Bixby 2.0 on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 can’t be fully disabled

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Bixby is one of Samsung’s latest additions to the Galaxy and Note lines. It was introduced on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and has been included in the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Samsung Galaxy S9, and Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Bixby is a virtual assistant that has its own dedicated physical button, which is annoying to those who don’t use it. Thankfully, Samsung has allowed the Bixby button to be turned off. It looks like that is changing with Bixby 2.0.

bxActions is a great app for remapping the Bixby button without root. Samsung doesn’t have a native method for remapping. You can only turn it on or off. Unfortunately, according to the bxActions developer (and confirmed by us), Bixby 2.0 on the Galaxy Note 9 has removed the ability to disable the physical button. Certain features of bxActions won’t work, like double-tap and long press, but more importantly, it means you’re stuck with the button. This is how bxActions currently works on the Note 9:

Single tap: Bixby voice opens, then quickly closes, and remap action launches

Double tap: not available because Bixby can’t be fully disabled

Long-press: not available because Bixby can’t be fully disabled

A lot of people find the Bixby button to be annoying. It’s very easy to accidentally press the button, which launches Bixby and gets in the way of whatever you were doing. It would be fine if Samsung allowed users to choose a different task, but since that seems out of the question, disabling it was a decent compromise. Now, Samsung seems to be hell-bent on making people use Bixby. It’s disappointing to see a company force something on their users like this. Do you use Bixby? Did you disable Bixby on other devices?