Galaxy Note 10 S Pen Button Gets A New Talent With sideActions App

Once in a while, Samsung gives its users new hardware or technology they can chew on but often stops short of actually making it useful to all of them. The Bixby button is a prime example and, for a time, Samsung stubbornly refused users and developers to utilize the extra hardware button. The S Pen's button is actually the same, especially now that it can be used remotely. Fortunately, it seems to be less locked down than the Bixby Button and a new app has surfaced that lets you repurpose almost all the Galaxy Note 10 buttons to your liking.

Unsurprisingly, this app is made by the same developer behind bxActions, the handy utility that allowed owners of Galaxy S and Note flagships to make good use of that extra hardware. It was a game of cat and mouse but, eventually, Samsung did give a bit of ground by allowing the button to launch other apps as long as it could still launch Bixby. sideActions takes that a bit further by remapping all the Galaxy Note 10's buttons.

The main draw here is the ability to remap the Galaxy Note 10's S Pen button, which, since the Galaxy Note 9, has become a remote control (sadly, this is doesn't work for the Galaxy Note 9). sideActions can map a single press, a double press, and a long press to a plethora of actions, though that may mean losing the default actions associated with that S Pen button.

It isn't just for the S Pen though, as sideActions also covers the power button (which now also doubles as the Bixby button) and even the volume buttons. The range of supported actions is also quite exhaustive and is promised to have no lags and, more importantly, no ads.

There are two caveats to this convenient app, though. One is that the setup process requires a computer with ADB installed and a connection from that computer to the phone. The second is that developer Jawomo warns that, like the Bixby Button, Samsung might find ways to block the app in the future. But, perhaps also like the Bixby button, if users protest loud enough, Samsung will at least half-relent.