Samsung Will Finally Allow Users To Remap The Bixby Button

Samsung has time and again proved its hardware prowess with its flagship smartphones. The devices offer cutting-edge design and features but they always had an Achilles heel, their software. The software that the company provides with the handsets has not always fared well with the audience. Introducing Bixby in 2017 made their problems worse as they gave users a voice assistant they didn’t ask for. The company also added a non-remappable button to the mix, making problems worse. But Samsung has announced that its flagships running Samsung’s latest OneUI will get an option to remap the infamous Bixby Button.

Samsung Bixby Remapping

Samsung recently started updating its yesteryear’s flagships to Android Pie based OneUI. These devices include the Galaxy S8 and S8+, Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S9 and S9+ and Galaxy Note 9. These devices are also set to get the option to remap the Bixby Button to a third party app. The option is currently only available in the latest Galaxy S10 series of smartphones. Notably, the Bixby button works via three methods, a single press, a double press and a long press on the button activates the voice assistant. After the update, it will be possible to remap it to a third party app using any of the above functions. For example, if you set a single press on the button to open the camera, a double and a long press would still activate Bixby. 

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Samsung’s decision to allow the Bixby button to be remapped may come as a reason to rejoice for many users. It is expected to make using the company’s flagships convenient by providing the ability to remap the button to any app. Bixby as a voice assistant has not seen the popularity that Samsung may have expected it to be. According to a study, the users of the assistant are as low as 4% in the US. Unfortunately, the company has not provided any information about the timeline of the update for older devices, but it is expected to arrive in a few weeks.