Samsung S Voice Assistant Will Be Discontinued This Summer

If you owned an older Samsung Galaxy smartphone, there's a good chance you tried the company's S Voice feature at some point. The assistant wasn't as capable as Samsung's modern Bixby offering nor competitors like Google Assistant and Alexa, but it was able to perform certain tasks. That'll officially end this summer when Samsung discontinues its S Voice product.

Samsung introduced its S Voice feature back in 2012 with the launch of its Galaxy S III smartphone; the assistant was later included on the S III Mini, the Galaxy S4, and more. Fast-forward to the premiere of the Galaxy S8 model and Samsung had a new voice product to introduce: Bixby. With this, handset owners can use phone commands and more, making S Voice obsolete.

If you're still clinging to an old Samsung device, however, you may still be using the S Voice assistant. That will officially change on June 1 when Samsung discontinues the assistant, according to SamMobile. The decision isn't surprising at all — in fact, there's a good chance you forgot S Voice ever existed.

Attempting to use S Voice as of June 1 will result in a notification that the assistant is 'unable to process your request.' You'll be told to try again later, but don't bother; the service will be permanently shuttered. This change will impact only people who are still using old hardware, such as the Galaxy S6 smartphone or the Galaxy Tab 4 tablet.

If you're keen on staying within Samsung's ecosystem, you'll need to update your phone to the Galaxy S8 model or higher in order to use Bixby. The older devices will remain functional, however, so you'll still be able to use other apps, make phone calls, and send messages. You could switch to a third-party assistant, as well, by downloading something like the Google Assistant app.