Samsung's new flagship smartphones come with an AI-powered digital assistant Bixby, and the company spent a lot of time showcasing its abilities during the press conference. These smartphones even feature a dedicated hardware button that summons Bixby. However, the launch of the digital assistant's most talked-about feature, Bixby Voice, has been delayed in the US. Developers found out a way to remap the Bixby button to open other apps. If you were thinking to remap the Bixby button to launch some other useful app such as the Google Assistant, you are in for a disappointment.
A new report from XDA states that Samsung has released an OTA update to block the ability to remap the Bixby button. XDA developer Flar2, who was updating his Button Mapper app for the Galaxy S8, found out that he was unable to remap the Bixby button on his Telus Galaxy S8 anymore after Samsung's new OTA update. The Bixby button is reportedly no longer routed through the accessibility service, and users would need to root their Galaxy S8 to remap the button to a non-Bixby app.
A Samsung representative has confirmed on Twitter that the company has removed the remapping ability for the Bixby button. A similar OTA update is expected to hit other Galaxy S8 and S8+ units soon. What do you think about Samsung offering a dedicated button for Bixby on the Galaxy S8, and not letting users to remap it to other apps in case they don't want to use the company's digital assistant?
