How To Disable Bixby On Your Samsung Device

Bixby, Samsung's digital assistant app on its Galaxy line of smartphones, has been around since 2017. Despite Samsung's large market share, though, it's rare that Bixby gets much in the way of positive attention. In an Android ecosystem that also includes the much more ubiquitous Google Assistant, it often feels unneeded.

Just take a look at some of our past Bixby-centric headlines here at SlashGear over the years, such as "The Bixby button is the bane of my mobile existence" in August 2017, "Galaxy Note 9 Bixby 2.0 is going to increase haters" in August 2018, and "Bixby Marketplace launched to convince people it's still alive" in June 2019, "Samsung Galaxy S21 feature may baffle Bixby haters" in November 2020, and "Bixby feature update tries to prove it still matters" in December 2020. Bixby is not exactly something that is viewed warmly.

If you're a Samsung Galaxy phone owner, then you've likely lamented the existence of Bixby at times, particularly if you find it getting in the way of your preferred assistant app. In light of this, you've probably considered trying to figure out how to disable Bixby, only to be unsure exactly how that would work. So, let's look at the most reliable way to stop Bixby from ever intervening in anything again on your Samsung phone.

To extricate your phone from Bixby as much as possible, a few things need to be disabled. First, if you have a pre-2022 phone with Bixby, it has the dedicated Bixby Button, and you need to disable that. At least on the Galaxy S20, S21, Note 10, and Note 20 handsets, here's how:

1. Swipe down from the top of the screen to pull up your notifications, then swipe down again to get the full menu.
2. Tap the power icon.
3. Tap "Side key settings."
4. Tap "Power off menu" in the "Press and hold" options to change the button's behavior to that of most Android phones instead of the default "Wake Bixby" action,

On older phones, you want to:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap "Advanced Features."
3. Tap the "Bixby key."
4. Switch the Bixby key to being activated by a double press to make it harder to trigger.

To turn off detection of the "Hi Bixby!" wake words — Samsung's version of "OK Google!" or "Hey Google!" — you should do as follows:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap "Apps."
3. Tap "Bixby Voice."
4. Tap "Bixby Voice Settings."
5. Disable "Voice wake-up."

You may have also noticed that your home screen's furthest-left page is populated by Samsung's news feed, which has gone by various names. (It could be Bixby Home, Samsung Free, or Samsung News.) To turn it off or switch it to Google Discover:

1. Tap and hold on any empty space on your home screen.
2. Keep swiping right on the home screen until you reach the furthest-left page.
3. Tap the toggle switch at the top to turn off the news feed completely. Alternatively, if Google Discover is also there and you'd rather use that, tap the radio button on the left side of the Google Discover card.