Samsung may envision Bixby as a “smarter way” to interact with mobile devices using just your voice. But plenty of folks don’t… at least not yet. So when Samsung started shipping Bixby-enabled phones like the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8, the company added a dedicated Bixby key to the side of the phone.
Developers were quick to find ways to let you use Bixby button on the Galaxy S8 smartphone to launch other apps.
Samsung stopped those apps from working. But the company is finally offering a bit of a concession: an option to disable the Bixby button altogether.
The company is rolling out a software update to the Bixby Home app that lets you toggle the Bixby key. When it’s off, pressing the button on the side of the phone does… nothing. When it’s on, pressing that key triggers Bixby.
While this update doesn’t let you use the button for anything other than Samsung’s voice assistant software, at least it lets you avoid accidental key presses that may trigger a service you have no intention of using.
There’s currently no way to remove Bixby altogether. You can still access the service by voice… unless you disable Bixby Voice service altogether in your phone’s settings.
via SamMobile
So Samsung realizes some do not want to use Bixby but they still won’t let their customers use the button for other purposes. This tells me Samsung may have peaked and another company, more willing to listen to their customers may eventually take Samsung’s place as the top Android phone seller.