Samsung Blocks Remapping Of Bixby’s Button

The Samsung Galaxy S8 comes with a dedicated hardware button on its side that when pressed, allows users to launch Bixby. However recently it was discovered that thanks to an app, it allowed users to remap the button to something else, meaning that if they didn’t want to use it to launch Bixby, they could it to launch Google Assistant or other apps.

Unfortunately it seems that Samsung isn’t too thrilled with its customers remapping its hardware, which is why according to reports, Samsung has issued an OTA update that has basically blocked the modification from taking place, meaning that the button can now only be used to launch Bixby and nothing else.

Samsung has since confirmed it in a tweet which reads, “It was exploiting a system-level behavior. That behavior has been changed. Can’t say it will never happen, but we won’t officially support.” There are some who disagree about it being called a system-level exploit, but either way we guess Samsung is the one calling the shots so until the company changes their mind in the future (if ever), we guess users can’t really do much for now.

It is a bit disappointing as we’re sure that many love the Galaxy S8’s specs and features, and would love to be able to customize it to their needs, but that’s something to consider if you are thinking about buying the phone.

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@geoff5093 @Lostatsea1923 @One3OneKing @droid_life It was exploiting a system-level behavior. That behavior has been changed. Can’t say it will never happen, but we won’t officially support.

— Philip Berne (@philipberne) April 17, 2017

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: bixby, Galaxy S8, Samsung