How to disable Bixby on your Samsung Galaxy S8, S8 plus, Note 8 & Galaxy S9 and S9 plus?

If you wanna get rid of Bixby then you can do it easily. Samsung has just launched the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, which now join the Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S8, and Galaxy S8+ so that there are FIVE Samsung Galaxy flagships all having the Bixby AI assistant and the Bixby dedicated key to activate it.

All these cell phones are great in specs, to the overall design, the display, the processor hardware and performance, the battery life, and the camera experience. But there is one thing that’s kind of annoying for many users the Bixby key the AI Assistant.

Why some users hate Bixby is due to the fact that the Bixby key gets opened all the time. It happens while the phone is in your pocket and it bypasses the lock screen, as you’re taking it out, when you’re just using apps or browsing the web, in the middle of Youtube videos, when you pick the phone up off the table, and when you’re taking photos or video.

Basically, whenever is least convenient, you can be sure you’ll inadvertently give that Bixby key a little tap and, there it appears, whatever you were doing doesn’t matter because Bixby is taking over now.  Again, even if you want to use Bixby, this would surely be irritating to have it regularly override anything else you’re doing just because you bumped the easily-bumpable key.

Every time then you push it off from your screen and it takes a second to close Bixby again and get back to what you’re doing, but, the frequency is what is so irritating and that is one reason that users complained about it and Samsung has responded by issuing a fix in a software update. It is now quick and easy to turn the Bixby key off.

What’s more, the functionality is identical across all five of Samsung’s Bixby-enabled phones; the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, Galaxy Note 8, and both the new Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. That means the method of disabling Bixby and the Bixby key on all of them is the same. So regardless which phone you have, here find below as how to disable it in easy steps.

Before you learn how to disable Bixby remember that you’re not disabling Bixby and bringing it dead but  the service is still accessible by other means inside the OS, you’re just turning off that button so it doesn’t trigger Bixby at every chance it gets.

Follow the simple steps as given below as how to disable the Bixby key on the Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy Note 8.

First you’ll need to make sure you have the version of Samsung’s software which contains the option to toggle Bixby. In general it is easiest to just make sure you’re updated to the latest software build for your phone.

Your best bet is to go into Settings, then go to Software Update and tap Download updates manually; the phone will then check and tell you if you have the latest software, if you don’t, it should prompt you to download ( do this over Wi-Fi).

You can also head to the Samsung App Store and update the Bixby app manually.

Once you’re sure you’re on the latest software you can now go on to the next step, which is to boot up Bixby – your quickest route here is, you guessed it, pressing the Bixby key!

Now wondering which key the Bixby key is, but just to be sure, it’s on the left-hand side of the phone, below the volume button.

Once Bixby is running, go to the top of the screen and tap the “cog” icon. This should present an option labelled Bixby key which you can toggle on or off. Toggle it off to disable the Bixby key.

If you don’t see this option, instead you can tap the icon with three dots stacked on top of each other.

Then tap Settings.

Scroll down until you see Bixby key and tap on it.

You’re presented with two options, and to disable it you want to choose Don’t open anything. When you go back to the Settings menu it should show No action in this box when the Bixby key is disabled.

What if you want to turn the Bixby Key back on

When the Bixby key is disabled the only other way to get into the Bixby app is by swiping in from the left hand side of the screen; this is, by defualt, part of Samsung’s TouchWiz interface. This way you can access Bixby and toggle the Bixby key back on if you wish to.

However, in case your Bixby access via swiping is also switched off, so on the main homescreen, hold press on a blank part of the wallpaper.

When the homescreen customisation UI pops up, keep scrolling left until you see the Bixby Home page; at the top of this page is a toggle.

Toggle this on if you want to be able to access Bixby with a swipe from the left, toggle it off if you want to disable this feature. This easy way you can get rid of Bixby AI from Samsung Galaxy smartphones.