How to Make the Bixby Button Launch Something Else on Your Samsung Phone
I love my Note 8. It’s fast, it has a beautiful display and it takes better pictures than any smartphone I’ve ever owned. I hate the Bixby button.
Since I got the phone, I tried Bixby a few times at an old college and eventually decided that the assistant was not for me, at least I can’t use it on a regular basis. However, at least once a day (and more often 50 times) I manage to accidentally press the Bixby button on the side of my phone. More often than not, when I’m somewhere where my phone is ringing too loud, I try to mute it using the volume down button (which is inconvenient right above that Bixby button).
You can also turn it off completely . But if you really want this button to do something, there is a way to remap it using the bxActions app . There are several other ways to do this (most of them involve rooting your phone), but this is the easiest I’ve ever seen.
However, for that to happen, you still have to walk a decent number of steps, so buckle up. The app will show you visual demos when you also complete some of them:
First, make sure Bixby is fully enabled on your device, then download the Google Play app and follow the onscreen instructions to set up the app. When prompted, select Get Foreground Application.
When you select the foreground application option, you will be taken to another page where you want to enable “Allow Usage Tracking”.
After that, you will return to the previous page, where you now want to select “Get button events”. This will take you to a completely new page where you have to scroll down until you see “bxActions – Bixby button”. Click on that and enable the feature at the top of the next page, then click OK on the pop-up window.
Still with me?
Tap the Done icon to go to a new page where you want to select Buttons. Follow the same steps as to enable the “Bixby Button” in this menu.
We’re almost done.
After that go to the main page and select “Actions” and then “Bixby”. Then select “Standard Action”. The app will then display a list of all available commands that you can remap the Bixby button to handle. There are a decent amount of options here, and if you place the $ 2.99 cup for the premium version, there are a lot more, including the ability to remap a button to take screenshots or launch Google Now.
I selected Sound Mode, so pressing the button automatically mutes the sound on my phone, since I usually try to do that anyway. You can also use the button to launch the camera, launch a frequently used application, or control the media you are playing on your device.
That’s all! It will definitely take a few minutes to get set up, but once you’ve done it, it’s worth it.