Samsung has been on a power trip since the launch of the Galaxy S8/S8+. On both of those phones is a fourth (or third, depending if you consider the volume rocker to be one or two) button that is a shortcut to Bixby, Sammy's new "personal assistant." Not understanding the will of some people, the giant Korean OEM decided to block the ability to remap the function of that button. Clever developers found a workaround, which Samsung recently blocked for some versions of the S8/S8+. And now, those clever devs have figured out another workaround for the crackdown.

This is one of those things that is great to sit back and watch with some popcorn. Sammy doesn't seem to have learned yet that some people don't want its lackluster assistant. For users affected by the update, you can find various compatibility modes in either bxActions Bixby Remapper or Custom Bixby Button. You will see both of them in the widgets below.

Will Samsung take the hint and learn its lesson this time around? You can bet that I'll be watching with great interest.

Jawomo, the dev for bxActions, sent this into us:

Hi,

Samsung broke all apps to remap the Bixby button on S8 recently with latest T-Mobile and Sprint June security updates.

After deep research i found a way to make Bixby remapping working again!

I added a "compatibility mode" for those with latest T-Mobile or Sprint update, and its free of charge of course!

My US community members tested the update and reported bxActions is working fine again.

Developers 2:1 Samsung :)

Lets see if Samsung finally understands, that forcing Bixby on users is not the right way.

Best regards

Jawomo

And here's the changelog for Custom Bixby Button:

Introducing Custom Bixby Button (2.0): Custom Bixby Button teaches Bixby another lesson.

  • T-Mobile / Sprint (US) June security patch compatibility (select "Polling method" in settings);
  • Choose from multiple options to say good-bye to Bixby - Custom Bixby will handle the rest.
  • Custom Bixby Button has smooth scrolling (no lag) - Really;
  • Premium option if you happen to dislike ads;
  • Available in Arabic, Dutch, English, German, Hebrew, Russian and will expand to more languages over time.