Samsung Update Allows Galaxy S8 Owners to Disable Bixby Button

User choice on a smartphone seems to be slowly but surely disappearing from both the hardware and software. Apple removed the headphone jack on the iPhone, and others are sure to follow. Samsung, on the other hand, added a Bixby push to the Galaxy S8 and Milky way S8+. You can't remove it, but Samsung just decided to let you disable it (sort of).

The Bixby push button is linked to Samsung's vocalism-powered digital banana, which was introduced alongside these ii Milky way S8 phones (albeit delayed by three months). The defended button tin be used in two ways: a quick press loads Bixby Dwelling, while a long printing loads Bixby Voice set up for your vocal commands.

Bixby Key options screen

According to Android Headlines, Samsung is quietly rolling out an update to Milky way S8 and S8+ owners that adds a new option to the Bixby Cardinal page within Bixby'southward settings. Under the heading "Select what to open up with the Bixby central," at that place is now an option for "Don't open anything." By opting for that setting, a quick tap of the Bixby Button will no longer load Bixby Abode. You can't remap the push press to anything else, merely disable information technology.

It's not a full button disable, though. While the short press can be set to practise naught, belongings down the Bixby Push button will nonetheless launch Bixby Voice. That's not surprising as Samsung is positioning Bixby as a competitor to rival assistants including Amazon's Alexa, Apple'south Siri, and Google'southward Assistant. So disabling information technology completely would not be in Samsung's best interests regardless of how users feel about it.

The roll out of the update seems to be quite random for now, and Samsung isn't officially announcing it. And then it's incommunicable to say if and when S9 owners get it. Another anomaly with regards to this update is the fact the Galaxy Note eight also includes the aforementioned Bixby Push and functionality, only isn't getting the update. At to the lowest degree, it isn't yet.