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Yes, you can change the Galaxy S8's Bixby button to whatever app you want

Yes, you can change the Galaxy S8's Bixby button to whatever app you want

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Samsung Galaxy S8
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Samsung is so committed to Bixby, its new virtual assistant, that it put a dedicated button on the Galaxy S8. But given that Bixby is only available in Korean and US English at launch, a large portion of the world will have a dedicated assistant that can’t actually help them (for a few months, at least). Thankfully, there is a way to remap the button to launch a different app.

The folks over at XDA have detailed a way to reconfigure it to launch Google Assistant (or anything else). It involves downloading an app called All In One Gestures, toggling some accessibility features, and creating a custom key within the app. It’s not exactly easy, but if you’re determined, you can make it happen pretty quickly. Most people may choose to remap it to Google Assistant, but you could make the button activate the camera, or even Gmail if you have no work / life balance.

It’s likely Samsung won’t be too happy about this, but they probably should’ve released Bixby in more languages (or allowed users to remap the button natively), and this could’ve been avoided. Given that it doesn’t require users to root their devices, the chances of Samsung actually blocking the workaround are slimmer than usual, but there’s always a chance the company could put an end to it. The Samsung Galaxy S8 will be available on April 21st.