Since the debut of the Galaxy S8 last year, Samsung’s hardware has risen to new heights in terms of the overall design. However, there is one glaring feature that pretty much everyone agrees is a misstep, and that’s the Bixby button. On the Galaxy Note 9, though, you can’t even disable it… Samsung saw a lot of complaints from users on the Galaxy S8 and Note 8 last year about the Bixby button, and that triggered the company to actually offer a toggle which lets you turn off that button’s functionality. On the Galaxy Note 9, however, you can’t do that (via SamMobile). The only things you can do to “disable” Bixby is to turn off Bixby Home and disable the voice wakeup, and neither of those affect the button at all. It’s strange that Samsung has removed this option, and it’s still entirely possible that it will one day return. In the meantime, though, you can still remap that button. How to remap the Galaxy Note 9’s Bixby Button Install bxActions Enable permissions Customize actions 1. Download bxActions from Google Play The first step you’ll need to perform to remap the Bixby button is to download an app from Google Play. Following the debut of the Galaxy S8, a lot of apps popped up to remap the Bixby button, but Samsung disabled many of them. At this point, though, the best option that still works, quite flawlessly I might add, is bxActions. The app is free to download on Google Play. 2. Enable permissions requested by bxActions Once the app is downloaded, you’ll need to grant it a few permissions in order to get everything working properly. This includes giving it access to view your usage data, as well as an accessibility option that lets the app monitor when you press the Bixby button. On set up, the app makes it pretty self-explanatory to do both of these. 3. Customize the Bixby button to your liking Once you’ve installed the app and given it the necessary permissions, you can now adjust what the Bixby button does. With the free version of the app, you can only customize a single press on the button. By default, that opens up Google Assistant (just like on the LG G7 ThinQ), but you can customize this to do pretty much anything including toggling the flashlight, power menu, or even clearing your notifications. With a $2.99 in-app purchase, you can unlock more actions, as well as a long-press on the button itself. Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news: FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:<doc-sep>The Galaxy Note 9 is available in stores today. It is an excellent flagship device with few flaws, but it is plagued by Samsung’s virtual assistant Bixby. Most people would assume you could turn off Bixby on the Note 9, just like you could on the Note 8, Galaxy S8, and Galaxy S9 phones — but it turns out, you can’t. Unlike Samsung’s prior Galaxy smartphones, there is no “Bixby Key” settings screen within Android’s main settings or the Bixby app. Previously, you could switch off Bixby entirely, including disabling the key itself so that it did nothing. (Sadly, Samsung doesn’t let you actually remap it to another more useful function, even on the S9 or other earlier models.) Meanwhile, if you make a quick search for “Bixby Key” on the Note 9, you’ll come across this empty screen. In our review of the Note 9, it was clear that Bixby still isn’t ready for prime time. Bixby’s feature set and accuracy are not even close to Google Assistant’s (which is also included on the Note 9). It frequently misreads my voice and has the most robotic voice model of the popular virtual assistants, including Alexa, Cortana, and Siri. The Note 9 is equipped with an updated version of Bixby that adds a new interface and more third-party app integrations compared to Bixby on the S9 or Note 8, but it still suffers from many of the same issues as before. To make matters worse, the awkward placement of the Bixby button under the volume rocker means you’ll mistakenly trigger it by just picking up the phone. It’s possible that Samsung could issue an update allowing Note 9 owners to disable the button in the future, but until then, Bixby will continue to be a literal thorn on the side of an otherwise great device.<doc-sep>
Samsung's virtual personal assistant Bixby is designed to be your ideal partner on the Galaxy Note 9. But this is one partner that can never leave you. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) The Galaxy Note 9 comes with a dedicated button for activating Bixby. When you press it, the virtual assistant turns on and you're able to perform functions with it. In previous Samsung models, including the Galaxy S9, you were able to turn off the Bixby button, allowing you to deactivate Bixby. Samsung wouldn't allow you to remap the button to activate another feature there, but by turning it off, you could at least stop yourself from accidentally activating the virtual assistant. According to SamMobile, however, the option to turn off the Bixby button on the Note 9 has been artificially removed by Samsung. Now, when you press that button, you have no choice but to activate the service. Samsung's commitment to Bixby has been nothing if not interesting. The company has pitched its virtual assistant as a smarter alternative to some other options, like Siri. And Samsung has gone out of its way by using a dedicated button to increase usage and get you to think about Bixby more than you otherwise might. MORE: Galaxy Note 9 Review: The Best Big-Screen Phone Still, Samsung shipped the Galaxy Note 9 with Google Assistant, a far more capable and powerful virtual personal assistant. So, while it might want you to use Bixby, Samsung is also providing an alternative. According to SamMobile, you can limit Bixby's presence in your Galaxy Note 9, even if you can't disable its dedicated button. There are options in the phone's settings, for instance, to turn off Bixby's ability to wake up on voice activation. You can also remove Bixby Home. But if you're not careful, you'll activate Bixby from the dedicated button. And although it's gotten better in the Galaxy Note 9 with new language processing that should understand you better, the service still has a ways to go.