Samsung Galaxy S8 owners blocked from customising Bixby button in new phone

SAMSUNG GALAXY S8 users can no longer be able to customise the Bixby button on their new phone, following a change of heart by the South Korean technology firm.

Samsung is blocking Galaxy S8 owners from changing the shortcut linked to the Bixby button

The new button, housed beneath the volume rockers on the left hand-side of the phone, is reserved for Samsung's new voice assistant, Bixby.

Tapping the button while within a supported app will permit Samsung Galaxy S8 owners to regulate functions on the phone with simple voice commands.

Bixby is context aware, which means that, provided you are within a compatible app, you can refer directly to things that are happening on-screen.

Commands like "make a folder with these photos”, “when was this taken?” or "what is this?” will work with the new assistant – unlike several of its rivals.

Unfortunately, Samsung delayed the voice support – with the functionality supposedly set to launch in the United Kingdom later this year.

The Bixby button will only serves to launch a Google Now-style news feed that attempts to surface useful information, upcoming calendar appointments, and relevant news stories.

Early owners of Galaxy S8 handsets were allowed to remap the shortcut linked to the Bixby button.

This enabled users to remap the button to trigger rival voice assistant Google Assistant, launch the default camera, or open a favourite application.

But, the latest Galaxy S8 firmware update pushed-out by Samsung shuts down the ability to remap the Bixby button.

Previously, the command from the Bixby button was "intercepted" by the Accessibility Services built into Android.

This also has enabled third-party apps – provided they had the requisite accessibility permissions – to change its default function.

Samsung with the latest Galaxy S8 system firmware update has closed this loophole.

A couple of third-party developers have since launched new solutions that claim to remap the Bixby button, including the popular BixRemap.

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