I’ve got a new Samsung Galaxy S10 and love it. Except for that Bixby key. I hate Bixby. Is there any way to assign that button a different function or app?
Agreed, the Samsung Galaxy S10 is a gorgeous phone with lots of great features and capabilities (and a hefty price tag to go with it!). But oh, that Bixby. There are some terrific voice assistants available, I like Alexa from Amazon, Siri from Apple and, of course, Google Assistant (which really needs a better name, but that’s another story entirely). But Bixby? I appreciate Samsung keeps trying, but really, just wrap it up, gang, and focus on building great hardware.
Whether you’re also a Bixby detractor or fan, you will be most interested to know that in Android Pie 9.0 there’s now a built-in feature on the Galaxy line for you to define what happens when you press – or double press – the Bixby key on the edge of your smartphone. If you can’t do what I demonstrate or can’t find these settings, you might need to update your Android OS or resort to a third party solution for Bixby key remapping (there are quite a few), but for the Galaxy S10 and Android 9.0, this is a pretty easy fix.
Start out by going to Settings on your S10 and swiping down until you find “Advanced Features“.
You can see it in the middle of the above screenshot.
Tap on “Advanced features” and you’ll be able to access Bixby routines and settings, along with motions, gestures, one-handed mode, etc.
You’ll want to have logged in and set up Bixby first, but if you have, then your Advanced features should look like the above.
Notice in the above that I have it set to the default: A single tap on the Bixby key opens Bixby. Tap on “Bixby key” to change it.
Here’s the thing: You can’t really completely disassociate the Bixby key with the Bixby app, but you can change the settings so that a single press launches something else and a double press launches Bixby. It works fine.
Do that by choosing “Double press to open Bixby”, as shown, then enable “Use single press” by tapping on the on/off button:
You can run a quick command if you want, but the real fun here is in enabling Use single press then choosing “Open app” above. Tap on the gear icon associated once you’ve chosen “Open app” to see all the apps that can be assigned to that single Bixby button press event:
Lots of options. If you’re a news fanatic, CNN for Samsung is an option. Or DirecTV NOW is good. Or do what I did: Map it to Chrome and now you have a one button shortcut to the Web browser on your phone. Easy, fun and way better than Bixby. 🙂
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about Android and smartphones forever. Please check out my extensive Android help area for lots of tutorials!