in terms of functionality with Phone Link, so to be able to support simple file sharing is awesome. Sending files from my phone to my PC is really the only kind of connectivity I need, so this is very cool.

And that's on top of how well things work on Android now that you can just see your phone in File Explorer and manage your files as if they were on your PC. That was a recent addition that I just got to play with this week, and it works pretty well. Not enough to warrant a constant connection between my devices, but hey, it's cool nonetheless. Personally, I'll stick to using Quick Share or LocalSend when I need to transfer any files.

A good week for Windows

All things considered, I'd say Windows fans get mostly good news this week. Sure, there was the unexpected removal of Suggested actions in Windows 11, but I don't think anyone really cares. The changes to Copilot are good, and improvements to Phone Link are always welcome. And as much as we can whine about Recall, this week's report really isn't indicative of anything crazy bad happening. It's what you'd expect of unfinished software.