Some Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners hate the Bixby button. With recent updates, you can now disable Bixby button in Galaxy S8 and S8+ (Galaxy Note 8 as well). You can totally disable Bixby button for short press AND long press.
Many Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners are not fans of Samsung’s half-baked Bixby Assistant. One of the most disturbing features of Bixby is the Bixby button in the left side of Galaxy S8 and S8+.
Often you may press the button accidentally when you want to adjust volume. This can be very annoying.
Samsung also quietly blocked the possibility of remapping Bixby button to other features.
Anyway, you can now fully disable Bixby button in Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy Note 8. This Galaxy S8 how-to guide will show you how to disable the annoying Bixby button completely.
What is Galaxy S8 and S8+ Bixby button?
As shown in Galaxy S8 layout, Bixby button is located in the left side of the phone, below the volume keys.
The Bixby button have at least two basic functions currently:
1. Press it once (short press) to launch Bixby Home page at any time even after you hide Bixby home from Galaxy S8 home screen. If you are on Bixby Home page already, you can press Bixby button to exit Bixby home. By default, Bixby Home page is in the leftmost panel of Galaxy S8 home screen.
Of course, you can hide or remove Bixby Home from Galaxy S8 home screen as explained in this guide. But this does not disable Bixby Home page. You only hide/remove it from the home screen.
2. Long press (press and hold) Bixby button to launch Bixby voice assistant.
After Bixby voice assistant is activated, you can use voice commands to perform certain operations (e.g., start an app).
Bixby voice also works at any time (no matter what app you are using).
Bixby button was introduced in Galaxy S8, S8+ and Galaxy Note 8 to make it easier to use Bixby.
Why you may want to disable Galaxy S8 Bixby button?
First, Bixby is only half-baked as explained in the top defects of Galaxy S8.
Actually Bixby voice was even not activated when Galaxy S8 and S8+ were released. It was widely available through a firmware update a few months later.
In Galaxy S8 and S8+, Google assistant (long press home button to activate) is more powerful, accurate and useful than Bixby voice.
This is the reason why some owners of Galaxy S8 or S8+ do not want to use it.
But due to the hardware Bixby button, you may press it inadvertently.
There are some third-party apps that tried to remap the functions of the Bixby button for other apps. But Samsung quickly blocked the possibility through another firmware udpate.
Instead, Samsung now allows you to disable Bixby button completely in Galaxy S8, S8+ and Galaxy Note 8.
How to disable Bixby button (short press) for Bixby Home (not just hide it from home screen)?
If you just wan to remove Bixby Home from Galaxy S8 home screen, you can follow this guide.
As mentioned earlier, this does not stop Bixby home page when Bixby button is pressed.
To disable Bixby button for Bixby Home (Hello Bixby), you may follow these steps.
Step 1: Press Bixby button once to launch Bixby Home.
Bixby home can overlay over any screens as shown below once Bixby button is pressed (short press).
Step 2: Tap the gear icon.
You can then tap the gear icon (marked as 1) in Bixby Home as shown above.
Step 3: Un-check Bixby key.
Now, you can see the only options as shown below.
Tap the switch for Bixby key as shown below to prevent Bixby home from showing up when Bixby button is pressed.
If the switch is in the right side as shown in the screenshot below, the short press is enabled for Bixby Home.
You need to make sure the switch is in the left side if you want to disable Bixby button for Bixby home.
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You can now test it by pressing the Bixby button.
How to disable Bixby button for Bixby voice assistant (long press) from Bixby Home?
In addition to disabling short press of Bixby button for Bixby home, you can also disable long press of the Bixby button for Bixby voice assistant.
To disable Bixby button for Bixby voice assistant , you may follow these steps.
Step 1: access Bixby Home
You can always access Bixby home from Galaxy S8 home screen. If you hide Bixby home from Galaxy S8 home screen, you can unhide it, then access it.
Of course, if Bixby button for Bixby home (short press) is not disabled yet, you can press Bixby button to access Bixby Home.
Step 2: Tap menu key in Bixby Home
In Bixby Home (Hello Bixby), tap the menu key (3 vertical dots marked as 2) as shown in the screenshot above.
Step 3: Tap settings in Bixby menu
In the Bixby menu, tap Settings as shown below.
Step 4: disable Bixby voice
In Bixby setting page, you can tap the switch in Bixby voice field to disable Bixby voice as shown below.
This will essentially disable Bixby voice in the phone.
Of course, the long press gesture for Bixby button is also disabled.
You can now press and hold Bixby button to verify that nothing shows up now.
In Bixby settings, you can also find the option for Bixby key as shown above.
This setting is shared with what you did with the gear icon in Bixby Home as discussed earlier. You can disable Bixby button for Bixby Home here, or in Bixby home directly. The results are identical.
You can tap Bixby key field as shown above.
The Bixby key settings will be shown. As shown below, you have two options for Bixby key (short press only)
- Press (short press) to open Bixby.
- Don’t open anything when pressed.
Please note, this page is a bit confusing.
To fully disable Bixby key, you must disable Bixby voice as shown above.
The long press gesture of Bixby button is NOT controlled by Bixby key settings shown below.
How to disable Bixby button for Bixby voice assistant (long press) from Bixby voice?
You can also disable Bixby button for Bixby voice assistant (long press) from Bixby voice page.
You can press and hold (long press) Bixby button to launch Bixby voice as shown below.
Instead of issuing voice commands, you tan tap Full Screen as shown below to access Bixby voice Assistant page.
In Bixby voice assistant page as shown above, you can tap the gear icon.
This will bring you to Bixby voice settings page exactly as the settings page shown earlier.
You can then disable Bixby voice.
Once Bixby voice is disabled, the Bixby button for Bixby voice will be disabled as well.
How to get Bixby back after you disable Bixby button in Galaxy S8 and S8+?
After Bixby button is fully disabled, you cannot launch Bixby Home or Bixby voice with the Bixby key.
But you can still access Bixby Home and Bixby settings, and therefore, you can re-enable them.
The simplest way to access Bixby settings is to unhide Bixby home in Galaxy S8 home screen as shown in this guide.
Once you are in Bixby Home, you can then access the settings to re-enable Bixby button for Bixby home and Bixby voice.
Do you know how to disable Bixby button in Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+? Can you re-enable Bixby button in Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+?
If you have any question or encounter any problems on disabling Bixby button or re-enabling Bixby button, please let us know your questions or problems in the comment box below.
The community will help you find the answer or solution.
You may also check our Galaxy S8 guides:
- Galaxy S8 new features guide covers all new and unique features of Galaxy S8 and S8+.
- Galaxy S8 how-to guides give you detailed step-by-step guides on using most features of Galaxy S8 and S8+.
- Galaxy S8 user manuals lets you download official Samsung Galaxy S8 user manuals in your won language.
- Galaxy S8 camera guides covered everything related to Galaxy S8 camera is covered in Galaxy S8 camera guides section.
- Galaxy S8 accessories guides help you find the perfect accessories for Galaxy S8 and S8+.
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