People have a lot of opinions about Bixby. If you’re using a recent Galaxy phone and find yourself butting heads with Samsung’s bespoke virtual assistant, I’ve got good news: it’s actually pretty simple to disable it altogether. Here’s how.
These tips apply to all Samsung Galaxy devices from the Note 10 and newer, as they don’t have dedicated Bixby buttons. The Samsung Galaxy S8, S9, S10, Note 8 and Note 9 have dedicated Bixby buttons that can’t be fully deactivated.
How to disable Bixby on your phone’s side key
By default, newer Samsung phones open Bixby when you hold down the side key — the key you’d expect to function as a power button. Here’s how to change that.
- Open the power menu
- Swipe down on your home screen once to show your notifications, then swipe down again to expand quick settings. You’ll see a power icon in the top right corner.
- Tap Side key settings
- Under Press and hold, select Power off menu
How to disable “Hi Bixby” detection
In the same way the Google Assistant listens for “Hey Google,” Bixby can listen for “Hi Bixby.” It’s a pretty unique-sounding phrase, so you’re not likely to trigger it accidentally — but if you want to turn it off, follow these steps.
- Open the Bixby app
- Open the side menu
- Tap the settings icon
- Toggle the Voice wake-up setting off
Also note that Bixby doesn’t work at all when you’re not signed into a Samsung account, so if you’re not using any other Samsung-specific features, you could just sign out under Manage accounts in your phone’s settings.
And with that, your Samsung Galaxy experience will be, for all intents and purposes, Bixby-free. Looking for more Galaxy goodness? Check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra or our picks for the best Galaxy S22 cases.
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