Samsung blocks Bixby button remapping on Galaxy S8

Judging by how popular our You can remap the Bixby button on Samsung Galaxy S8 story is, many folks want to open a different app using the extra hardware key on the new flagship smartphone. But, as it turns out, that might no longer be possible.

For a while, it looked like Samsung would leave that door open for interested customers, but now it's changing the software to make sure that the button only does what the firm wants it to do -- open Bixby and nothing else.

Samsung US' Philip Berne says that the app that is referenced in the article was "exploiting a system-level behavior" and that it "has been changed" to remove that option from the equation. That's unfortunate, but understandable.

The company doesn't want it to have the same fate as S Voice, which many Galaxy users ignore and disable, so it's doing everything that it can to make sure that its customers will give Bixby a try.

Berne says that allowing users to remap the button isn't out of the question for good, but Samsung will not officially support it. That's unfortunate, because there will be (many) users who will want this exact functionality to be available, because, let's face it, not everyone wants to use a personal assistant.

It is not clear yet whether Samsung is changing the software on all Galaxy S8 models, but we will find out as soon as the flagship smartphone goes on sale and users share their impressions.

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