Samsung Blocks Remapping The Bixby Button On Galaxy S8

Samsung Blocks Remapping the Bixby Button on Galaxy S8

BY Evan Selleck

Evan Selleck

Evan's a lover of all things technology, and he's got a major soft spot for the mobile industry. Give him some time and he'd be more than happy to talk your ear off about all the new and shiny things....

All Articles by Evan Selleck

Published 17 Apr 2017

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Later this week, Samsung‘s newest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8 (and the Galaxy S8 Plus), will finally land on store shelves and on owner’s doorsteps.

But leading up to that big launch date, Samsung has made an important change. Recently it was confirmed that at least one third-party app could allow future owners the ability to remap the physical Bixby button on their device. With this ability, owners could launch something like Google Assistant, or even the camera if they so desired, instead of launching Samsung’s proprietary digital personal assistant.

But, thanks to a firmware update that’s being released ahead of the phone’s arrival on April 21, Samsung is closing down that option. A post over on the XDA Developers website confirmed as much. With the update, which isn’t technically taking anything away from owners because the phone hasn’t launched just yet, Samsung is indeed removing a potentially huge customization option.

What do you think? Is this the right move on Samsung’s part?

[via XDA Developers]