A Private Microsoft Recall Alternative on Linux in 2026 (Local AI Reviews Your Day Overnight)

Posted on Oct 29 • Originally published at getoffgridai.co

You want a searchable memory of your workday, and you use Linux. Microsoft Recall is Windows only, and it needs a Copilot+ PC. Off Grid AI Desktop Pro gives you the same kind of record on your Linux computer. It saves your screen as you work and leaves the heavy part, the AI analysis, for the night. By default the analysis runs from 03:00 to 08:00. A systemd timer can wake the computer from suspend to do it, and the model runs on the computer itself. In the morning, your Day view has the journal, timeline and to-dos from yesterday.

Capture has two halves. Taking a screenshot is light, so it runs all day. Reading each saved moment with a local model is heavy: one model pass per frame. Overnight mode splits them. Screenshots are saved to disk as you work and wait in a queue as pending. The model works through the queue inside the window you choose. Nothing is lost while they wait.

The timer is named offgrid-night-wake.timer. It is set with WakeSystem=true, so systemd resumes the computer from suspend at the start of the window. Its service does nothing else; Off Grid AI Desktop does the work. The app only adds and removes its own two unit files in /etc/systemd/system.

You see this question once. To change your answer later, use Settings.

Each change to the hours rewrites the timer, so Linux asks for your password again.

If you close the password prompt, the row says "The password prompt was cancelled, so the computer will not wake on its own." If your system has no systemd or pkexec, it says "Linux did not accept the wake timer. It needs systemd and pkexec." In both cases the row then reads "Overnight, while your computer is awake." Analysis still runs in the window, as long as the computer is awake.

systemctl list-timers offgrid-night-wake.timer Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode Step 3: Get your Linux computer ready for the night Keep Off Grid AI Desktop running. On Linux, closing the last app window quits the app. Minimize it instead.

If the app is closed, nothing is analyzed. Suspend, do not shut down. The timer wakes the computer from suspend.

A computer that is shut down stays off until you turn it on. Plug in a laptop. While frames wait inside the window, the app asks the system not to suspend again.

When the queue is empty or the window ends, it lets the computer sleep. Lock the screen if you like. Locking stops new screenshots.

It does not stop the analysis of frames already saved, which is what the overnight window is for. If you paused capture yourself, the analysis waits too. The Day view says so instead of promising a run that will not happen.

Click Day in the sidebar. The journal, timeline, time spent by app and to-dos come from what the model read overnight.

During the day, the Day view shows what is waiting, for example "42 moments waiting · analyzed tonight at 03:00". To see results now, click Analyze now (the play icon) next to that line. It analyzes today's pending frames straight away.

On a laptop on battery with As it happens selected, the Day view offers the switch once: "On battery. Analyze overnight instead?" Click Overnight to switch, or dismiss it.

In Settings, Capture & processing has a Pipeline health panel with Screen access, Vision model, Frame queue, Last frame and Last observation. The queue counts update as frames move.

If some frames failed, a panel reads, for example, "3 frames need another pass". It groups them by reason, with a count for each, and says how many retry on their own and how many need you. The frames stay saved, and a retry button sits next to them.

A frame can also be too large for the active model's context. Those show as waiting for a larger model. Raise the context or switch to a larger model, and the app reads them on its own.

Your screen history stays on your Linux computer. Apps you add under Excluded apps are never saved. For the full setup, see how to keep sensitive apps out of saved screen history on Linux.

Is there a Microsoft Recall alternative for Linux? Yes. Off Grid AI Desktop Pro saves a searchable screen history on Linux and reads it with a local vision model. The analysis runs on your computer, at night by default, and builds a daily journal, timeline and to-do list.

Why does Off Grid AI ask for my password on Linux? The nightly wake is a systemd timer in /etc/systemd/system, and writing there needs root. The app asks through pkexec when you choose Overnight, change the hours, or switch back to As it happens.

Why did my Linux computer not wake up for the analysis? Check that the computer was suspended, not shut down, and that Off Grid AI Desktop was still running. Then run systemctl list-timers offgrid-night-wake.timer to see that the timer is active and when it fires next.

Does it work on Wayland? Yes. On GNOME with Wayland, the app uses its Off Grid AI Capture extension to read the focused window. Turn it on in Extensions when the app asks.

Can I see my day before the overnight run? Yes. Click Analyze now next to the waiting count in the Day view, or Re-process today in Capture & processing. Live capture pauses while that pass runs.

Will it slow down my computer during the day? With Overnight selected, the model work waits for the window, so daytime use is only the screenshots. With As it happens, the analysis runs while you work and uses your CPU or GPU.

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