With the launch of the Galaxy S8 and S8+, Samsung also unveiled its own digital assistant dubbed Bixby, obviously here to compete with the Google Assistant on Android as well as the likes of Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana and Amazon Alexa on a wider scale.
While many will agree that Bixby has still got a lot of ground to cover in order to reach the same levels as the Google Assistant, leave alone Siri, Samsung has been busy trying to, at least, make the digital assistant available in more markets across the globe.
The digital assistant has received mixed reactions, with some favoring it while others feeling it is not really of any use to them. In fact, it is perhaps someone from the latter group that found a sneaky way to remap the button to perform other functions, like launch the Google Assistant instead of Bixby. Samsung, however, was quick to block any possible channels that might allow users to assign the button any other functions other than those related to Bixby.
Now, in an attempt to win back disgruntled users of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8, Samsung has made a new update to the Bixby app, allowing users to disable, at least partially, the Bixby button. There’s a new functionality in the app that allows you to toggle the “Tap to open Bixby Home” function on/off.
First spotted by SamMobile, the new update now hands users of Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 more control over how the button works, which is great. But it’s the fact that the update lets you stop Bixby Home from opening when you tap the Bixby button that is more interesting. Still, long-pressing the button will continue opening Bixby Voice.
Note that this latest update to the Bixby app seems to be taking place from the server side, which means you won’t even know when it happens, but it could take some time before all units of the Galaxy S8 and Note 8 get the feature.
Have you received the new toggle on your Bixby app? Let us know in your comments below.
