On paper, Samsung’s own personal digital assistant Bixby seems destined to compete with Google Assistant, Alexa, and the likes. But in reality, it looks like they launched it prematurely as it has been plagued with issues like lack of big data and syntax and grammar issues, at least in languages other than Korean. So some third-party apps developed a remapping button so the dedicated Bixby button can have some other purpose. One of those is bxActions – Bixby Button Remapper and it looks like their initial problem has been solved.
When T-Mobile rolled out an update for their Galaxy S8 devices, those who installed this remapping app suddenly found this app blocked. It seems that Samsung was restricting the remapping of the button, even though they know perfectly well that it’s their fault that the button is practically useless in the US since it has no voice function. Predictably, it angered a lot of users who were promised that purchasing the Galaxy S8 will come with full Bixby support but who are now obviously having to do without it.
But it looks like the developer has been able to find a work-around and if you update it, you will find that it’s working fine again. No news if this has Samsung’s blessing though. Some users in the US already have early access to Bixby’s voice functions, but we have no idea when it will roll out to all users of supported devices.
Let’s wait and see if this fix will stick or if Samsung will stubbornly refuse to let third-party developers make the Bixby button useful, while waiting for the promised full functionality. You can update it from its Google Play page.
