Bye-bye Bixby – How to disable the one Galaxy S8 button that you never push intentionally

Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is perhaps the best phone we’ve ever used but it does have at least two issues that get under our skins. The first is the location of the fingerprint sensor, which is placed right where our fingers can smear the camera lens, and the other is the dedicated Bixby button. We’re not able to do anything about the first but the second… oh, it’s time.

Samsung has, in the latest update to Bixby and Bixby Home, introduced the ability to disable the left-hand button that always, always opens the Bixby digital assistant when you were actually trying to do something else. Like take the phone out of your pocket.

In order to make use of this glorious function, you need to make sure that you’ve got the latest version of Samsung’s digital assistant. You can update the app by heading to Galaxy Apps, selecting My Apps in the top right, and then selecting All. If you’ve got an update (or several) waiting, download it (or them).

Then it’s just a question of opening Bixby. Press the left-hand side dedicated key, intentionally this time, touch the Settings gear icon and poke your finger at the only slider available to you. Boom, Samsung’s digital assistant is disabled — at least via that physical key. Of course, now you have a button that doesn’t do anything but then, you weren’t using it anyway. Were you?