Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and S8+ launch was a confirmation of almost all the rumors and leaks circulating on the internet. So while everyone was ready for the “Bixby Button,” the endorsement felt just as bad. A dedicated hardware button for an AI assistant that people might not use much? It sounded strange and still is, which is why many attempts have been made to remap the Bixby Button to something more logical and useful. It existed just before Samsung broke that app’s functionality by making key events for the Bixby button be swallowed up by the operating system before being overtaken by any app. However, we now have a lot more solutions, and while it is possible to easily remap Bixby to Google Assistant, you can now remap the Bixby Button to almost anything you want. So, if you are interested in this, Here’s how you can remap the Bixby Button to any app:
Bixby Remap History
Before we move on to the latest method for remapping the Bixby button, let’s discuss a bit about the history of Bixby Button remapping and Samsung’s attempts to prevent this “abuse” (and how weak they are). a hardware button that is completely useless anyway.
The first method where developers are involved response to major events this happens when the Bixby Button is pressed and used to open a different (user-selected) app instead. However, Samsung soon sent updates to both phones that broke this app. Samsung, in the new update, Key events from Bixby Button will no longer even reach Accessibility Services, thus preventing any application from using these important events to launch custom applications.
While this undoubtedly sounds like a “win” for Samsung, it was nothing short of a bug as the developers quickly found other ways to remap the Bixby Button. If Samsung had allowed users to remap the Bixby button, it could easily have avoided negative PR. Of course, the new method of remapping the Bixby Button isn’t as elegant as the previous one, but it works. BixBye (Free) is an app that lets you remap the Bixby Button on your Galaxy S8 and S8+ to any app you want. So let’s discuss how you can use BixBye to remap the Bixby Button on your device.
Using BixBye to Remap the Bixby Button on S8 and S8+
You can easily use the BixBye app to remap the Bixby Button with various different functions and apps.
note: The BixBye app is still in its infancy and neither the developer nor I can guarantee that it will work perfectly on your device. That said, I tried it on the Galaxy S8 and it worked just fine. Use at your own discretion and only if you understand the risks associated with alpha software.
- Install BixBye (Free) from Play Store and launch it. You will need to grant access”Services” under “Accessibility“.
- Once you’ve done that, simply tap the text that says “.Voice Assistant” by default and replace with one of the available options. Then just turn on the top right buttonand you can start playing with the Bixby Button.
I’ve tried all the available options and while most of them work fine, Voice Assistant can’t seem to bring up the Google Assistant, even though it’s starting the Assistant in the background, which is weird. You can also click the Bixby Button “Camera“, pressing this when the phone is locked launches the Camera, but you have to unlock the phone to get to it. However, we can expect to see many more feature updates and performance improvements over time as the app is still in the early stages of development.
SEE ALSO: How to Remap Galaxy S8’s Bixby Button to Google Now
Use BixBye to Remap the Bixby Button to Any App
While there are many apps available in the Play Store that will let you remap the Bixby Button to another app or a service, BixBye is the only app that offers not only Google Assistant but also a multitude of services you can activate. Bixby Button. It also gives you the option to launch any installed app from your Galaxy S8 or S8+, so you can assign the Bixby Button to an app you use very often and launch it quickly with just a push of a button.
So, do you find the Bixby Button on your S8/S8+ useful, or have you remap it to another function? Share your thoughts on Bixby, the Bixby Button, and Samsung’s attempts to prevent Bixby Button remapping in the comments section below.
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