How to disable the Bixby button on your Samsung Galaxy S8, S8 Plus, or Note 8

When the Galaxy S8, S8 Plus, and Galaxy Note 8 launched in 2017, they included a new hardware button on the left side dedicated just for activating the company’s Bixby digital assistant. However, there was no official way in the phones’ software to disable the Bixby button for people who didn’t want or need it. This caused many third-party software makers to create apps and root methods to shut down the Bixby button.

Read more: Bixby guide: Features, compatible devices, best commands

Despite this obvious desire from customers to add such an option officially, Samsung did nothing for months on this front. However, things changed in September 2017. Samsung quietly pushed out a software update specifically for Galaxy S8, S8 Plus, and Note 8 owners that finally included an official way to (sort of) cut down the use of the Bixby button. Specifically, you can change its settings so you have to double press the button to activate Bixby. This will be a big help for owners of those phones who might have been accidentally accessing Bixby by pressing the dedicated button.

Here’s how it works:

1. Tap on the Settings icon.
2. Scroll down and tap on the Advanced Features selection.
3. Tap on the Bixby Key option.
4. Finally, tap on the Double Press to open Bixby selection.

You can also make use of a number of third-party apps that have created ways to use that Bixby button for things other than activating Bixby. You can check those out at the link below.

Read More: How to remap the Bixby button

Some of you may be wondering if Samsung provided a way to completely disable the Bixby button on those phones. The answer is that the company did release an update that handled that job. Unfortunately, the company chose to get rid of that feature in a subsequent software update. It doesn’t seem likely that will change before these phones reach their software update limits.