Home
Mobiles
Mobiles News
Samsung Galaxy S8's Dedicated Bixby Button Can No Longer Be Easily Reconfigured After Update

Samsung Galaxy S8's Dedicated Bixby Button Can No Longer Be Easily Reconfigured After Update

By Shekhar Thakran | Updated: 19 April 2017 19:55 IST

Highlights

Samsung confirmed that system-level behaviour was changed with update
Workaround enabled users to launch any application with the button
Bixby will not support voice-controls at US launch

Just a few days after the launch of Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones, it was found that the dedicated Bixby button on the devices can be reconfigured to launch other apps as well - including rival Android virtual assistant, Google Assistant. While this workaround created positive reactions among tech-savvy Android users, it turns out that Samsung was not amused. The South Korean company has confirmed that it has blocked the turnaround that enabled users to launch other apps from the dedicated button with the latest over-the-air update.

The issue with the workaround was first noted by XDA developer Flar2, who was in the process of updating his Button Mapper application soon after he received his Samsung Galaxy S8 from Telus in Canada, as pointed out in the XDA Developer post. Although Flar2 was able to make the application work initially but soon after receiving a system update from Samsung (build version NRD90M.G950WVLU1AQD9), the application stopped working.

Samsung representative Philip Berne has since confirmed that the workaround was exploiting system-level behaviour and that the aforementioned behaviour has now been changed with the update. While Berne has acknowledged that another way might be able to make the reconfiguration possible, the company will not officially support it.

We can expect developers to soon come up with a way to make the reconfiguration work with root access but it seems like Samsung wants users to make use of the dedicated button more to encourage the use of its newly launched Bixby digital assistant.

Samsung recently announced that Bixby will not be supporting voice-commands at the launch date in the US and that support for more languages in other regions will be coming soon. All these reasons might make users miss the ability to reconfigure the button even more as Google Assistant already provides these functionalities in an effective manner.

We also discussed whether the Galaxy S8's pricing gives it an edge over iPhone 7 and Google Pixel in India on our podcast, so be sure to check that out as well in this week's episode of Orbital, our technology podcast. You can subscribe to it via iTunes or RSS, or just hit the play button below.

Samsung Galaxy S8

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Gorgeous looks and excellent construction quality
Brilliant displays
Phenomenal camera quality
Class-leading performance

Bad
No flat screen option
Nearly unusable fingerprint reader
Software stuffed with unnecessary features

Read detailed Samsung Galaxy S8 review

Display 5.80-inch

Processor Samsung Exynos 8895

Front Camera 8-megapixel

Rear Camera 12-megapixel

RAM 4GB

Storage 64GB

Battery Capacity 3000mAh

OS Android 7.0

Resolution 1440x2960 pixels

More Samsung mobiles Samsung mobiles price in India

Samsung Galaxy S8+

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Variants

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Gorgeous looks and excellent construction quality
Brilliant displays
Phenomenal camera quality
Class-leading performance

Bad
No flat screen option
Nearly unusable fingerprint reader
Software stuffed with unnecessary features

Read detailed Samsung Galaxy S8+ review

Display 6.20-inch

Processor Samsung Exynos 8895

Front Camera 8-megapixel

Rear Camera 12-megapixel

RAM 4GB

Storage 64GB

Battery Capacity 3500mAh

OS Android 7.0

Resolution 1440x2960 pixels

More Samsung mobiles Samsung mobiles price in India

Choose a variant

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Bixby Button Remapping, Samsung Bixby Digital Assistant, Bixby, Samsung, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Plus, Bixby Dedicated Button, Bixby Button Reconfiguration