Samsung has presented its latest flagships, the Galaxy S8 and S8+, to a large number of fans. it was hype deserved, considering Samsung has minimal bezels and a gorgeous edge-to-edge display. Among other innovations, one of the features that was met with widespread suspicion was the dedicated Bixby button located on the side of the phone. Users around the world felt that this was another Google feature that Samsung unnecessarily copied and then provided a dedicated hardware button. Also, since Bixby was disabled at launch, voice support is not available, so it’s only natural that you want to continue using Google Assistant. So if you want to use Google Assistant instead of Bixby, Here’s how to remap the Galaxy S8’s Bixby button to Google Assistant:
Remap the Bixby Button
1. A Brief History of Bixby Button Remapping
Naturally, there have been many improvements when it comes to remapping the Bixby button. Partly because no one is really excited about Bixby, and partly because there’s a hardware button on your phone that can be used for anything you want to access quickly. The developers were quick to find a way to remap the Bixby button to pretty much anything you want your device to do.
Again, Samsung pulls Appleand quickly released a software update that broke the workaround developers were using to remap the Bixby button to other actions.
2. Remap Bixby Button to Google Now
The software update broke the developers’ solution to remap the Bixby button, as it caused “key up” and “key down” events to be swallowed by the operating system before they reached Accessibility Services. Fortunately, the Android developer “Dave BennettPut together an app that will launch Google Assistant every time the Bixby button is pressed. Here’s how to use it:
- Install BixRemap (Free) from Play Store and launch it. The app needs Access Usage Data and will automatically take you to the Settings page. Just Allow Access to Usage Data To BixRemap.
- On the home screen, Tap on “Start Service”. If you need to use Bixby for any reason, simply click the “Stop Service” button.
That’s it, you can now try pressing the Bixby button on your Galaxy S8 or S8+ and Google Assistant will launch instead of Bixby.
The app works by searching for Bixby in the foreground and launching Google Assistant through it. That’s why you can see the Bixby screen for less than a second before it’s replaced by Google Assistant.
Disable BixRemap Notification
The only downside to using this app is that it puts a persistent notification on your screen. Although the developer plans to remove the notification from appearing in a future update of the app, you can also use the following method to stop the notification:
- go Settings -> Notifications.
- Here, Turn off the toggle next to “BixRemap”.
This will prevent the notification from BixRemap from appearing in the Notification Shade until the developer offers a more elegant solution.
Feature Updates in BixRemap
One of the many good things about the BixRemap app is that the developer is very active on Reddit. thread It is dedicated to this app and also responds to feature requests and suggestions for improvements. Some of the features that may be added to BixRemap in future updates include:
- Start at boot optionso it stays persistent after the app is restarted and essentially makes the remap “permanent” unless explicitly disabled by the user.
- skill for choose a custom app For the Bixby Button. This will definitely be a great update for the BixRemap app and it’s definitely a great feature.
- an option increase voting time to reduce the delay between pressing the button and launching the Google Assistant.
SEE ALSO: 8 Best Samsung Galaxy S8 Alternatives to Buy
Remap Bixby Button to Google Assistant with BixRemap
With the BixRemap app, you can easily remap the Bixby Button on your Galaxy S8 and S8+ to launch Google Assistant instead of Bixby. Although the previous method of blocking “key up”, “key down” events to assign certain functions to the Bixby Button has been disabled by the software update that Samsung has sent to all S8 and S8+ devices, this new app will definitely continue to work. Plus, with great feature updates planned by the developer, there’s no doubt that the app could be one of the must-have apps on your Galaxy S8 or S8+.
As always, I’d love to know your thoughts on Samsung blocking the key up/key down method and whether Bixby is worth having a dedicated hardware button for it. Also, if you know of any other method that can allow users to remap the Bixby Button on their S8 and S8+, let us know in the comments section below.
